Society Rules

1. TITLE. The Society shall be called "The Cody Farnborough Amateur Operatic Society."

2. OBJECTS. The object of the Society is to educate the public in the dramatic and operatic arts and to further the development of public appreciation in the said arts; and in the furtherance of this object, but not otherwise, the Society, through its management committee shall have the following powers:-

(a) To promote plays, dramas, comedies, operas, operettas and other dramatic and operatic works of educative value.

(b) To purchase, acquire and obtain interests in the copyright of or the right to perform or show any such dramatic or operatic works.

(c) To purchase or otherwise acquire plant, machinery, furniture, fixtures, fittings, scenery and all other necessary effects.

(d) To raise funds and to invite and receive contributions from any person or persons whatsoever by way of subscription, donation and otherwise; provided that the Society shall not undertake any permanent trade activities in raising funds.

(e) To do all such other things as shall further the aims of the Society.

(f) The Society shall be entitled to make donations for charitable purposes as the members in the Annual General Meeting shall from time to time determine.

3. FINANCE. The funds of the Society shall be applied solely to the stated objectives of the Society. Members of the Society may receive payments directly or indirectly including legitimate expenses for services to the Society. Such payments are at the discretion of the Committee.

4. CONSTITUTION. The Society shall consist of a President, Vice Presidents, Members, Patrons, Junior members and Life Members. Life members may, on the recommendation of the Committee only, be elected on such terms as the members of the Society at the Annual General Meeting may decide.

5. OFFICERS. The Officers of the Society shall be the Chairman, Secretary(ies), Treasurer, Business Manager, Publicity Managers and Box Office Managers.

6. PRODUCTION TEAM. a production team shall consist of a Producer, Musical Director, Stage Manager, Choreographer and Costume Manager and any additional co-opted members as may be required..

7. MANAGEMENT. The Society shall be managed by a Committee consisting of the Officers and five other members of the Society, the Minutes Secretary and the Production Teams, ex officio. At least three members of the Committee shall be current or former employees of the RAE, DRA, DERA, DSTL or QinetiQ. The Committee shall have the power to co-opt additional members as may be necessary from time to time and to fill any vacancies on the Committee until the next General Meeting and to appoint a Vice Chairman from its members. The Committee may also appoint assistant officers and assistants to the members of the Production Team and if such assistants are not already members of the Committee, they may only attend Committee meetings with the right to vote in the absence of their Principal. Members of the Production Teams or their assistants (unless already members of the Committee) shall only attend and vote at Committee Meetings where the production for which they have been appointed is on the Agenda for discussion. The quorum at Committee meetings shall be seven.

8. ELIGIBILITY FOR MEMBERSHIP. Membership shall be open to all those having sympathy with the objects of the Society and desiring to further it and to pay the subscriptions prescribed by the Rules. The election of members, other than Life members, shall rest solely with the Committee.

9. APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP. Application for election to all classes of membership of the Society shall be made in writing, signed by the applicant to the Secretary, who shall submit the same to the Committee for its decision. Notice of election or rejection shall be sent to the applicant by the Secretary. Every member shall be provided with a copy of these Rules.

10. SUBSCRIPTIONS. The annual subscription to the Society for all classes of membership shall be determined from time to time at an Annual General Meeting of the Society. Subject to their annual subscription being paid, all members, except Junior members shall be entitled to vote at General Meetings of the Society, and to privileges, other than performing on the stage, as may be determined from time to time by the committee. Additionally, fully paid up members shall be eligible for selection to perform in the Society's productions. The Members actually selected to perform in any production (whether in a principal part or as a chorus member) shall pay in addition to their annual subscription, a production contribution. This contribution shall be determined from time to time at a General Meeting of the Society. If any event involving the privileges of any class of member occurs within the period for payment of annual subscription permitted by rule 15, those who paid in full for the previous year shall be deemed to be still fully paid up.

11. PAYMENT OF SUBSCRIPTIONS. The first annual subscription shall become due and be paid to the Treasurer or his deputy on receipt of notice of election from the Secretary, and all subsequent annual subscriptions shall become due on the 1st July. The additional contribution payable by members selected to perform in a production must be paid not later than a month previous to the date of such production. Non-compliance with this rule may disqualify a Member from participation in a production.

12. FINANCIAL YEAR. The financial year of the Society shall end on the 30th April each year.

13. TREASURER'S DUTIES. The Treasurer shall be responsible for the collection of all monies due to the Society and shall, with the least possible delay, pay into the bank and/or building society account of the Society all monies received. He shall issue appropriate membership cards to all members whose subscriptions have been paid. He shall pay all approved accounts due to the Society and shall prepare an Annual Financial Report which shall be presented, having been independently examined, at the Annual General Meeting. The Treasurer may delegate any of his duties, other than his cheque signatory powers for bank and/or building society mandate to his assistant or to the Business Manager or his assistant.

14. BANKING AND BUILDING SOCIETY ACCOUNTS. The banking and building society accounts of the Society shall be operated on the authority of any two of the following officers:- The Chairman, the Treasurer, the Business Manager and the Secretary.

15. NON PAYMENT OF SUBSCRIPTIONS. The committee shall have the power, by ordinary resolution, to suspend any class of Member whose subscription remains unpaid before the Autumn Show, from exercising all or any of his or her privileges until the subscription has been paid or, at their discretion, to terminate the membership of any such persons and to erase his or her name from the Membership Register.

16. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. The Annual General Meeting of the Society shall be held before the end of June when he following business shall be transacted:-

(a) Apologies for absence shall be received.

(b) The Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting and of any Extraordinary General Meeting held since the last Annual General Meeting shall be approved.

(c) The Chairman shall present his report on the Society's activities during the previous year. Election shall be by ballot or show of hands as may be decided by the meeting. Should any of the positions to be filled remain vacant at the end of the meeting, appointments to them may be made by the management Committee. The period of service of those elected at an Annual General Meeting shall be the interval between one Annual General meeting and the next, except that the Production Teams, Publicity managers and Box Office Managers, are elected for the period required to complete the production for which they have been elected.

(d) The accounts for the past financial year, having been independently examined, shall be presented and approved.

(e) (i) The President, the Officers, other Members of the Committee, an Independent Examiner of Accounts and Life Members (if any) shall be elected. Life Members shall be entitled to vote at any General Meeting of the Society.

     (ii) A Production Team, Publicity Manager and Box Officer Manager shall be elected for each of the productions to be staged during the following year(s) and any person may be nominated and elected for one or more such productions.

     (iii) A Social Committee may be elected to organize social events, consisting of as many members as the meeting shall decide.

     (iv) Seven persons shall be elected to serve on the cast Selection Board for each of the productions to be staged during the following calendar year.

(f) The productions to be staged during the following calendar year shall be chosen with the final selection being by secret ballot.

(g) At the discretion of the Chairman any other business may be transacted.

17. EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING.

(a) An Extraordinary General Meeting of the Society may be called at any time at the discretion of the Committee and shall be called within 18 days after the receipt by the Secretary of a requisition in writing to that effect, signed by at least fifteen fully paid up members, except for Junior Members. Every requisition shall specify the business for which the meeting is to be convened and no other business shall be transacted.

(b) An Extraordinary General Meeting to deal with matters directly pertaining to a production may be called by the Committee without previous notice during or immediately following any full rehearsal of that production.

18. QUORUM AT GENERAL MEETINGS. No business, other than the formal adjournment of the Meeting shall be transacted at any General Meeting unless a quorum be present and such quorum shall consist of not less than 20% of the members of the Society entitled to vote.

19. RESOLUTIONS AT GENERAL MEETINGS. Unless otherwise provided by these Rules all resolutions brought forward at a General meeting shall be decided by a bare majority of the votes properly recorded at such meeting and in the case of equality of votes, the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

20. NOTICE OF GENERAL MEETINGS. Notice of every General Meeting, together with the Agenda, shall be sent to each member at least 10 days prior to the date fixed for such meeting except as otherwise provided by Rule 17.

21. SELECTION OF CAST.

(a) New Members. Acceptance of new members wishing to take part in a production shall be subject to the existence of vacancies and to a successful audition.

(b) Principals. The principals and their understudies for any production shall be chosen by a Selection Board. If a Board determines there are no applicants suitable for specific parts or understudies, the Committee shall determine how the parts shall be filled.

(c) Chorus.

(i) Members who have been successful at an audition shall be entitled to take part in that year's production (subject to Rule 21(c)(ii)) and in each subsequent production without further audition. Should, however, they not take part in productions for a further 18 months they must be subject to a further audition in order to qualify for the current year's production.

(ii) Should the Management Committee so resolve, or should the numbers of the chorus eligible and wishing to take part in a production under Rule 21(c)(i) exceed the number actually required for the production, all concerned shall be subject to a further audition in order to fill the number of places available.

(d) Qualifying Dates. Failure by any member to apply to take part in a production before a date to be stated by the Committee may disqualify that member from taking part in that production.

(e) Final Selection. The final selection of those deemed to have been successful at an audition shall be at the discretion of the Committee.

22. CAST SELECTION BOARDS. A Selection Board shall consist of the Producer, Musical Director, Choreographer and three of the seven persons elected at the Annual General Meeting in order of preference as indicated but with the further preference as far as possible for three persons to attend ALL the meetings necessary for the selection of principals. When it is not possible for this Board to deal with the selection of members of the chorus, a new Board shall be formed, the membership of which shall, if possible, be the same for all applicants required to be auditioned for chorus parts.

23. REVISION OF CAST

(a) NORMAL. If a member to whom a part has been allocated (whether or not the allocation has been confirmed) is obliged to relinquish it, or if, in the opinion of the Producer and Musical Director, he or she is proving unsuitable for it, the part shall be reallocated by the Selection Board. If it is a major principal part which thus becomes vacant, the Board shall make the re-allocation only after audition.

(b) EMERGENCY If in an emergency, it is necessary to allocate or re-allocate a part so near to the opening date of a production that it is impossible to carry out the normal procedure, the matter shall be dealt with by an emergency Selection Board consisting of the Chairman, the Producer and Musical Director. The person to whom any part is re-allocated under emergency conditions will be deemed to be a member of the Society and the question of payment by or to such person shall be left to the discretion of the Emergency Board.

24. CONTROL AT REHEARSALS. The Producer or assistant producer shall control all rehearsals except that music rehearsals shall be conducted by the Musical Director or assistant and dancing rehearsals shall be controlled by the Choreographer or assistant.

25. ATTENDANCE AT REHEARSALS. A record of the attendance of Members at rehearsals shall be kept and the Committee shall have the power to prohibit any member whose attendance at rehearsal shall have been irregular, from taking part in the performance of the work in preparation. Members absenting themselves from three consecutive rehearsals without notifying the Secretary or a member of the Production Team, may, at the discretion of the Committee, be deemed to have resigned their participation in the work then in rehearsal.

26. EXPULSION OF MEMBERS.

(a) Any member of the Society who in the opinion of the Committee confirmed by an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Society shall be guilty by his actions of misusing the privileges of the Society or of otherwise bringing the Society into contempt or disrepute may be suspended or expelled from the Society.

(b) The Committee may, by unanimous vote, remove from the list of Members the name of any member who has persistently neglected the work undertaken by the Society and the name of any member whose conduct they consider likely to endanger the welfare of the Society.

27. PRODUCTION MONEY. All monies due from members in connection with the production and performance of any work shall be accounted for and paid to the Treasurer within 21 days, with the exception of the additional contribution Rule 11, after the conclusion of the final performance.

28. TICKET SALES. The Box Office Manager will open the Box Office six weeks before the opening performance. Requests for tickets will be accepted only on standard forms distributed by the Secretary or on additional forms supplied by the Box Office Managers. Any allocated tickets not required are to be returned to the Box Office at least eight days before the first performance. Payment for all retained tickets is to be made eight days before the opening performance. Payment for any tickets found surplus to requirements after this time rests with the member to whom they were originally allocated

29. RECOVERY OF MONEY DUE TO THE SOCIETY. All monies due and owing to the Society shall be recovered at law in the name of the Secretary, and the Secretary shall be indemnified for costs incurred in recovery.

30. MEETINGS OF THE COMMITTEE. The first meeting of the Committee shall be called by the Secretary (after consultation with the Chairman) not later than 28 days after the Annual General Meeting. Subsequent meetings shall be called by the Secretary as resolved by the Committee or failing such resolution, at the discretion of the Chairman and the Secretary. Twenty eight days before a planned meeting the Secretary shall notify all Committee members of the agenda, date, time and location of the meeting together with a copy of the minutes and actions of the previous meeting. Members of the Production Team elected for any production which is not specified on the agenda for a particular meeting shall not be invited to that meeting unless requested by the Chairman. With the Notice of the Annual General meeting shall be included a note of the number of Committee meetings held during the preceding year and the number of attendances of the individual members thereof.

31. COMMITTEE'S POWER. The committee shall have the power:

(a) to decide any question arising out of these rules, to deal with all other matters connected with the Society (except those which can only be dealt with by the Society in General Meeting) and to make, publish and maintain all necessary orders, regulations and bye-laws in connection therewith.

(b) to appoint sub-committees, not necessarily from amongst its members, and to delegate to such sub-committees any of its powers other then those appertaining to the management of the Society. Any sub-committee appointed may continue to hold office until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting.

(c) if at any General Meeting of the Society there be any dispute as to the interpretation of these rules the decision of the Chairman shall be final.

32. DISSOLUTION OF THE SOCIETY. The Society shall only be dissolved by resolution passed by a majority of at least five-sixths of the members present and voting at a Special General Meeting called for the purpose of considering such dissolution. In the event of dissolution any balance of cash remaining in hand after the realisation of assets and payment of debts shall not be distributed among members of the Society but shall be applied for such charitable purposes similar to those of the Society or be paid, distributed or transferred to such charitable institutions or institution having objects similar to the objects of the Society as the Committee with the consent of the meeting, shall determine.

33. ALTERATION TO RULES.

(a) NO alteration to these rules shall be made except at a General Meeting unless 21 days prior to such a meeting a written notice of the proposed alterations or of one substantially to the like effect shall have been given to the Secretary. The Secretary who shall give 14 days notice thereof to the members and the resolution embodying such proposed alterations shall be carried by a majority of at least two-thirds of the votes recorded thereon at the meeting.

(b) NO alteration may be made to Rules 2, 31 and 32 without the approval the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales or other authority having charitable jurisdiction from time to time.

34. MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES

President - A person, usually the Head of QinetiQ or DSTL, who supports the activities and objectives of the Society

Vice-President - A person with long standing associations with the Society in support of their activities and objectives.

Life-Member - A person whose devotion, dedication and contribution to furthering the aims and objectives of the Society has been recognised by the membership with the award of a Life Membership.

Full Member - A person, over the age of 16, who plays an active part in most of the events of the Society and generally takes part in the Society's productions.

Patron - A person, over the age of 16, who supports the activities of the Society. This person may have also on occasion(s) taken an active part in productions but is not currently performing in any of the year’s productions.

Junior Member - A person, under the age of 16 at the beginning of the membership year, who supports the activities of the Society and who may or may not participate in the productions during the year.