Draft Constitution for Roman Finds Group

RFG members have recently received a letter setting out options for additional future activities together with a copy of our draft constitution; comments on both are welcome.

Copy of the Letter to Members

Dear RFG Member,

The Roman Finds Group has been in existence since 1988. Our membership has grown significantly in recent years and your committee feel it is time we formalised our existence with a constitution. A copy of the draft constitution is enclosed. It will be discussed at the AGM to be held at our March meeting in Newcastle and those present will be invited to agree the constitution. If you are unable to attend, we invite you to take this opportunity to comment before the March meeting; you are invited to send your comments on the constitution to Stephen Greep at sjgreep@gmail.com.

Your committee have also been discussing the membership benefits you get for your annual subscription of £8.

At the moment the key benefits are:

Two copies of Lucerna each year
Access to the website (which is being upgraded to make it even more user-friendly) and twitter feeds (we currently have 335 followers)
Reduced fees to our twice-yearly meetings
Free/reduced entrance to major finds-related exhibitions, where this can be negotiated.
Discounts on finds-related books, or pre-publication offers, where these can be negotiated.

We would like to do more and have a number of specific ideas:

Offer RFG grants to help with small finds research. These small grants might be for things like publication drawings and maps or travel to museums for object research. Special consideration would be given to articles offered to Lucerna. The awards would be administered through a sub group of the committee. Depending on demand and your support we feel we might be able to award grants in the region of £1,000 in total per annum in the short term.

Make finds catalogues and other finds-related works which are currently out-of-print available through the members part of the website as pdfs. Obviously we will need to seek copyright permission and there may be scanning costs involved.

Produce educational films promoting the importance of finds research. Specialists would talk about identifying different materials and objects in a series of films that could ultimately be themed around the chapters of Artefacts in Roman Britain or Nina Crummy’s object categories.

Increase the Romano-British presence amongst a wider European small finds community e.g. by the provision of extra entries and links to objects in the Instrumentum/Artefacts website. In order to do some or all of this we would need to ask the membership to agree an increase in the rate of annual subscription, to either £10 or £12. Depending upon your views and responses to this correspondence we hope to take this proposed increase in subscriptions to the AGM in March at Newcastle. Please send your views to me direct at mail@justine-bayley.co.uk

Justine Bayley
Chairman RFG

Draft Constitution for Roman Finds Group

Name
The name of the Group shall be The Roman Finds Group (RFG). The Group and its resources will be administered and managed in accordance with this constitution.
Objectives and RFG Management
1. The objectives of the RFG are to promote the study, research, publication, teaching and conservation of the material culture of Roman Britain.
2. The delivery of the objectives, benefits of membership, financial (income and expenditure) and organisational management of the RFG are vested in the Committee.
3. The income of the RFG shall be applied solely towards the promotion of RFG objectives.
RFG Committee
1. The ‘Officers’ of the Committee shall consist of: Chairman, Treasurer, Membership Secretary, Minutes Secretary, Communications Secretary, Meetings Co-ordinator, Editor and Datasheet co-ordinator, plus up to three other members who should include a national museums and a university representative (if these are not already covered by officer appointments). In addition the committee may co-opt up to two further members, who may then be elected. The committee may nominate a vice-chair from amongst their number.
2. Officers and committee members will be elected at the AGM, and will serve for a period of three years. Election for one further term to the same role will be permitted. Co-opted members will serve for a maximum of one year only. The date of tenure will be assumed as from the AGM in the year that election/co-option begins.
3. The Committee shall meet at least twice a year.
4. At any meeting of the Committee four members shall constitute a quorum. If a meeting is not quorate a further committee meeting shall be called within two months.
5. The Committee may decide how to regulate their proceedings. The Minutes Secretary shall produce a set of minutes within 21 days of the meeting and these shall be placed on the RFG website.
6. Questions arising at a meeting shall be decided by a simple majority, with the Chairman of the meeting having a casting vote.
Membership
1. Membership is open to individuals or organisations that are approved by the membership secretary, acting on behalf of the Committee. The Committee may refuse an application for membership if, acting reasonably and properly, they consider it to be in the best interests of the RFG.
2. Honorary life members may be elected at an Annual General Meeting.
3. The membership secretary will keep a register of names and contact details of the members.
4. Any member who is two years in arrears with their subscription shall be removed from the Group membership after due notice has been given to the member concerned.
5. Membership may also be terminated at the discretion of the Committee if an individual can be shown to be non-compliant with RFG objectives.
6. Benefits of RFG membership shall be as set out in the appendix to the constitution. These may vary from time to time at the discretion of the Committee.
The Annual General Meeting shall:
1. Be held each year. Not more than fifteen months may elapse between successive AGM’s (18 months in the case of a previous AGM which had been declared non quorate). The AGM must be held at a suitable time after the conclusion of the financial year (which shall be 1st January – 31st December).
2. Receive any reports of the officers and in particular that of the Chairman who shall present a brief report on RFG and committee activity over the year and the Treasurer who shall present the accounts. Both reports should be circulated to members not less than 14 days before the AGM.
3. Elect the officers and other members of the committee. Nominations for election to vacancies on the Committee shall be submitted to the Chairman at least two weeks before the AGM each year. If, by the time of the elections, vacancies exist on the Committee for which there are no nominations, such vacancies may be filled by nominations from the floor of the meeting or by co-option by the Committee at a later date.
4. Consider and vote upon any amendments to the constitution.
5. Determine the annual subscription(s).
6. Deal with any other relevant matters arising or put before it. Any member may raise relevant items at the AGM – but must give notice in writing to the Chairman at least two weeks prior to the AGM. The Chairman’s decision on whether to allow items of any other business which must relate to the Groups objectives will be final.
7. Have a quorum of 15 members or 10% of the RFG membership whichever is the greater. No business shall be conducted if a quorum of members is not present – in this case a new AGM shall be called, giving members at least one months’ notice. If no quorum is present at the re-convened meeting the members present at that time shall constitute the quorum for that meeting.
8. Proposals placed before the AGM will require a simple majority with the exception of any motion requiring changes to the objectives of the RFG which will require a two-thirds majority. In cases of tied votes the Chairman will have a casting vote.
Extra-Ordinary General Meetings
The Committee may also call an extraordinary general meeting at any time or if they are requested to do so by 10% of the membership making written application to the Chairman. The EGM must take place at a time acceptable to those making the request and be no more than two months from that request. The minimum period of notice required to hold any general meeting of the RFG is fourteen days from the date on which the notice is deemed to have been given.
Disputes
If a dispute arises between members of the RFG relating to the running of RFG under this constitution, and the dispute cannot be resolved by agreement, the Chairman will settle the dispute by appointing an independent group to resolve the dispute. If the dispute involves the Chairman, Committee members who are not involved should decide an appropriate panel. The decision of any panel will be final.
Dissolution of the RFG
If, upon the winding-up or dissolution of the Group, there remains, after the clearing of all its debts and liabilities, any resources whatsoever, the Committee shall determine that these shall be given or transferred to some other charitable institution or institutions having objectives similar to those of the RFG.

NH: 7th Feb 2015 11:31:00

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