Constitution

 

Name and Standing of the Club

The club shall be named Calne SMaRTT and will be affiliated to the South of England Athletics Association, Wiltshire Athletics Association, England Athletics & Triathlon England.

The club is an independent club built on the foundation of integrity and fairness. The Club Constitution sets the rules about how the club is organised and how members are involved in the decision making.

 

Aims & Objectives

The aims and objectives of the club will be:

  • To offer coaching and competitive opportunities and to facilitate training in Running, Cycling and Swimming for Male and Female Athletes.

  • To provide a variety of sporting activities to develop and challenge members into progressing with personal fitness and achieving their athletic goals

  • To promote the club and athletics within the local and wider community.

  • To provide access for younger athletes to develop in triathlon and running

  • To ensure duty of care to all members of the club.

  • To provide all its services in a way that is fair to everyone.

  • To ensure that all present and future members receive fair and equal treatment.

The club should take due care to consider any impact on the local community and other bodies when implementing changes to coaching, events, competitions or other practices. The Club shall promote inclusion, opportunity and social harmony to all members.

 

Membership

Membership of the club is confined to amateurs as defined by UK Athletics in the rules for Competition Handbook.

A candidate for Membership must apply in writing on a form provided for the purpose, All members will be subject to the regulations of the constitution and by joining the club will be deemed to accept regulations and codes of conduct that the club has adopted. In particular no member will seek to use the club to further their own aims or ambitions or undertake any actions which is to the detriment of the clubs aims or ambitions.

 

Subscription

Membership fees will be set annually and agreed by the Management Committee or determined at the Annual General Meeting.

Subscriptions to the club will be paid annually.

The subscription becomes due on the 1st April and should be paid no later than the 30th April.
Any payment received between the 1st May and the 31st May will incur a £5.00 administration fee.

If payment has still not been received by the 31st May the membership will be cancelled and access to online forums and inclusion on club mailing lists will be removed.

Membership fees will not be reimbursed if a member resigns or is expelled before the end of the club year.

 

Committee

The Management of the Club is vested in a committee consisting of a committee of 6 which will be elected by the Club Members.

All committee members are responsible for club leadership and setting the direction of the club to ensure that it develops in a sustainable way to the benefit of members and the local area supported by the club.

Committee members have a responsibility for ensuring that any facilities, activities or events are to benefit the club members and not for personal gain of other club members, committee members or associates.

If the club were to promote any activity where a club member would benefit then this should be discussed by the Management committee. If agreed to still offer the activity or event, then the club member interests should be openly stated in any information about the event. This includes any informal discussions on social media.
The nominated Management Committee positions are:

Club Chairman
Club Treasurer
Club Secretary
Club Performance Member
Club Development Member
Club Social Member

All 6 committee members have a right to vote on all club matters. In the event of a tied vote the Chairman’s vote will be decisive.

Committee members will be re-elected each year at the AGM.

An opportunity for club members to nominate themselves to be considered for a committee role will be available at each AGM.

If there is more than a single nomination for each committee role, then there would be a vote for the nominated candidates.

The candidate obtaining the majority of votes would be elected.

Should a committee member resign from their post during the year the committee has the discretion to call an EGM to elect a new member.

Committee members being elected at an EGM do not have to be re-elected at the subsequent AGM.

The Management Committee will be convened by the Secretary of the club and held no less than FOUR times per year.

The quorum required for business to be agreed at Management Committee meetings will be four.

The Management Committee will be responsible for adopting new policy, codes of conduct and rules that affect the organisation of the club.

The Management Committee will have powers to appoint sub-committees as necessary and appoint advisers to the Management Committee as necessary to fulfil its business.

The Management Committee will be responsible for disciplinary hearings of members who infringe the club rules/regulations/constitution.

The Management Committee will be responsible for taking any action of suspension or discipline following such hearings.

 

Finance

All club monies will be banked in an account held in the name of Calne SMaRTT. The Club Treasurer will be responsible for the finances of the club.

The financial year of the club will end on: 31st December.

An audited statement of annual accounts will be presented by the Treasurer at the Annual General Meeting.

Any cheques drawn against club funds will hold the signatures of the Treasurer plus up to three other officers.

Annual General Meetings

Notice of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be given by the Club Secretary.

The AGM will receive a report from officers of the Management Committee and a statement of the audited accounts.

Nominations for officers of the Management Committee will be sent to the Secretary prior to the AGM.

All members have the right to vote at the AGM.

At the Management committees’ discretion, an online voting option can be used to ensure that a full participation of voting is obtained.

The quorum for AGMs will be 25% of the membership.

The Management Committee has the right to call Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs)

Disciplinary and Appeals Procedure

All complaints regarding the behaviour of members should be submitted in writing to the Secretary.

The Management Committee will meet to hear complaints within TWENTY-ONE days of a complaint being lodged.

The committee has the power to take appropriate disciplinary action including the termination of membership.

The outcome of a disciplinary hearing should be notified in writing to the person who lodged the complaint and the member against whom the complaint was made within SEVEN days of the hearing.

There will be the right of appeal to the Management Committee following disciplinary action being announced.

The committee should consider the appeal within TWENTY-ONE days of the Secretary receiving the appeal.

Dissolution

A resolution to dissolve the club can only be passed at an AGM or EGM through a majority vote of the membership.

In the event of dissolution, any assets of the club that remain will become the property of The Members.

Alteration of rules

The Club Secretary shall give to every member at least 7 days’ notice of the time and place of Annual General Meeting along with the business to be dealt with at any meeting.

The club rules will only be changed through agreement by majority vote at an AGM or EGM.

Data Protection

The Club Chairman will be the club data manager and ensure that there is a valid up to date and relevant data protection policy.

This is to ensure that any information on club members is held securely and not distributed to third parties without the authorisation of the individuals concerned.

This note sets out the key aspects of data protection as relevant to the collection, storage and management of club data.

The principles to be followed are below:

The Data Protection Act 1998

The Data Protection Act 1998 sets out the key principles for managing data linked to a specific person.

The guidelines below guide how the club collects, uses and analyses the data in line with the principles of the Data Protection Act (DPA). Not only is compliance with the DPA a legal requirement, there are good management reasons for doing so. For example using out of date or inaccurate data could result in incorrect affiliations and failing to follow correct procedures when processing and storing information could have serious consequences.

Principles of the Data Protection Act 1998

There are eight data protection principles. Personal data shall be:

  • Fairly and lawfully processed
  • Processed for limited purposes – i.e. used for the reason it was supplied for
  • Adequate, relevant and not excessive
  • Accurate and up to date
  • Not kept for longer than is necessary
  • Processed in line with your rights
  • Kept securely and
  • Not transferred to other countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) without adequate protection.

Note: personal data covers any data that identifies a living individual person. Data covered in the Act includes electronic, manual and recorded data – anything which can identify an individual.

Registration forms and entry forms

To comply with the “fair and lawful” principle above, it is important to tell our club members why their personal data is being collected and obtain their consent to use it in this way.

 

Club membership forms

When someone signs up to be a member of club it is reasonable to assume that they will expect to be contacted by the club committee from time to time with internal club communications, and that overall membership numbers and other aggregated information may be reported externally to the sport national governing body. However, as no information is ever shared with any third parties with the intention of them contacting members, thus, the membership form does not need to have an “opt out option” tick box as the default expectation is opting out of any personal data sharing.

The membership form will include a brief explanation of how any personal data that is requested may be used. This will include a statement of any personal information shared with a third party in a way that enables the individual to be identified.

 

Storing and using contact details

Contact details will only be used for the purposes set out in the data protection statement. All personal data must be kept securely and not be stored any longer than is necessary. If the information relates to participants in Sport England funded activities, all evaluation and audit requirements should have been met before deleting or destroying it.

 

Vulnerable Adults

Definition – All adults aged 18 or over who are or may be in need of community services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness and who are, or may be unable to take care of themselves, or unable to protect themselves against significant harm or exploitation (No Secrets document, 2000),

It is good practice to have available other information about the activity/programme/evaluation for a named (by the vulnerable adult) parent/carer. Consent must also be gained from the individual before using or passing on information about them to a third party.

Calne SMaRTT Data Protection Statement

As a club member you complete a registration form annually in April each year. As a participant in an event organised by the club you complete an entry form for that event. This gives the club the following:

  • some information about you (name, age, next of kin, medical conditions etc)
  • your contact details (email address and mobile number etc)

How we will use the information about you

The information about you will be used to:

  • authorise any benefits which club membership entitles you to. This may be in the form of registration lists or for third party partner organisations to validate membership of the club
  • provide facilities which facilitate your full participation in the club or event
  • help us plan for future sports activities

We may share the information you have given us with England Athletics for affiliation purposes. This may include your personal information. We will pass on the statistical results to other sport governing bodies to help with their planning activities. We will ensure that you cannot be identified from these statistics.

We may share details of your performance in club activities – e.g. event results information and pictures.

We will not do this if you indicate that you do not want to be contacted in this way by contacting sec@calnesmartt.co.uk

How we will use your contact details

Your contact details will be used to contact you to inform you of club events and activities. This will only be by the club management and all communications will be authorised by a committee member

We will not do this if you indicate that you do not want to be contacted in this way by contacting sec@calnesmartt.co.uk

Note:  We do not pass your contact details to any third parties so that they can contact you directly under any circumstances.