1. NAME OF THE CLUB:
1.1. The name of the club shall be: Cwmtawe Photographic Club.
2. OBJECTIVES
2.1. The main purpose of the club is to bring together people from the Swansea Valley and surrounding areas who share an interest in photography.
2.2. Develop their photographic skills and knowledge through tutorials, lectures, practical events, and group outings gaining valuable experience throughout their photographic journey, helping to build our members confidence to obtain accreditation with National organisations like the Welsh Photographic Federation and the Royal Photographic Society
2.3. To further these objectives, the club shall promote and hold internal club, inter-club and special competitions, sponsor exhibitions, and/or support any such activity which the club committee sanctions (see rule no 10).
2.4. To offer a social environment where members can offer encouragement, mentoring and friendship to other members.
2.5. Promote photography by supporting the wider local Community through exhibitions and events.
3. MEMBERSHIP
3.1. All members of the club are bound by this constitution, a copy of which is available on the club website.
3.2. The club membership year shall be the twelve (12) months ending 31st March
3.3. The committee reserves the right to refuse membership.
3.4. The committee can request a member to appear before it, to answer any accusation or charge made. The member will be provided with a written statement of an accusation or charge at least fourteen (14) days before the attendance at a committee meeting. The member has the right, and will be given full opportunity, to state his/her case before the committee. If the member considers it in his/her interest, he/she may bring witnesses to the meeting.
3.5. A member may be asked to resign, or be expelled, by a decision of the committee. The member will be informed of the reason for the decision and also that he/she shall have the right of appeal to a special general meeting which shall be called solely for that purpose.
3.6. All details of the committee proceedings, and any special general meeting called under rule 3.5 shall be treated as confidential.
3.7. Any member may resign from the club, at any time, by notifying the general secretary.
3.8. In order to facilitate the running of the club, members are asked to allow their contact details, grades in competitions, photographic qualifications and other such details, to be entered into any club computer programme.
3.9. Minutes of committee meetings will be made available to members upon request.
4. SUBSCRIPTIONS
4.1. Subscription rates shall be fixed by the committee and any revision shall be announced at the annual general meeting.
4.2. Subscriptions are due in full on the 1st April, or by two instalments on the 1st April and 1st October
4.3. Subscriptions are not refundable. A member whose subscription is more than two months overdue without good reason, will be considered as having resigned from the club.
4.4. Only fully paid-up members will be eligible to enter competitions.
5. OFFICERS
5.1. Officers shall consist of President, Chairman, Vice-chairman, Secretary, Treasurer. (The minimum is Chairman, General Secretary and Treasurer)
5.2. The chairman, having completed two (2) consecutive years in office, may be eligible for re-election to that post for the following year.
5.3. To ensure continuity in the business of the club, the retiring chairman shall be re-elected to the committee for the year following his/her term of office as President
6. VICE-PRESIDENTS
6.1. On recommendation of the committee, vice-presidents may be created at an annual general meeting. They shall be entitled to serve as additional committee members, with full voting powers. There shall be not more than five (5) vice-presidents, and they shall be paid-up members of the Cwmtawe Photographic Club.
7. TRUSTEES:
7.1. Three persons will be nominated by the committee as trustees of the club, to discharge the duties of the club in the event of the dissolution of the club, as laid down in Rule 12.
7.2. The names of the trustees shall be confirmed by the committee annually. They will be: the President, the Chairman and the Treasurer.
8. CLUB MANAGEMENT:
8.1. Club affairs shall be managed by the committee.
8.2. The primary roles and responsibilities of the committee are referred to in Appendix 2.
8.3. The committee shall consist of the five (5) officers, the president and up to eight (8) ordinary members and any co-opted members deemed necessary by the committee. Membership of the committee shall be for a period of twelve (12) months. The president is not allowed to vote.
8.4. Members must have four (4) months membership of the club, and must not be minors, before being eligible to stand for, or be elected to, the committee.
8.5. If the number of committee members should fall, any eligible member of the club may be co-opted by the committee to serve as a member, or as an officer, excluding the treasurer, with full voting rights.
8.6. All committee members, except presidents, retire annually except as provided under Rule 5.2, but are eligible for re-election. At committee meetings four (4) shall form a quorum and have to include one-third of the officers.
8.7. No members shall be elected to more than one of the formal offices of the club, as set out in Rule 5, other than in exceptional circumstances, which shall be subject to agreement by the annual general meeting at the time of the requirement or by an extraordinary general meeting called for the purpose.
8.8. The treasurer, when authorised by the club committee, shall pay by cheque all bills payable by the club. No blank cheques shall be issued or signed.
8.9. The treasurer, shall keep a record of all payments, and shall report thereon to the committee as required.
8.10. The treasurer, shall prepare an annual statement of accounts, consisting of an income and expenditure account and a balance sheet, which shall be audited and then reproduced for presentation to the club membership.
8.11. The club financial year shall be twelve (12) months ending 31st March. Cheques and other negotiable instruments shall be signed by the treasurer and either the chairman or general secretary. In the absence of the treasurer, the chairman and the general secretary shall sign.
8.12. The committee is empowered to invest any surplus funds at interest.
8.13. The funds of the club shall be applied solely to the stated objectives of the club.
8.14. No member of the club shall receive payment directly or indirectly for services to the club other than for legitimate expenses.
8.15. Whenever possible, external independent qualified auditors should be appointed by the committee. Otherwise the club auditors shall be members who are not serving members of the committee, nominated and elected in the same manner as the nominations and election of officers or committee members. A temporary vacancy in the office shall be filled by a member of the committee.
8.16. The appointment of delegates to the Welsh Photographic Federation shall be made by the committee from amongst the club membership.
9. GENERAL MEETINGS:
9.1. The annual general meeting (AGM) of the club members shall take place in October each year.
9.2. An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the members may be convened by the committee, or by requisition signed by at least twenty (20) paid-up members, stating the objective and sent to the general secretary a minimum of twenty one (21) days prior to the proposed date of the meeting.
9.3. All nominations for officers, committee members and auditors, together with notices of motion to be brought before the annual general meeting, shall be in the hands of the general secretary twenty one (21) days before the proposed date of the meeting.
9.4. All notices of motion shall be set out and signed by the proposer and seconder. In the case of nominations, they shall be signed by the nominee indicating acceptance of the nomination. All nominees, proposers and seconders shall be paid-up members of the club.
9.5. The publication of the date of the annual general meeting in the club programme of events shall be deemed as notice of annual general meeting. Otherwise, twenty-one (21) days’ notice shall be given appropriately beforehand during club nights.
9.6. Notices of motion, nominations to committee and audited accounts shall be circulated to paid-up club members one week prior to the annual general meeting. The committee shall not be held responsible for non-circulation of these documents to members who are not in attendance at the club at the material time.
9.7. One quarter of the paid-up membership shall form a quorum at a general meeting, except as provided for in Rule 9.2.
9.8. Motions accepted at an annual general meeting, shall become effective from the first meeting of the following year.
10. COMPETITIONS AND EXHIBITIONS
10.1. In order to promote improvement of the photographic standards within the club through the spirit of friendly rivalry, the committee shall, each year, organise a series of competitions called monthly competitions, and such other competitions and exhibitions as it may think fit.
10.2. The committee shall draw up all rules for internal competitions and exhibitions (See Appendix 1), and may amend such rules or make new rules. No amended or new rule shall be effective until twenty eight (28) days’ notice has been given at a meeting of the club.
10.3. The committee shall decide on the club’s participation in competitions, exhibitions and other events for which entry is not confined to members of the club, and make arrangements for such participation.
10.4. The committee shall arrange for the awarding of cups and trophies owned by the club, and for any other cups and trophies which may in future come into the possession of the club.
11. EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES – STATEMENT OF INTENT
For the club’s statement of intent regarding equal opportunities refer to Appendix 3 of this document.
12. DISSOLUTION
12.1. Dissolution of the club may be effected by a special resolution requiring a majority of at least two thirds of the paid-up membership.
12.2. Upon dissolution, the committee will apply, so far as is necessary, the assets of the club to discharge liabilities due at the date of the dissolution, and also those incurred in the course thereof. All property of the club shall be realised.
12.3. If, after all liabilities have been met, there remains a surplus of assets, these assets should be handed over to the trustees.
12.4. The trustees shall hold these assets in trust for any future Cwmtawe Photographic Club which may be formed, but which must have objectives similar to the objectives of the earlier Cwmtawe Photographic Club.
12.5. If, after a period of three (3) years, no such club has been formed, the trustees, may, at their discretion, wait a further period or donate all monies to a registered charity.
Appendix 1
Cwmtawe Photographic Club – Rules for Competitions and Exhibitions
- Unless advised otherwise, all prints should be mounted using a mount size of 50cm x 40cm.
- Unless advised otherwise all Projected Digital Images (PDI) should not exceed 1400 pixels wide or 1050 pixels high. JPEG format only. sRGB colour space.
Internal Club Competitions
- Members must be aware that all internal competition entries may be selected to represent the club at external competitions. If a member does not want their entry to represent name of society at external competitions, then they should not enter it for internal competitions.
Monthly Print and PDI Leagues
- By the start of each year, members will be advised of any themes for the monthly competitions.
- Each member can enter a maximum of four images per competition –
- Two (2) Prints and Two (2) Projected Digital Images:
- One (1) Colour Print and One (1) Mono Print.
- One (1) Colour PDI and One (1) Mono PDI.
- Prints should be handed in on or before the relevant club night (as shown on the programme).
- PDIs should be submitted to the internal competition secretary (before Midnight GMT) via e-mail on or before the same hand-in date as prints.
- Members will receive an acknowledgement that their PDI has been received. If an acknowledgement is not received after a couple of days, please advise the internal competition secretary as quickly as possible.
- Competition Print Scores will be added to the Print Leagues and the PDI Scores will be added to the PDI Leagues.
Cwmtawe Photographic Club Annual Exhibition
- Each member can submit up to four (4) prints and up to four (4) PDIs.
- All prints should be mounted using a mount size of 50cm x 40cm (to fit the frames).
- For exhibition print entries, mounts must be white, off-white or ivory.
- Note: Depending on the number of frames available, not all four prints may be displayed. On the entry form members are asked to prioritize their prints. If there is a problem with the number of frames the low priority prints will not be shown.
External Competitions
- During the year Cwmtawe Photographic Club either enters or runs a number of competitions involving other camera clubs or federations and these are commonly known as external competitions. Some will be for prints only, some will be for PDIs only and some will be a combination of both.
Competition Image Bank
- There are times when the Club does not learn of submission dates until shortly before the designated date.
- In order to have a library of prints and PDIs from which to select our entries, the committee will retain the top prints and PDIs from each monthly competition.
- Members are encouraged to submit additional prints and PDIs to widen the choice.
- The internal competition secretary shall maintain the image bank and liaise with the external competition secretary to provide images for selection as required.
Appendix 2
Cwmtawe Photographic Club Officers and Duties
Note: The roles below do not mean that a different person fulfils each role.
One person may cover more than one role (see Rule 8.7).
The responsibilities of each role – unless otherwise agreed by the committee are:
President (Honorary)
The outgoing Chairman is automatically appointed President until such time as the new outgoing Chairman assumes the role. The responsibilities of the President are:
- To support the Chairman and Committee of Cwmtawe Photographic Club.
- Where possible, to be a key ambassador for the Club and in agreement with the Chairman, represent the club at formal occasions such as official functions and presentations, attend and present at domestic events, both competitions and awards, assisting with communication within the photographic community.
Chairman
The responsibilities of the Chairman are:
- To facilitate at club meetings. This involves opening and closing the meeting, ensuring that the meeting runs to schedule and relating information, as required, to the membership. When lecturers are present at a meeting, this also involves introducing the lecturer and thanking them at the end of the evening.
- To facilitate and chair all committee meetings. This involves setting the agenda for the meetings, ensuring that the meeting runs to schedule, that the committee stays on agenda and that all members have a chance to air their views. When required, the chairman shall also act as final decision maker.
- To set the agenda for and chair the club AGMs and EGMs when required.
- To support the other committee members, as required, and to ensure that all actions are addressed in good time to ensure the smooth running of the club.
- To ensure that the best interests of the club and the membership are addressed at all times.
- To be a secondary signatory to the club account (as long as the chairman is not related to the treasurer or secretary).
Vice-Chairman
The responsibilities of the vice-chairman are to stand-in and assist the Chairman.
General Secretary
The responsibilities of the secretary are:
- To be the main point of contact for the club for information and enquiries and to respond to these enquiries in good time in order to maintain the good reputation of the club. When there are enquiries from possible new members, to pass their contact details to the membership secretary in good time for the membership secretary to respond appropriately in order to promote a good view of the club.
- To co-ordinate the distribution of information to all club members (via email and post where appropriate).
- To act as a main point of contact for members of the committee (chairman, programme secretary, member representatives and web site manager) to send out information to the club members.
- To liaise with the chairman on any club matters that arise, to undertake to write and maintain a full record of all formal committee activities and forward committee notices and agendas as required.
- To be the third signatory to the club account (as long as the secretary is not related to the treasurer or the chairman).
Programme Secretary
The responsibilities of the programme secretary are:
- To undertake to plan a varied and balanced programme to meet the needs of the membership (in conjunction with the committee).
- To liaise with the competition secretary to ensure that all club competitions, including judges and closing dates where appropriate, have been captured within the programme.
- To ensure that the appropriate speakers/presenters are booked in good time to ensure a successful programme.
- To establish the requirements of the speakers/presenters in good time prior to at the meeting so that their needs can be addressed and to confirm attendance.
- To ensure that contingency plans for the programme are in place
- To liaise with the treasurer to ensure that the presenters fees are agreed and noted prior to attendance.
- To brief the chairman, as appropriate, prior to the start of a club meeting when a speaker/presenter is in attendance.
- To appraise the membership of changes in the programme, as necessary, and to provide programme details, as and when requested.
- To liaise with the website and social media manager to ensure that the master programme is held on the web site and is current and complete.
Internal Competition Secretary
The responsibilities of the internal competition secretary are:
- To ensure that all submissions to the internal competitions are properly identified and recorded prior to the internal competition and to undertake delivery of entries to the competition judge (where necessary).
- To brief the chairman, as appropriate, prior to the start of a club meeting when a judge is in attendance.
- To organise and run the monthly competition evenings and accurately record all image scores and league table data.
- To liaise with the website and social media manager to ensure that all internal competition details and results are available online.
- To maintain the image bank and liaise with the external competition secretary to provide images for selection as required.
- To maintain a permanent record of monthly competition results.
External Competition Secretary
The responsibilities of the external competition secretary are:
- To liaise with the programme secretary to ensure that external competitions are identified in the programme.
- To maintain a record of all prints and/or digital images submitted for External competitions. Note: Pictures and digital images submitted by individuals in national and international competitions where they have not been submitted on behalf of, or by, the club shall be exempt from this activity.
- To ensure that all submitted prints and/or digital images to the external competitions are properly identified and recorded prior to delivery to the sponsoring club or judge and to undertake that delivery where necessary.
- To maintain a list of all external competitions requiring club entry to during the year, the entry dates and the criteria, and to apprise the committee in good time for picture and digital image selection and submittal. Note: Or any other procedure used for selection which is followed by the club.
- To liaise with the website and social media manager to provide all details of club and individual successes in external competitions in order to recognise individuals and promote the club.
Webmaster
The responsibilities of the webmaster are:
- To create a website on which club information can be organised in an easy to navigate structure.
- Maintain updatable sections of the website with the following information:
- Important dates, Calendar of events and programme information.
- Current programme with updates.
- Information on club events, joining fees and forms.
- Updates on both internal and external competition results.
- Archived records of previous club activities.
- Receive from past club webmasters information regarding website passwords, FTP passwords, and any other pertinent information regarding the website and its administration.
- Work on large working components of the website such as new designs or new functional sections of the website.
- Maintain updatable sections of the website with the following information:
Membership Secretary
The responsibilities of the membership secretary are:
- To liaise with the treasurer to maintain a full and accurate list of club members and their details.
- To respond to possible members, either through direct contact or via the club secretary in an appropriate manner and in good time, in order to promote a good view of the club.
- To maintain a ‘welcome pack’ for new members or those who have shown an interest in the club.
- To make welcome all new members to the club.
- To ensure that all members are aware of the club constitution and the rules and guidelines of the club competitions and to ensure that these are updated appropriately.
- To liaise with the treasurer regarding attendance details and to maintain a link to those people who have not been to the club for a number of meetings.
- To liaise with the website manager to ensure that the constitution, the rules and guidelines of the club competitions and other information as required are current and available on the website.
- To liaise with the treasurer to ensure that all membership fees are paid by members within agreed timescales.
Treasurer
The responsibilities of the treasurer are:
- To liaise with the membership secretary to maintain a full and accurate list of club members and their details.
- To provide the members list to the secretary, membership secretary and the competition secretary as necessary.
- To collect all membership fees (including door money), and pay all expenses, within agreed timescales.
- To maintain an accurate and auditable record of all club income and expenditure (petty cash and bank account) and to liaise with the appointed independent accounts auditor to ensure that all records are fully audited prior to an AGM (or EGM as required).
- To be the main point of contact with regards to matters associated with club finances.
- To be the prime signatory to the club account.
- To purchase the club raffle prizes as required.
Social Secretary
The responsibilities of the Social Secretary are:
- To promote club social events.
- To organise social events such as photo-walks, annual presentation dinners, day trips, longer trips and other such events.
- To engage the help of other club members in organising social events as required.
Training and Development Officer
The responsibilities of the Training and Development Officer are:
- To organise practical training events and development courses.
- To help improve members knowledge and practical photography skills, including digital post-processing and editing techniques.
- To be a ‘focal point’ for any questions regarding photographic knowledge, and to research and provide answers for those questions, if possible.
- To engage the help of other club members in organising these events as required.
Appendix 3
Equal Opportunities
It is a basic and fundamental policy of the club that it shall be open to all persons over the age of 18 years who should wish to become members and that no potential or existing member of the club should face discrimination, either directly or indirectly, through inadequate or discriminatory advertising, through lack of facilities for people with disabilities, or through discriminatory enrolment procedures.
A young person under the age of 18 years may only be allowed to attend club meetings with:
- The approval of the committee as a whole.
- The express written permission of a parent or guardian who will undertake to both bring to, and collect from, the club that young person.
- The appointment of a responsible adult, approved by the parent or guardian, to supervise the young person while at the club.