Constitution for the Village Bakers LGBTQ+ Social Group

Name
The name of the group shall be Village Bakers

Aims
The aims of Village Bakers will be:

• To provide a safe, inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ bakers to meet and socialise with other like-minded individuals
• To be a free membership organisation, that is accessible to individuals of all financial situations. Only a small donation would be suggested if no baking is contributed.
• To support fundraising to maintain the day to day running and organisation of village bakers.
• To provide an environment where Village Bakers members can improve their skills and knowledge of baking and cookery.

Membership
Membership is open to anyone who supports the aims of Village Bakers. Membership will begin as soon as an individual has attended and registered at any 3 monthly Village Bakers meetings and a membership card has been issued by the committee, the membership card will be renewed after the expiry date by attending any one village bakers meeting. Members may resign at any time by requesting in writing to leave the group and returning the Village Bakers Membership card.

Code of Conduct
Any offensive behaviour, including racist, sexist, homophobic or inflammatory remarks, will not be permitted. Anyone behaving in an offensive way or breaking the equal opportunities policy may be asked not to attend further meetings, leave the group, return their membership card and removed from online social media. The individual concerned shall have the right to discuss the issue with members of the committee, before a final decision is made.

Equal Opportunities
Village Bakers will not discriminate on the grounds of gender, gender identity, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, sexuality, disability, religious or political belief, marital status or age.

Founder Patron / Patrons
Founder Patron: Kevin Sargent
Founder Patron: The founder patron is restricted to that individual stated in the constitution, who originally founded the Village Bakers. The role is designed to ensure that the committee and its members uphold the constitution and the core aims of the group are maintained ensuring the longevity of the group. If the founder patron is no longer able to fulfil the role, the committee will vote to elect a suitable replacement.

Patrons: non listed
Patrons: The group patrons are those listed in the constitution, and should be persons of outstanding achievement or persons of high community standing, each patron is chosen by a majority vote from the committee, and this should be recorded and announced to the group if confirmed.

The role of patron is to support the group and help to raise the profile of the group to a wider audience. Helping to ensure the group achieves its greatest potential.

Officers and Committee
The business of the group will be carried out by a committee agreed by the members. The committee will meet as necessary, and not less than four times a year. The committee will consist of a minimum of 3 members, and be composed of at least 3 core officer roles and others as committee officer’s members. All committee officers and committee members must be Village Bakers members and hold a valid Village Bakers membership card.

The core officers’ roles are as follows:

• Chairperson, who shall chair committee meetings
• Vice Chairperson, who shall chair committee meetings and support the Chair.
• Secretary, who shall be responsible for the taking of minutes and the distribution of all papers.
• Treasurer who shall be responsible for maintaining accounts;

The general committee member roles are as follows:

• Committee Officer
• Committee Officer – Membership
• Committee Officer

All roles will be elected by the membership in accordance with the election procedure detailed in the constitution. The chairperson will ensure that all roles have a full role portrait detailing role expectations, responsibilities and the length of term.

In the event of an officer standing down a replacement will be sought by the committee using the election procedure detailed in the constitution. This decision will be announced to the members via appropriate communication methods and at a Village Bakers meeting.

Any committee member not attending a meeting without apology for three committee meetings or not attending three consecutive meetings with an apology will be contacted by the committee and asked if they wish to resign.

Any committee member who is deemed by the majority of the committee as not fulfilling their role will be asked if they wish to resign.

The Committee meetings will be open to any member of Village Bakers to attend by request.

AGM / Election of Village Bakers Committee
Election of Village Bakers Committee
Each committee role will be elected into office by the membership on an annual or biannual term depending on the role portrait.

In advance of the AGM the opportunity to join the committee will be advertised to the membership, and details will be shared of the roles available on the committee.

Role portraits will be provided to any person interested in running for election, members will only be eligible to run for 1 committee role at a time.

If a role is un-challenged then the current committee member is free to continue in that role.

The election will be organised & overseen by the chairperson & secretary.

If a vote is required, voting will take place at the village bakers AGM and only Village Bakers members with a valid membership card will be eligible to vote on a 1 member 1 vote basis.

Voting will finish online the 24hrs before the AGM with final votes cast at the AGM meeting. The candidate with highest number votes will be elected or re-elected to the committee for the term of their role. Votes will be counted by the chairperson and verified by a second committee member.

Finances
An account will be maintained on behalf of the Village Bakers at a bank agreed by the committee. Three cheque signatories will be nominated by the Committee (one to be the Treasurer). The cheque signatories must only be officers of the committee. Any two of these must sign every cheque. The signatories must not be related nor members of the same household or in a relationship with each other.

Records of income and expenditure will be maintained by the Treasurer and a financial statement given if requested in writing by any member.

All money raised by or on behalf of Village Bakers is only to be used to further the aims of the Village Bakers, as specified in item 2 of this constitution.

Full income/expenditure accounts will be published and presented at the Village Bakers AGM by the Treasurer on a yearly basis, and communicated to wider membership Village Bakers Website.

Social Media Code of Conduct
Village Bakers LGBT Social Group accepts no responsibility for the content, views and opinions published by external followers on any social media; these are expressly the views and opinions of followers and not Village Bakers.

Offensive Behaviour
Village Bakers will remove any content which they believe to be offensive in any way, and does not meet the Village Bakers Constitution or is not in the spirt intended of the group.

Advertising
Village Bakers LGBT+ Social Group will not permit any third party advertising on any media type without the express permission of the village bakers committee.

Any third party advertising authorised by the committee must be in line with the Village Bakers Constitution and Social Media Code of Conduct.

Any third party advertising must be deemed by the committee to be of interest to the members group and managed to an acceptable level.

Village Bakers Branding & Copyright
The Village Bakers logo (rainbow cupcake), wording, lettering, or any description to “Village Bakers LGBT+ Social Group” will only be used to benefit the members of the group and remains the intellectual property of the village bakers.

Any finances raised by using The Village Bakers branding, by the village bakers or by a third party can only be used to benefit the group finances, and should never be used to solely benefit any individual or individual organisation.

Any use of the Village Bakers branding by any third party can only be authorised by a majority vote by the committee.

Amendments to this Constitution
Any proposal to amend the constitution must be raised and recorded during a committee meeting.

Amendments to the constitution may only be made with agreement of the majority of the committee and approval from the founder patron, ensuring it is inline the group’s purpose.

The proposal will be announced to the membership via appropriate communication methods for a period of 2 weeks consultation. If no objections are received the new constitution will be implemented.

Dissolution

If it is agreed by the committee and the founder patron to close down the Village Bakers group all remaining money and other assets, once any outstanding debts have been paid, will be donated to a local charitable organisation. The organisation to be agreed at the committee meeting which agrees the dissolution.

This constitution was agreed by the Committee & membership of the Village Bakers on:

Date 13/02/2022 (version 5)