CONSTITUTION and BYE-LAWS OF ORWELL CURLING CLUB

I Name of Club
The name of the Club shall be Orwell Curling Club, centred on Milnathort, Kinross-shire.

II Objectives of Club
The objectives of the Club shall be:-
To foster and encourage the game of curling among its members and in the community particularly among the youth;
To maintain good and friendly relations with other Curling Clubs and Organisations;
To abide by the original Motto of the Club “Rivalry and Good Humour”.

III Club Meetings, Office Bearers and Committee.
An Annual General Meeting (AGM) shall be held in April each year.
The Club Committee shall number up to eleven and comprise a President, Vice President, Secretary, Match Secretary and Treasurer, the retiring President and others up to the maximum of eleven. The Committee shall be appointed at the AGM. At the discretion of the AGM two, but no more than two, offices may be held by one individual. The Officers of the club shall be the President, Vice President, Secretary, Match Secretary and Treasurer
The Committee shall manage the general business of the Club, within the Constitution and decisions of General Meetings.
The President and Vice President shall expect to hold office for a minimum of one year.
The AGM shall also appoint a member to represent the Club at Province and Area meetings.
The AGM shall take up business in the following order:-
Minutes of previous AGM and of any subsequent Special General Meetings;
Remits from previous meetings;
Reports from Secretary and Match Secretary and Representative Members:
Treasurer’s report and financial statement to year end 31st March:
Report from the President;
Any amendment to the constitution, rules, etc;
Election of Committee and Skips
Any other competent business
A Special General Meeting (SGM) of the Club may be called by the Secretary at
the request of the Committee or by requisition of 5 members, with seven days’ notice being given to members, unless for a Constitutional change when 14 days’ notice is required.
Quorum. A general meeting shall proceed if 10 members are present within 30 minutes of the time fixed for the meeting. Otherwise the meeting, if the AGM or an SGM called by the Committee, shall take place seven days later and shall proceed whatever number of members are present. A SGM requisitioned by members shall be dissolved if not quorate.
Committee Meetings may be called at any time by the Secretary at the request of any member of the Committee. At Committee Meetings a Quorum shall be 5 members.
In the event of a division taking place at any meeting, the vote shall be taken by a
show of hands and the declaration of the result by the Chairman shall be final.
All Ordinary Members of the Club shall be entitled to vote at General Meetings.

 

IV Conduct of Meetings
All meetings shall be chaired by the President, whom failing the Vice President,
whom failing any Ordinary Member appointed by the Meeting.
The Chairman shall decide all questions of order, relevancy and competency arising at meetings and his ruling shall be final and shall not be open for discussion.
The Chairman shall have a deliberate vote and, in the event of equality of voting,
a casting vote.
V Duties of Office Bearers
The Treasurer shall keep accurate accounts and books showing the financial affairs
and intromissions of the Club. He shall be the custodian of the funds of the Club and
shall lodge same in the bank in the name of the Club. All monies so lodged shall be
drawn, as required, on authority given by the committee. The Treasurer shall collect
the annual subscriptions and all other revenue of the Club, under authority of the
committee. The Treasurer’s books shall be balanced annually and thereafter audited.
The accounts, so audited, shall be submitted, for approval, at the Annual General Meeting of the season under review. The Treasurer’s books shall be open for inspection to all Regular Members of the Club for FIVE days previous to the Annual Meeting and to members of the committee at all times.
The Secretary, or a substitute appointed by the Committee, shall attend all meetings of the Club and shall prepare minutes of all meetings, conduct the correspondence of the Club (except such matters as are wholly in the province of the Match Secretary or Treasurer) and generally perform the whole secretarial duties of the Club, subject to the control of the committee.
The Match Secretary shall, in good time before the start of each curling season,
arrange for the allocation of sufficient ice to meet the Club’s programme of games and matches throughout the season. He shall compile a card detailing all the Club’s games and matches and shall have printed a sufficient number of cards for distribution to each playing member of the Club. He shall conduct, as necessary, correspondence dealing solely with matters pertaining to allocation of ice, dates and venues of matches and other such business.

V1 Members and Admission to Membership of the Club
There shall be four classes of membership:
Ordinary Member – 18 years and over, whom shall be playing members.
Junior Member – under the age of 18.
Social Member – non-playing, but “made curler,” who shall not be levied ice charges.
Honorary Member – see e) below.
Before any candidate can be admitted a member of the Club he must be proposed and seconded by another, the names of such Proposer and Seconder being minuted. Admission to membership shall be at the AGM or a SGM. A vote by ballot shall be taken – if the black balls amount to one third (or greater) of the number of white balls the candidate shall be rejected.
Any candidate, on admission to membership, will be eligible to play in all Club games and matches and to compete for the Club trophies. A newly admitted member may opt to be a reserve player, or may be placed on the reserve list for some or all competitions if there are insufficient places.
Uninitiated members over the age of 18 must be prepared to become “made curlers” as soon after admission to the Club as conveniently possible. Certificates of initiation, signed by the President of the Royal Club, shall be issued to the initiated members by the Club Secretary, who shall countersign and date them.
The Committee may recommend to an AGM Ordinary Members who have rendered particular services to the Club over a number of years as Honorary Members. Honorary Members shall not pay the annual subscription nor be eligible to vote.

 

VII Annual Subscription
Members of the Club (other than Honorary Members) shall pay an annual subscription at a rate approved from time to time at the AGM. Ice charges shall be calculated before the start of the season and levied as decided at the AGM. A fee shall also be charged for the dinner and prize giving social with any surplus meeting other club costs. The subscription and other charges are due prior to the start of the season. Failure to pay by the end of October may result in termination of membership, at the discretion of the Committee, with all fees remaining due.

VIII Election of Skips; Compilation of Rinks
Prior to each curling season, Skips shall be appointed at the Annual General Meeting. The number of Skips required to fulfil the Club Card shall be decided at that meeting with the current holder of the Golland being invited to become a Skip and the remaining Skips elected by voucher vote. The current holder of the Tom Page shall be invited to become a Third and Skip in the Golland and the highest up in the Points shall be invited to become a Second. The remaining Thirds, Seconds and Leads shall be appointed at a meeting of Skips and the Officers to complete the number of rinks required for the various club trophies and other matches to be included in the Club Card by voucher vote by the Skips in that order.

IX Royal Club Constitution, Rules of the Game and Competitions
The Club shall be bound by the Memorandum & Articles of Association and Bye Laws of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.
Except where specified in Section X “Club Bye- Laws”, all games, matches and
competitions shall be played strictly in accordance with the Rules of the Game and Royal Club Competitions, as approved by the Royal Club, effective for that season.

X Club Bye-Laws
The following Bye-Laws shall apply to Club games:
In the case of illness or accident to a player during a game and if a substitute is not
available, the persons remaining and playing Lead and Second shall each play three stones.
A rink entered to play and failing to appear with a full compliment of four players
within five minutes of the starting signal shall forfeit one shot. If only one member
is still missing at the end of five minutes, play shall commence and continue throughout the normal playing period, with one additional shot being forfeited for every additional five minutes the rink is incomplete up to a maximum of six shots.
The final score at the end of the normal playing period, taking account of forfeited shots, shall be taken as the score for the competition concerned. The Lead and Second of the depleted rink or rinks shall each play three stones.
In the event that two or more members of a rink do not turn up for play before the end of thirty minutes after the starting signal, that rink shall be disqualified.
All members of a rink due to play at a particular time and date will be liable for any ice charges, whether they make use of the ice or not.
All games and matches are to be played on the dates and times specified on the Club card. If for any reason this cannot be done the Match Secretary must be advised as soon as it becomes apparent that the game cannot take place. If possible seven days’ notice should be given to allow allocated ice to be cancelled without charge. In exceptional circumstances the Match Secretary may rearrange a match.
All Club games shall be played by time, up to a maximum of ten ends (a minimum of six ends must be played), unless otherwise specified in advance, and shall be terminated in accordance with the Rules of the Game as approved by the Royal Club. The finishing time signal shall be that sounded by the ice rink before the end of normal playing period. In the case of a Pairs Competition taking place in the first part of a normal playing period, the finishing time signal shall be taken to be fifty minutes after the bell to start of the game, as indicated by the ice rink clock.

 

In all Club games the Skip, or if he is unable to play the Third, shall be responsible for ensuring
that:-
Members of their rinks are previously reminded of the time and venue of each
game in which they are involved; and
Score cards are returned as soon as possible to the Match Secretary. Non -receipt
of score cards by the Match Secretary may result in forfeiture of game points.
Score cards must be signed by the skip or acting skip and must include the names of all players taking part in the game.
Any individual member of a rink who finds he is unable to play on the given date of a
Club game must give ample notice of the fact to his skip – preferably some days before
the game and that individual must then find a suitable substitute.
1st Choice – from the reserve pool of players.
2nd Choice – from Club leads and seconds, in that order,
3rd Choice – as a last resort, a Club third.
The above shall not apply to the third in the Black competition (normally a Club Skip), when the substitute may be any member, and may play at third. The third shall remain at third in the absence of the skip, with the second as skip.
A single substitute shall always play as lead. In the case of two substitutes in a rink, the members concerned shall play in the reverse order of their Club positions – that is
in the case of a Club lead and a second acting as substitutes, the Club second shall play as lead. Likewise a club third when a substitute shall always play as lead.
If, for any reason – illness, leaving the district, etc – a member of a Club rink has to give
up his place in the rink, the skip may co-opt another member who does not hold a regular position in the competition. The co-opted member may play in any position in the rink but not higher than the curler he is replacing
In the event of a tied game in a knockout competition, the following procedure shall determine the winner:-
If time allows, an extra end shall be played, the rink winning the previous end to play first.
In the Pairs Competition, an extra end shall be permitted in the Final only.
If time does not permit of (a), each skip shall play one stone (the rink winning the previous end to play first) the winning shot being the stone lying nearest to the Tee. The first stone played shall be measured and lifted before the second stone is played. A stone which comes to rest outside the “house” shall not be considered. Should both stones com to rest outside the “house” a further two stones shall be played and no more. Normal sweeping routine shall be permitted.
If at this stage, the game is still tied, the greater number of winning ends in the game shall decide the winner.
If still no result, the toss of a coin shall decide the winner.
In the event of a tie in the Holton Cup competition a full play-off shall decide the winner. For other league competitions the total number of ends won shall determine the winner, failing which the total number of shots.

XI Alteration of Constitution or Bye-Laws
No alteration to the Constitution or Bye-Laws shall be made except at the Annual
General Meeting, or at a Meeting specially called for the purpose and unless approved by two – thirds of the Members present and entitled to vote. Fourteen days’ notice shall be given by the Secretary to members of any proposed alteration and any member proposing an alteration must submit it to the Secretary seven days earlier.

Revision April 2012:-Complete revision submitted to and adopted by AGM of 17/4/12