Membership

Manchester and District Beekeepers’ Association are a charity and governed by the Charity Commission. We are registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organization (CIO). This protects both the Members and Trustees for any financial liability’s the Association might incur.

The terms of membership are laid out below and are from our constitution. A full down loadable copy of the constitution can be found at the end of this web page.

(1) Admission Of New Members

(a) Eligibility

Membership of the CIO is open to anyone who is interested in furthering its purposes, and who, by applying for membership, has indicated his, her or its agreement to become a member and acceptance of the duty of members set out in sub-clause (3) of this clause. A member may be an individual, a corporate body, or an individual or corporate body representing an organisation which is not incorporated.

(b) Admission Procedure

The charity trustees:

1. may require applications for membership to be made in any reasonable way that they decide;
2. shall, if they approve an application for membership, notify the applicant of their decision within 28 days;
3. may refuse an application for membership if they believe that it is in the best interests of the CIO for them to do so;
4. shall, if they decide to refuse an application for membership, give the applicant their reasons for doing so, within 28 days of the decision being taken, and give the applicant the opportunity to appeal against the refusal; and
5. shall give fair consideration to any such appeal, and shall inform the applicant of their decision, but any decision to confirm refusal of the application for membership shall be final.

(2) Transfer Of Membership

Membership of the CIO cannot be transferred to anyone else [except in the case of an individual or corporate body representing an organisation which is not incorporated, whose membership may be transferred by the unincorporated organisation to a new representative. Such transfer of membership does not take effect until the CIO has received written notification of the transfer].

(3) Duty Of Members

It is the duty of each member of the CIO to exercise his or her powers as a member of the CIO in the way he or she decides in good faith would be most likely to further the purposes of the CIO.

(4)Termination Of Membership

(a) Membership of the CIO comes to an end if:

1. the member dies, or, in the case of an organisation (or the representative of an organisation) that organisation ceases to exist; or
2. the member sends a notice of resignation to the charity trustees; or
3. any sum of money owed by the member to the CIO is not paid in full within eight weeks of its falling due; or
4. the charity trustees decide that it is in the best interests of the CIO that the member in question should be removed from membership, and pass a resolution to that effect.

(b) Before the charity trustees take any decision to remove someone from membership of the CIO they must:

1. inform the member of the reasons why it is proposed to remove him, her or it from membership;
2. give the member at least 28 clear days notice in which to make representations to the charity trustees as to why he, she or it should not be removed from membership;
3. at a duly constituted meeting of the charity trustees, consider whether or not the member should be removed from membership;
4. consider at that meeting any representations which the member makes as to why the member should not be removed; and
5. allow the member, or the member’s representative, to make those representations in person at that meeting, if the member so chooses.

(5) Membership Fees

(a) The CIO annual subscription shall become payable on the first of January. No member shall be entitled to participate in the privileges of the CIO until such subscriptions have been paid in full. Subscriptions paid by new Members after the first of July shall cover the period of the following full subscription year. Each fully subscribed Member/Partner Member shall be entitled to one vote at an Annual General Meeting.

(b) The Trustees shall determine, prior to the AGM and subject to ratification at the AGM, the subscription for the ensuing year. In determining the subscription, the Trustees shall take into account, in particular, any increase notification to the CIO in the fees payable by the CIO to other Associations or Organisations and which shall become payable by the CIO during the year for which the annual membership fee is being determined.

(6) Informal or Associate (Non-Voting) Membership (Social)

(a) The charity trustees may create associate or other classes of non-voting membership, and may determine the rights and obligations of any such members (including payment of membership fees), and the conditions for admission to, and termination of membership of any such class of members.

(b) Other references in this constitution to “members” and “membership” do not apply to non-voting members, and non-voting members do not qualify as members for any purpose under the Charities Acts, General Regulations or Dissolution Regulations.

Course Bookings

1. A refund may only be given if a cancellation is received more than 7 days prior to the course.
2. Bookings are transferable.
3. Transferring places: One participant can be substituted for another with 7 days notice prior to the start of the course and no additional fee will be charged, please ensure you provide us with updated details such as, contact details, special needs and a name for the certificate. In the event of a cancellation only one transfer to an alternative course will be permitted.
4. No refunds can be given due to non attendance.
5. We reserve the right to cancel any course if there are insufficient numbers to run a viable course. In these circumstances, you will be given as much notice as possible and given the option to transfer to another course or a full refund of any fees already paid will be given.