Summer 2005 Newsletter : New Branch Constitution Approved

We are pleased to report that the proposed changes to the Branch Constitution, details of which were sent to all members with their Spring Newsletter, were unanimously approved by members at the 2005 Branch Annual General Meeting.

Over the past two years the UK Branch Council had discussed changes to the Constitution with two main objectives:

The first was to change some small details to reflect current practice and to delete reference to items that no longer exist. These were straightforward, non-contentious issues and indeed no objections were raised to these at any stage during discussions either within Council or with the wider membership. Briefly we have now agreed to keep separate the two offices of Secretary, who also remains Assistant Treasurer, and of Treasurer, who remains as Assistant Secretary. Under the new Constitution these offices cannot in future be combined into one office of Secretary/Treasurer. We have also agreed to remove references to the now extinct NDP Fund and to the Education and Careers Committee, together with other small issues of a tidying-up nature.

The second and more important objective, although unanimously sought in principle by Council, had needed more discussion in order to reach a consensus view on how best to achieve it. There has for some time been general agreement that the post of Immediate Past President is neither very fulfilling nor useful and that it should be replaced by that of a potentially more active Vice President. The eventual proposal was unanimously agreed at the 2005 AGM and introduces a new office of Vice President with the officeholder taking an active role in Branch affairs prior to standing, if he/she should agree, for election to President after four years in post. To facilitate the implementation of the new arrangements the current President, Dr Paul Hocking, who was the instigator and a strong supporter of the Constitutional changes, has generously offered to relinquish his automatic succession to Immediate Past President at the 2006 AGM. It will then be necessary to elect both a new President and a new Vice President - so members need to start thinking now about potential candidates for these two offices.