1. Name

2. Objectives

3. Membership

3.2 The committee shall initially consist of Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and six others. Additional members may be approved at a Special General Meeting.

3.3 The Officers and committee members shall serve for a period of four years. They may however apply for re-election after that time.

3.4 The first committee shall be appointed via a simple poll on the Yahoo Group "HP UK Convention".

3.5 Thereafter, elections for Officers and Committee members shall be by simple ballot, from Members of the Accio club.

3.6 A Returning Officer shall be appointed at a General Meeting and shall be responsible for arranging the elections.

3.7 Nominations for the second election and following, shall be sent to the Secretary in writing, duly proposed and seconded, 7 days prior to the meeting.

3.8 Nominees shall signify in writing their willingness to accept office.

4. Types of Membership

4.2 In the event of no conference being held, a payment similar to the supporting membership fee will be non-refundable.

4.3 Membership shall be for the duration of one conference - from the planning through to the finalisation of post-event finances.

4.4 Full membership

4.4.1 Full membership will be open to Members who have paid the full conference fee. This entitles them to attendance of the next conference.

4.5 Supporting membership

4.5.1 This form of membership allows them to support Accio and participate in it without actually attending the conference.

4.5.2 Membership can be upgraded from Supporting to Full by paying the difference between the Supporting and Full rates in force at the time of conversion. In the event of no convention being held, this membership will be non-refundable.

4.5.3 Supporting memberships are not transferable. However, fully paid up members may transfer the residual element (ie the difference between their supporting membership and full membership) to another supporting member.

4.6 Honorary Membership

4.6.1 At the discretion of a simple majority of the committee, honorary membership may be granted for the timescale of a conference. This courtesy would normally be extended to guest speakers and also to any person whom the committee might deem it appropriate to send a copy of the proceedings.

5. Conduct

5.1 If the conduct of any member shall, in the opinion of the Committee, be injurious or likely to be injurious to the character or interests of the Club, the Committee reserves the right to expel that member provided that the individual concerned shall have the right to be heard, accompanied by an associate, by the committee before a final decision is made. They shall have the right to appeal. If no defence is offered, or the defence is considered unsatisfactory, the member’s name shall forthwith be erased from the list of members and he/she shall thereupon cease for all purposes to be a member of the Club.

5.2 The Secretary shall keep a register of the names and addresses of members and the register shall be available to the inspection of members at any General Meeting or Committee Meeting.

5.3 The Committee reserves the right to refuse membership to any individual.

6. Place of Meetings

6.2 The quorum at a Committee meeting shall be five.

6.3 The Chair shall have a casting vote.

6.4 The Committee shall have power to co-opt for special purposes, such co-opted members having no vote.

6.5 The Committee shall have power to appoint sub-committees.

7. General Meetings

7.2 Notice of the Meeting shall be sent in writing to all members not later than seven days before the date of the Meeting.

7.3 No business other than that notified on the agenda of such meeting may be transacted unless deemed of an urgent nature by the Chair.

7.4 Notice of any special meeting of the committee shall be given at least two days previously thereto by written notice delivered personally or sent by mail, facsimile transmission or email to each committee member/member at his or her address or email address, respectively, as shown by the records of the Committee. If mailed, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when deposited in the Royal mail so addressed with postage thereon prepaid. If notice is given by facsimile transmission, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when confirmation of the successful transmission is received by the sender. If notice is given by email, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when the email is sent, reader receipt required.

7.5 All communications by the Committee to members and in particular all notices of general meetings may be made by email. For this purpose an email properly sent to the last email address notified to the Committee by a member shall be deemed to be received by him or her 24 hours after having been sent whether or not actually received. Members who do not notify the Committee of a change of email address shall not be entitled to individual notice of meetings.

7.6 A Special General Meeting must be held on the requisition of any 10 members in good standing stating the object of such meeting. The Secretary must send out notices within fourteen days of receiving the requisition, and at least two days warning must be given of the Meeting. No business other than that which appears on the agenda must be conducted at a Special General Meeting. The Committee of the Club is also empowered to call a Special General Meeting.

8. Finances

8.2 Officers and committee members will be unremunerated.

8.3 All reasonable expenses incurred on behalf of the Club by the Secretary and Treasurer may be defrayed from Club funds.

8.4 The Secretary and Treasurer may grant reasonable out of pocket expenses to persons acting on behalf of the Club and with the prior knowledge of the Secretary and Treasurer.

8.5 At each Committee meeting Committee members shall be informed of all payments made on behalf of the Club since the previous meeting.

8.6 The Financial Year shall end on 30th September.

8.7 In the event of a surplus of income over expenditure, such surplus is to be donated to a charitable organisation, the aim of which is to promote adult literacy. However, up to 25% of such surplus a surplus may be expended on future conference management.

8.8 Committee members agree to be jointly and severally liable for the clubs debts in the event of the club being unable to pay its debts as they fall due.

8.9 In the event of any member committing the club to expenditure without the prior agreement of both secretary and treasurer, that member indemnifies the club against said expenditure.

9. Determination of Membership of the Committee

9.1 becomes incapable by reason of mental disorder, illness or injury of managing and administering his or own affairs;

9.2 is absent without permission of the committee from all their meetings held within a period of 6 months and the Executive Committee resolve that his or her office be vacated;

9.3 notifies to the committee a wish to resign

But

9.4 For the avoidance of doubt, in the event of a committee member ceasing to be a committee member prior to the conference date, they shall remain liable on a joint and several basis with the rest of the committee for the debts of the club entered into at that time. If, at a committee meeting held in accordance with the constitution a majority of the committee including as a minimum six persons voting in favour, approves a resolution that the retiring committee member shall have no ongoing liability in respect of the debts of the club incurred while he or she was a committee member, then such retiring committee member shall have no further liability, and the remaining committee members will indemnify the retiring committee member against any liability in respect of such debts.

10. Alterations to the Constitution

11. Dissolution

12. Miscellaneous

11.2 For the purposes of this constitution, convention and conference shall be considered synonymous.

11.3 The club will be governed by the laws of England and Wales.

11.4 for the purposes of service of papers and other reasons, the club's address shall be 26 Discovery House, Newby Place, London E14 0HA

Constitution last changed October 2004.

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