Monmouth and District Angling Society Rules as amended 14th November 2016.
RULES.
1. The Society shall be called Monmouth and District Angling Society.
2. The Society is formed to provide facilities for freshwater angling for the members.
3. The Society shall consist of not more than 200, Full, Family, Concession, Junior members plus temporary Day members (including Honorary and life members) approved by the committee.
4. The officers of the Society shall be a President, three Vice - Presidents, Chairman. Vice - Chairman, Honorary Secretary, and Honorary Treasurer. They shall be proposed seconded and elected by ballot at an Annual General Meeting, they shall serve for a maximum of four years after which they shall retire but shall be eligible for re-election. Retiring officers may also offer themselves for election as committee members and then be bound by rule 6(c).
5. The business of the Society shall be transacted by a committee which shall consist of the Chairman, the Honorary Secretary, the Honorary Treasurer, and twelve Full Members of the Society. Five members of the committee shall form a quorum. Issues shall be decided by a majority vote of those present, unless rules 24 and 29 shall apply. The Chairman shall only have a vote when his or her casting vote is required.
6. The election of members of the committee shall take place in the following manner:-
a). Any two full members of the society shall be at liberty to nominate a full member to serve on the committee. The name of each such full member shall be sent to the Honorary Secretary prior to then annual general meeting, accompanied by a letter from the candidate consenting to serve if elected.
In case there shall not be a sufficient number of candidates the committee shall fill up the remaining vacancies. If two or more candidates obtain an equal number of votes, the committee shall select, by lot, the candidate or candidates who are to be members of the committee. Only full members whose subscriptions are fully paid up shall be entitled to vote for election of the officers of the committee.
b). A list of candidates, including those members of the committee offering themselves for re-election, in alphabetical order, shall be shall be drawn up at least 14 days before the annual general meeting, this list to all available to all members of the society at least ten days before the Annual General Meeting. Balloting lists shall be prepared containing the names of the candidates only, and each member of the Society at the annual general meeting shall be entitled to vote for twelve such candidates.
c). Any member of the Society who shall be elected to serve on the committee may offer himself for re-election at any subsequent annual general meeting, and having been proposed and seconded, and obtained re-election the committee shall continue to serve as a member of the committee for a maximum of four years before offering themselves for re-election.
7. Any casual vacancy occurring on the committee shall be filled by the committee and members so election can be bound by rule 6(c).
8. The committee in addition to the powers hereinafter specifically conferred upon them, shall have control of the finances of the society, the powers to engage, control, and dismiss the servants of the Society, and all the administrative powers as may be necessary for properly carrying out the objects of the Society in accordance with these rules.
9. The Hon’ Secretary shall conduct the correspondence of the Society and shall have custody of all documents of the society. He shall keep full correct minutes of all proceedings and records of all competitions of the Society.
10. The Hon’ Treasurer shall keep all the accounts of the society and compile an annual statement of the accounts and the balance sheet of the society to the 31st of October in each year, and a copy of such balance shall be made available for inspection at the annual general meeting.
11. The property of the Society shall be vested in four trustees who shall be elected annually at the annual general meeting, provided always that any casual vacancy shall be filled by the committee and the trustees shall serve until the next annual general meeting.
12. He auditors of the society shall be appointed at the annual general meeting. They shall be instructed to audit the annual statement of accounts and the balance sheet and certify the same before they are published.
13. The societies bankers shall be Barclays Bank PLC, Monmouth and the cheques drawn on them shall be signed by the Hon’ Treasurer, Hon’ secretary or the Hon’ Chairman.
14. The annual general meeting shall be held as soon as possible after the 1st November each year to elect the officers of the committee and to pass the statement of accounts and balance sheet. At least fourteen days’ notice shall be given of the meeting to all members of the Society.
15. The Hon’ Treasurer shall inform the committee of the state of the accounts and of the balance of the Society’s bank and other deposit accounts on at least one occasion each year excluding the annual general meeting.
16. Members of the committee shall be appointed by the committee to be Subscription Secretaries and as such shall be responsible for the collection of subscriptions and shall hand the same to the Hon’ Treasurer for banking.
17. The Hon’ Treasurer shall issue a receipt of all monies received by him on behalf of the Society.
18. A person shall become a Full member, Family member, Junior Member or Concession Member upon purchasing an annual membership from designated agent or from the Hon’ Secretary provided that he or she has not been previously disqualified from membership.
All new members and Life members shall be furnished with a copy of the rules of the Society upon request or by email if possible.
No member from the previous year shall be entitled to the benefits of membership until his annual subscription for the current year has been paid .
19. All members subscriptions shall be payable in advance by purchasing membership card from a designated agent or from the Hon’ Secretary. Membership will run from January 1st, or from the date that the new membership card was purchased, if new cards are available before January 1st.
20. Upon the recommendation of the committee any member of the Society may be elected a life member at any general meeting and thereafter allowed to enjoy the privileges of the Society without paying any subscription, or any special payment for such life membership.
A two thirds majority of the members present, and those entitled to vote at such a general meeting, shall be necessary for such election. There shall not be more than six life members at any one time.
21. There shall also be elected, in addition to the ordinary compliment of members of the Society, Honorary members, who shall be elected at the same time as life members and who shall have all the privileges of full members and they shall not be entitled to vote at meetings, hold office or compete for any prize.
22. Junior Members shall be under the age of sixteen or attending full time education. They shall have the same rights and privileges as Full Members. Responsibility for the actions and behaviour of junior members shall be the responsibility of a parent or guardian whether present or not.
23. The committee shall have the power to expel any members from the Society who may, in their opinion, have committed any gross breach of the rules, OR who shall have acted in a manner likely to bring the Society into disrepute, OR, or in a manner contrary to the interests of the Society or its members,. Provided always that Hon’ Secretary shall give to all its members concerned at least 21 days’ notice in writing of the alleged offences which the committee are to consider. The member shall then be entitled to attend before the committee and present evidence, and be cross examine any person giving evidence to the committee.
24. The committee shall not have the power to expel any member of the Society unless there shall be at least eight members of the committee present and at least 75% of those members present vote in favour of such an expulsion.
25. Any member expelled in accordance with these rules, or otherwise ceasing to be a member, shall forfeit all rights to, or claims on the society or its property and its funds as he or she might have had by reason of membership.
26. Any member wishing to resign their membership shall give notice in writing to the Hon’ Secretary but shall forfeit any subscriptions aid at the date of resignation.
27. The Hon’ Secretary shall have the power to issue a maximum of two day tickets for waters rented, leased, owned or otherwise controlled by the Society, to full members of the Society for use by their personal friends, of for whom the Society has reciprocal arrangements, on any one day.
The committee shall, at their discretion, shall be able to limit the Society waters available to temporary members to, and to the number of temporary members permitted, and to vary the number of temporary members permitted.
28. The level of subscriptions and joining fees for all grades of membership shall be proposed by the Hon’ Treasurer At the annual general meeting and confirmed by the majority vote of those present who’s subscriptions are fully paid up and who are elected to vote.
29. The committee shall have the power to make such bye-laws as may become necessary for the control of the waters belonging to or rented by the Society. They shall also have the power to amend any rule of the Society from rule 29 to rule 41 inclusive provided that at least eight members of the committee are present and at least 75% vote in favour of such amendments.
All other rules of the society shall be known as Constitutional rules and any changes to constitutional rules shall only be made at the Annual General Meeting, or an Extra Ordinary General Meeting to be called at not less than seven members of the committee, or not less than twelve full members who’s subscriptions are fully paid up.
Any proposed amendments to any rules shall be notified the Society’s web site or by email if possible, to each member of the Society.
30. All members shall be in possession of a current Environment Agency Licence and shall carry the same with their membership card at all times and shall produce them both when requested by any bailiff employed by the national Resources Wales.
Any person fishing on the Society’s waters who cannot produce a membership card shall be asked to purchase a day ticket or leave the water.
31. No member shall fish with more than TWO rods at a time nor use any hand line or net, other than a bona fide landing net. No member should leave any rod unattended is such a manner as to leave a hook in the water.
32. Whilst members are fishing on all Society waters all fish captured shall be carefully and immediately return it to the water.
Any breach of this rule shall be deemed a Gross Breach of the rules under rule 23.
32. Baits permitted on waters controlled by the Society shall be those permitted by the National Resources Wales bye-laws except that:
a). Artificial spinning, and natural fish dead baits shall be prohibited on all waters unless they shall be five inches or more in length and used in conjunction with a wire trace. Natural fish baits shall be from frozen fish purchased for that purpose from a dealer or sea fish. Live baits must be from the water being fished.
b). Maggots, casters or any other aquatic grub, larvae or pupae shall be prohibited on the River Troddi.
c). On waters that have been designated as ‘Fly Only’ under rule 37, fishing during the period such as a designation is in force shall be with artificial flies only, dressed on hook sizes no larger than No 8 long shank, and the maximum number of flies at any one time is three.
34. Except for fishing on the river Wye ground baiting shall be restricted to loose feeding of hook bait samples only.
The use of feeders and bait droppers shall be permitted on the River Wye only.
No pre-baiting of any swims shall be permitted.
35. No vehicles shall be allowed on the banks of any waters controlled by the Society except for the purposes of fishery management activities authorized by the committee.
Any member fishing on the Association’s waters shall be allowed to fish from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. Night fishing or camping is not permitted.
36. No fire arms, shot guns, air-powered weapons, crossbows shall be carried by members engaged in angling. I.e. carrying or using fishing tackle on waters controlled by the Society.
37. The committee shall have the power to designate any water controlled by the Society as ‘Fly Only’. Such a designation shall be for the whole or part of the season open for trout fishing. Details of any waters that have a differing designation from the preceding season shall be published on our web site or by email if possible.
38. Keep nets are not permitted on any of the Society’s waters.
39. The use of any portable music device must only be used with ear phones whilst engaged in angling, i.e. whilst carrying or using fishing tackle on Society waters.
40. The leaving of any litter, line or shot on the banks of waters controlled by the Society shall be deemed a gross breach of the rules and may be dealt with under rule 23.
41. Whilst any member is free to publish any catches made on Society waters the disclosure of the exact location is discouraged.
42. If at any time the Environment Agency or National Resources Wales issue any rules that may appear to contradict the rules of the Society, the Environment agency and National Resources Wales bye-laws shall be deemed to apply and the rules of the Society shall be amended at the first opportunity thereafter. (Excluding rule 31.)