LYMINGTON & DISTRICT INTERNATIONAL TWINNING ASSOCIATION CONSTITUTION (As amended July 2023) 1. NAME The name of the Association shall be “Lymington and District International Twinning Association” hereinafter referred to as “LITA” 2. TWIN TOWNS The “Twin Towns” shall be those towns with whom Lymington and Pennington Town Council (hereinafter referred to as “The Town Council”) and LITA have formed, or may in future form, civic twinning links; namely: Almansa, Spain; Mosbach, Germany; Vitre, France; and such other towns as may be added under the terms of this Constitution 3. AIMS 3.1. The aims of LITA shall be to foster friendships and understanding between the communities of Lymington and district and those of the Twin Towns, by enabling people to experience each others’ histories, cultures and lifestyles, and by supporting the civic twinning links 3.2. In order to further its Aims, LITA shall organise:
4.1 Membership shall be open to all persons who are in sympathy with the Aims of LITA 4.2 Categories of membership shall be as follows:
4.4 New members joining between 1st March and 30th June shall pay 50% of the annual subscription current for that period, and thereafter shall be liable for the full subscription rate 4.5 Membership shall be free for members who are in full-time education 5. MANAGEMENT 5.1 The affairs of LITA shall be managed by a Management Committee (hereinafter referred to as “the Committee”) consisting of at most twelve members. The Town Council shall be invited to appoint a representative to serve as one of the members of the Committee, in order to maintain liaison between the Council and LITA. All other members shall be elected annually at the AGM 5.2 The Mayor of Lymington and Pennington shall be invited to become Honorary President of LITA and to chair the AGM 5.3 The Officers of the Committee shall be: the Chairman; the Deputy Chairman; Vice-Chairmen each with particular responsibility for liaison with a Twin Town; the Social Secretary; the Honorary Secretary; the Honorary Treasurer and such other Officers as may be deemed necessary by the Committee 5.4 The Officers shall be elected at the AGM and shall hold office until the conclusion of the next AGM 5.5 All Members of the Committee, including the Chairman, shall be eligible for re-election 5.6 The Committee shall have the power to co-opt at most four members, and co-opted members shall have the power to vote at meetings of the Committee 5.7 The Committee shall have the power to set up Sub-Committees, chaired by a member of the Committee, and which shall have the power to co-opt their membership (which may include non-members of LITA) with the right to vote in that Sub-Committee 5.8 The Committee shall ensure the maintenance of public liability insurance at an adequate level 5.9 The quorum at meetings of the Committee shall be five 5.10 Voting at meetings of the Committee shall be by a show of hands, and the Chairman shall have a casting vote 5.11 Minutes of all meetings and all records (other than financial) shall be kept by the Hon Secretary 6 FINANCES 6.1 LITA’s financial year shall run from 1st April in each year to 31st March the following year 6.2 The funds of LITA shall be held in one or more accounts in the name of LITA at such banks as the Committee shall from time to time decide, and all monies received on behalf of LITA shall be paid into a LITA account 6.3 All cheques shall be signed by two persons and the Committee will decide who is authorised to sign cheques and the banks will be advised of any change by the Secretary 6.4 The Honorary Treasurer will provide up to date financial information, including the balance in each LITA account and any cash on hand, to each meeting of the Committee, or as otherwise requested by the Committee 6.5 The Honorary Treasurer will provide for approval a balance sheet of the Accounts for the previous financial year to the Annual General Meeting of the Association. The Honorary Treasurer will also provide an update to this information at the AGM 6.6 The Accounts of the Association for the previous year, including the above balance sheet, shall, prior to their presentation to the Annual General Meeting, first be subject to examination and approval by an Independent Accounts Examiner 6.7 The Independent Accounts Examiner will be appointed at the Annual General Meeting or, should that not be possible, by the Committee 6.8 The Independent Accounts Examiner will not be related to any member of the Committee, nor will he/she have held a position on the Committee during the 21 months prior to the commencement of the period being examined 6.9 All monies raised by or on behalf of LITA shall be applied to further the Aims of LITA and for no other purpose 7. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 7.1 The Committee shall call an Annual General Meeting to be held between 1st May and 30th June each year, giving each member at least twenty-eight days’ notice by electronic communication (typically as an email attachment), or, where members have requested that option in writing, by post. The notice to be communicated is as described in clause 7.2. 7.2 The notice of the AGM shall include:
7.4 The business of the AGM shall include:-
8. SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING 8.1 A Special General Meeting (SGM) of LITA may be called by the Committee, or on a written request signed by at least ten members of LITA, and delivered to the Hon Secretary containing details of the matter to be discussed 8.2 Members shall be given twenty-eight days notice in writing (by post) of an SGM meeting, together with details of the matter to be discussed 8.3 The quorum at a SGM shall be twenty members or one third of the membership, whichever is the lesser 9. VOTING AT GENERAL MEETINGS 9.1 Only members present at the meeting shall be entitled to vote 9.2 Each individual member shall be entitled to one vote, and joint members shall be entitled to two votes, provided that two are present 9.3 The Chairman shall have a casting vote (except as provided by 9.4 below) 9.4 In the event of a contested election for an Officer or any other member of the Committee, the voting shall take the form of a secret ballot, with the President acting as returning officer (or, in his/her absence, the Hon Secretary). In the event of a tied ballot, the elected candidate shall be decided by the drawing of lots 10. CHANGES TO THE TWIN TOWNS 10.1 Changes to the Twin Towns (whether by proposing an additional Twinning Charter or by cancelling an existing Twinning Charter) shall be made only at an AGM or a SGM called for that specific purpose, to which a member of the Town Council shall be invited 10.2 A new Twinning Charter shall be signed only with the agreement of the Town Council 11. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION 11.1 Amendments to the Constitution shall be made only at a SGM called for that specific purpose, or an AGM, details of the proposed amendments being given in the notice convening that meeting 11.2 Any such amendment shall require the approval of at least two thirds of the members present and voting at that meeting 12. DISSOLUTION OF LITA If the membership of LITA should fall below ten, or by agreement at an AGM or SGM called to discuss the issue, LITA shall be dissolved and all funds shall be donated to the Lymington Community Centre or such other Lymington based charitable organisation as the members shall decide THIS REVISED CONSTITUTION was adopted by the LITA membership at the Annual General Meeting dated 28th June 2023 Signed: Vanessa Ainsworth Chairman LYMINGTON & DISTRICT INTERNATIONAL TWINNING ASSOCIATION POLICIES 1. Student placements (Adopted: 30th April 2012) From time to time LITA receives requests from our twin towns for LITA to arrange work placements and / or provide accommodation for students visiting Lymington (usually for work experience and / or to improve their English). LITA will not undertake this, but will inform the membership of the request so that they may respond independently if they wish. 2. Travel expenses on LITA business agreed by Committee (Adopted: 9th April 2013) Public transport costs will be reimbursed in full. Travel by car will be reimbursed at 10p less than the current mileage rate set by HMRC (in 2013/4 this is 45p-10p = 35p). 3. Reciprocal Travel Charge (RTC) for LITA twinning trips to twin towns (Adopted: 9th April 2013) The purpose of the RTC is to create a fund to help pay for the costs of entertaining our twin town visitors when they next visit Lymington. A charge of £35 per adult going on the trip will be made, irrespective of the method of travel taken to reach the twin town. 4. Safeguarding Visits by UNACCOMPANIED YOUNG PEOPLE FROM TWIN TOWNS (Adopted: 12th November 2013) Safeguarding Policy Town Twinning visits are regarded as private arrangements and Disclosure and Barring Scheme – DBS (formerly CRB) checks are not required for hosts. It is good practice that LITA has measures in place to ensure the safeguarding of young people when hosted without their parent/guardian during the twinning visit. Key Guidance
In addition to assessing risks inherent in any Twinning visit, there are additional specific risks relating to visits by young people not directly supervised by a parent/guardian whilst they are with host families. In order to reduce the possibility of harm it is necessary to consider additional control measures, some of which may be considered best by answering the following questions:
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Lymington International Twinning Association
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