CONSTITUTION of THE HENBURY SINGERS                

1. Name

The name of the Society shall be The Henbury Singers hereinafter referred to as the Society.

2. Objects

• The objects of the society shall be:

• To enjoy singing a variety of music from different periods and genres

• To improve the performance of the choir through a varied repertoire

• To present a programme of concerts each year

• To support annually one or two charities with money raised by the concerts

3. Membership

Membership of the society shall be open to any person interested in furthering the objects of the society, and who has paid the annual subscription at the appropriate rate or rates as shall be determined by the Committee, all subscriptions being payable in advance.

Every member shall have one vote.

The committee has the power to terminate the membership of any individual, provided that the decision of the Committee (with the exception of (i) the individual concerned if a

member of the Committee and (ii) any member of the Committee making or connected with

the complaint against the individual) is unanimous both as to the termination and as to

there being good reason for it, and provided that the individual concerned shall have the

right to be heard by the Committee, accompanied by a friend if desired, before a final

decision is made.

4. Officers and Committee

The management of the Society shall be in the hands of a Committee consisting of the

following Officers: Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, and no fewer than three other members: the Officers and the other Committee members shall be elected by and out of the Society's members at the Annual General Meeting; they shall hold office until the next Annual General Meeting and be eligible for re-election.

5. Management

All the arrangements for the concerts and other events and the control of finance shall be in

the hands of the Committee.

6. Meetings and Proceedings of the Committee

i) The committee shall hold at least 2 ordinary meetings each year. A special meeting

may be called at any time by the chairman, or by any 2 members of the committee,

upon not less than 7 days notice being given to the other members of the committee of the matters to be discussed but if the matter includes the appointment of a co-opted member then not less than 21 days notice must be given.

ii) The chairman shall act as chairman at meetings of the committee. If the chairman is absent from any meeting, the members of the committee present shall choose one of their number to be chairman before any other business is transacted.

iii) There shall be a quorum when at least one third of the number of members of the

committee for the time-being, or three members of the committee (whichever is the

greater), are present at a meeting.

iv) Every matter shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members of the committee present and voting on the question, but in the case of equality of votes, the chairman of the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

v) The committee shall keep minutes of the proceedings at meetings of the committee

and any sub-committee, and shall ensure that these are stored safely, and that they are available for inspection as required.

vi) The committee may from time to time make and alter rules for the conduct of their

business, the summoning and conduct of their meetings, and the custody of

documents. No rule may be made which is inconsistent with this constitution.

vii) The committee may appoint one or more sub-committees, consisting of three or

more members of the committee, for the purpose of making any enquiry or

supervising or performing any function or duty which, in the opinion of the

committee, would be more conveniently undertaken or carried out by a subcommittee:

provided that all acts and proceedings of any such sub-committee shall

be fully and promptly reported to the committee. The sub-committee may co-opt one or two members of the choir to join them.

7. Equal Opportunities

No individual shall be excluded from membership of the Society or de-barred from any

official capacity on the Committee on the grounds of sex, race, colour, age,

religion, sexual orientation, disability or political affiliation.

8. Finance

i) The financial year shall end on July 31st

ii) A banking account shall be opened in the name of the Society and cheques shall be

signed by any two of the officers

iii) The Society shall receive donations, grants in aid and financial guarantees. Tickets

for any or all of its concerts and other events shall be offered for sale to the public.

iv) The income and property of the Society whencesoever derived shall be applied solely towards promoting the objects of the Society as set forth above and no portion thereof shall be paid or transferred either directly or indirectly to any member or members of the Society except in payment of legitimate expenses incurred on behalf of the Society.

9. Annual General Meeting

Within three months of the end of each financial year the members shall be summoned

to an Annual General Meeting of which at least 21 days' notice shall be given to all

members.

The committee shall present to each AGM the report and accounts of the society for the

preceding year.

Nominations for election to the committee must be made by members of the society in

writing and must be in the hands of the secretary of the committee at least seven days before

the AGM. Should nominations exceed vacancies, an election shall be held.

10. Special (Extraordinary) General Meeting

A Special General Meeting (also known as an Extraordinary General Meeting), of which at

least 21 days' notice in writing must be given to members, may be called for by the

Committee or upon written request to the Secretary signed by at least six members of the

Society. The notice must state the business to be discussed.

11. Procedure at General Meetings

The secretary or other person specially appointed by the committee shall keep a full record

of proceedings at every general meeting of the society.

There shall be a quorum when at least 10% of the members of the society at the time or eight

members, whichever is the greater, are present at any general meeting.

12. Accounts

The financial accounts shall be audited or examined to the extent required by legislation or,

if there is no such requirement, scrutinized by a person who is independent of the

Committee and then submitted to the members at the Annual General Meeting.

13. Alterations to the Constitution

The constitution may be altered by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting

at any General Meeting, provided that fourteen days' notice of the proposed alteration has

been sent to all members.

14. Dissolution

In the event of the Society being wound up, any assets remaining upon dissolution after the

payment of proper debts and liabilities shall be transferred to a charitable institution or

institutions having similar objects to those of the Society.

........................................................................................................................

This constitution was adopted by The Henbury Singers at their meeting at Wesley College Bristol on 19^th February 2009.

Chairman      ............................................

Secretary      ............................................

Treasurer      ............................................

Constitution of the Henbury Singers: Appendix 1   

Guidance on roles and responsibilities

1       Aims

The aims of the Henbury Singers are:

• To enjoy singing a variety of music from different periods and genres

• To improve the performance of the choir through a varied repertoire

• To present a programme of concerts each year

• To support annually one or two charities with money raised by their concerts

2       Responsibilities of the Musical Director

• The Musical Director will train the Choir in rehearsal and will conduct the Choir in its concerts.

• The Musical Director with the assistance of the Committee will plan the music for a programme of concerts each year in such a way as to meet the stated aims of the choir.

• The Musical Director will work with the choir in order to improve their performance.

• The Musical Director will liaise with the Treasurer to agree a budget for the purchase of music.

3       Responsibilities of Choir Members

• Choir members should attend rehearsals regularly and punctually. They should let their voice representative know in advance if they are unable to attend a rehearsal.

• Choir members are strongly encouraged to work in their own time between rehearsals on those parts of the music which they have missed at rehearsal or those which need further work as suggested by the Musical Director.

• Choir members are encouraged to publicise concerts and to generate as many ticket sales for each concert as possible

• Choir members are encouraged to liaise with their voice representatives with suggestions to improve the running of the choir, or with offers of active assistance.

4       Responsibilities of Committee Members

• Committee members will manage all non-musical aspects of the choir and its programme of concerts.

• They will support the musical director in his or her responsibilities.

• Committee members will welcome ideas from non-committee members for improving the Choirs musical, social and financial wellbeing and will consider these ideas with other committee members as appropriate.

5      Roles in the committee

The number of committee members will be no less than six, and will be agreed at the AGM of the Society.

The roles of the committee members are likely to include the following tasks:

5.1     The role of the Chair is:

To liaise with the Musical Director on choir business and music.

To lead the committee and to discuss suggestions from choir members.

To ensure that choir members are informed of the activities and progress of the choir, and of the decisions of the committee

To liaise with the Secretary over dates and bookings.

To welcome new members

To maintain contacts with other choirs/musicians in the area as required e.g. for joint concerts.

5.2     The role of the Deputy Chair is:

      To support the Chair

To deputise as required for the Chair

To welcome new members

5.3     The role of the Secretary is:

To liaise with the Chair and the Musical Director in preparing an agenda for each meeting

To take the minutes of committee meetings and the AGM.

To circulate minutes to committee members

To make bookings for the choir rehearsals as required.

To make bookings for concert venues.

To welcome new members and to maintain a list of members' addresses, phone numbers and emails.

To undertake correspondence as required

5.4     The role of the Music Representative is:

To liaise with the Musical Director and Chair concerning the required music.

To liaise with the Treasurer over costs of hiring music

To acquire music from the local music library or from copies already held by the choir.

To ensure that copies of music are available for choir members as necessary.

To make copies of music as required.

To organise the distribution and collection of music.

5.5     The role of the Publicity Officer is:

To promote the Henbury Singers' concerts and to support the recruitment of new members by:

Designing, printing and distributing posters, flyers and tickets etc

Sending promotional and recruiting material to the local press and magazines.

5.6     The role of Voice Representatives is:

To get to know all members of a voice group and to keep in touch with them

To help new members to feel part of the choir

To ensure that the committee is aware of the views of members of the choir by asking for members' views before a committee meeting

To feed back committee decisions to their group

5.7     The role of Treasurer is: