Promoting the organ since 1911

GSO constitution and rules

1. TITLE

The Society shall be called GLASGOW SOCIETY OF ORGANISTS.

2. OBJECTS

The objects of the Society shall be the education of its Members and the public in the art of music with special reference to organ and choral music.

3. MEMBERSHIP

(i) Membership of the Society shall be open to all and shall become effective upon payment of the annual subscription.

(ii) There shall be the following categories of Membership:

(a) Ordinary

(b) Joint -

A reduced subscription shall be applicable when two or more members are resident at the same address.  Such reduction shall be fixed by the Trustees and applied to the second, and subsequent, named members’ subscription.

(c) Concessionary -

      (i) Senior Citizen (who have attained the normal State Retirement Age)

      (ii) Student

      (iii) Schoolchildren

(d) Honorary -

Honorary Membership may be conferred by the trustees of the Society on those persons who have rendered significant service to the Society or to Organ or Choral Music.

(iii) Members of the Society (other than Honorary Presidents, Honorary Vice Presidents and Honorary Members) shall pay an annual subscription to be determined for the following Session at the Annual General Meeting. Subscriptions shall fall due to be paid by 31st October. There shall be a reduced subscription for those members, who, on that date, are senior citizens (as described above), or full time students or are under nineteen years of age.

(iv) In the event of the conduct of any Member being, in the opinion of the trustees, injurious to the character, interest or good order of the Society, the trustees shall have the power to suspend such Member for whatsoever period may be decided or to call on such Member to resign. If compliance is refused, the trustees shall have the power to expel such Member, by termination of Membership and forfeiture of any subscription already paid.

4. MANAGEMENT

(i) The management of the Society shall be vested in a Committee which shall consist of:

Office Bearers

- President

- Vice President 

- Secretary

- Membership Secretary

- Treasurer

- Such other office bearers as are from time to time proposed, seconded and elected by the Annual General Meeting of the Society

(ii) The President and Vice-President shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting of the Society in the first instance to serve for two years and thereafter may be re-elected annually; the maximum period serving in either office not to exceed four years.

(iii) All other office bearers shall be elected annually without restriction.

(iv) The President shall not be eligible for a further twelve months to be an office bearer of the Society but may be elected to the Committee as an Ordinary Member.

Ordinary Members

(v) In addition the Annual General Meeting may elect other members of the Society to be Trustees to a maximum of six in number. Trustees so elected shall serve for two years before being re-elected.

Duties:

Secretary

The Secretary shall be responsible for:

- Correspondence relating to the Society

- The recording of proceedings of Trustees’ meetings, Annual General Meetings and any other official Meetings of the Society

- The calling of meetings, the issue of official notices and any other secretarial work required in connection with the Society.

Treasurer

(vii) The Treasurer shall be responsible for:

- Collecting all monies due to the Society

- The payment of authorised expenses

- Maintaining records of the financial transactions of the Society.

(viii) The Treasurer shall keep all uninvested funds in a bank account in the Society’s name, operated by him/herself.

(ix) Cheques shall be signed by the Treasurer and one other authorised Office Bearer.

(x) The Treasurer shall present at the Annual General Meeting an account of all his/her intromissions.

5. POWERS OF THE TRUSTEES

(i) The trustees may fill any vacancy which arises in its membership during the year.

(ii) The trustees may elect annually, an Honorary President and Honorary Vice Presidents. They may not attend meetings of the trustees except by invitation and shall not have a vote at Committee Meetings.

(iii) Meetings of the trustees shall be called as required by the President or the Secretary. Five shall form a quorum.

(iv) The President, whom failing the Vice President, shall preside at all meetings of the Society or the trustees. If neither of these is present, the meeting shall elect its own Chairperson. At meetings of sub-committees, the Chairperson appointed by the trustees shall always preside.

(v) All Trustees shall have one vote, and, in addition, the President shall have the right to exercise a casting vote.

(vi) The Trustees may appoint, from among its Members, sub-committees to deal with specific matters. Such sub-committees shall be subject to such rules as may be laid down by the trustees for their meeting and conduct, and shall report as required to the trustees. Sub-committees may co-opt other Members of the Society, but co-opted Members must not form a majority of the sub-committee.

(vii) The Trustees shall have power to make and rescind rules that shall be binding on all members of the Society.

6. SESSION OF THE SOCIETY

The Session of the Society shall be from 1st October, and Meetings shall normally be held monthly from October to April.

7. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Annual General Meeting shall be held in April, at which the following business shall be transacted:

(i) Minutes

The reading of the Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting, which, if approved, shall be signed by the President (or other occupant of the Chair).

(ii) Reports by:

- The President

- The Treasurer

Elections of:

(iii) The President and Vice President shall be elected in accordance with paragraph 4(ii) of this Constitution, a new President assuming office at the end of the appropriate Annual General Meeting.

(iv) Other office bearers in accordance with paragraph 4(iii) of this Constitution.

(v) Consideration of formal motions, notice of which must have been given in writing to the Secretary at least fourteen days prior to the date of the Annual General Meeting.

(vi) Any other competent business.

8. ALTERATIONS TO THE CONSTITUTION

Alterations to the Constitution shall be made only at the Annual General Meeting or at an Extraordinary General Meeting specially convened for the purpose and not otherwise. Notice of any proposed alteration must be given in writing, and signed by at least two Members of the Society. The notice must be in the hands of the Secretary at least twenty-one days before such Meeting and shall be intimated by the Secretary to the Members at least seven days before the Meeting. It shall be incompetent to alter the Constitution in any manner which would be inconsistent with the Society being recognised as a charity for the purposes of Taxation in the United Kingdom, and notice of any alterations shall be given to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator by the Principal Contact Trustee within 3 months of their approval at the Annual General Meeting or appropriate Extraordinary General Meeting.

9. EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

On receipt of a resolution of a majority of the trustees or on a request signed by at least sixteen other Members of the Society, an Extraordinary General Meeting shall be called by the Secretary. The request must specify the sole business to be discussed at this Meeting, and within twenty-eight days of the submission of such a request to the Secretary, he/she shall give to the Members of the Society at least fourteen days’ notice of the Meeting, specifying clearly the business to be transacted or discussed.

10. DISSOLUTION OF THE SOCIETY

The Society may be dissolved at any business meeting by a resolution passed by a majority of Members present, provided that notice of proposed dissolution has been given by the Secretary to the Members at least seven days before the Meeting.

11. QUORUM AT AND INTIMATION OF MEETINGS

(i) The quorum at any Annual General Meeting or Extraordinary General Meeting shall be fifteen including the President or other occupant of the Chair, provided that, if there is no quorum at an Annual General Meeting or Extraordinary General Meeting, the Meeting may determine a date not less than thirty days later, at which the Meeting shall be called and, provided that notice of such Meeting is intimated to the Members not less than fourteen days before such Meeting, the quorum shall be such Members as attend.

(ii) Notice of a Meeting shall be deemed to be intimated to the Members two days after the date of posting.

12. FUNDS

The Society does not exist to make profit and all funds shall be applied solely to its stated objects, and in the event of dissolution of the Society, any remaining funds shall be devoted to objects similar to those of the Society, which are charitable in law, and in the event that the Meeting proposing dissolution determines that the remaining funds should not be devoted to such objects, the remaining funds may be paid or transferred to other societies which are charitable in law. The allocation of such funds shall be determined by the Meeting at which it is decided to dissolve the Society.

RULES

1.  Members, other than honorary members, failing to pay the appropriate subscription by a date fixed and intimated annually by the Trustees, shall be recorded on a supplementary roll in the Society’s yearbook.  Members on this roll shall forfeit all the rights of membership, including the rights to vote at meetings, to be elected as a Trustee, to be recorded as available for deputy work and as an organ teacher.  Members' names shall remain on the supplementary roll until payment of the correct subscription is made or until removed by a meeting of the Trustees.

2.  At the discretion of the compiler of the Society’s newsletter and manager of its website, members may advertise organ and choral concerts in the Society’s newsletter and on the website, free of charge.  Charges, at rates fixed as advertised by the Trustees, will apply for advertising items for sale to members.  No charge will be made for intimating items (e.g. music) offered to the membership free of charge.

3.  Where technically possible, and at the discretion of the manager of the Society’s website, a link may be offered to members’ own church's websites advertising organ and choral concerts, free of charge.

4.  Churches and other organisations wishing to advertise in the Society’s newsletter or on its website may do so at the discretion of the compiler of the Society’s newsletter and manager of its website. Charges, at rates fixed as advertised by the Trustees, will apply.

5.  On occasion, members may be required to show their membership card before being admitted to certain of the Society's meetings.  Should this be required, it will be intimated to members in advance of the meeting.

6.  New members, joining the Society in the second half of the Society shall, at the discretion of the Trustees, have their subscription carried forward to the next session.  Such concession shall not be applied in any circumstances to persons renewing their membership of the Society.