Alnwick Tourism Association
CONSTITUTION

2. Purpose and objectives

• To Voice the opinions and feelings of the members, and to lobby, and work with any and all tourism associations or bodies deemed to benefit the area.
• To promote Tourism to Alnwick area, loosely based on the geographical area covered by Alnwick District, but excluding the area presently covered by Rothbury & Coquetdale Tourism Association. (Nominally the A697 road being the boundary)
• Where possible the Association will acquire funds to be used on behalf of the members, in promotion of the area to the benefit of the community as a whole.

• Shall be those individual businesses, who agree to support the Association in its work, and who reinforce their support by payment of an annual subscription fee, the cost of which will be set by the members at the AGM or EGM.
• Membership fees must be paid as soon as possible after the AGM or in any case within 4 weeks. (Failure to do so may exclude members from promotion on the Associations web site or literature.)
• A vote will be one per business. A member who has more than one business will only be allowed one vote.
• Membership will be at the discretion of the committee, and any application to join the Association will be viewed by the Committee prior to acceptance.
• Normally a member shall operate their business within the area covered by the Association.
• Associate members carrying on their business on the edge of our boundary may be allowed membership at the discretion of the Committee.
• Members who operate accommodation businesses must be registered and approved by a registered tourism body, such as Visitbritain, AA, RAC, or agency carrying out inspections and Visitbritain awards. Or the member must indicate that they are in the process of having their business inspected. (Proof would be required)
• Disqualification of membership - If in the oppinion of the committee a member business is likely to bring the Association into discredit by offering sub standard accommodation, or being disqualified by an accreditation agency (RAC, AA, VisitBrittain etc) the committee will at their discretion, disqualify that business from membership for a term to be set at the committee meeting, and any membership fee already paid will be forfeit.

• The Committee shall consist of those members appointed by the membership and so appointed shall hold office from that date for 2 years. At the end of two years a committee member must stand down or offer themselves for re-election at the Annual General Meeting.
• The Committee may co-opt other members or persons onto the Committee for a short period of time to provide specialist help or knowledge. If their co-option continues it will then be ratified at the next AGM.
• A representative of the Committee may attend any such other meeting on behalf of the Association and may speak on its behalf.
• The Committee will be responsible for the accounts of the Association and may delegate a person to act as treasurer.
• The Committee will appoint a Chairperson and Secretary and make other appointments the Committee may feel justified.
• The Chairperson will call any such meetings deemed necessary. The Chairperson will lead such meetings and represent the members with a fair and open mind.
• The Secretary will take notes and record all meetings, collate and file any letters, notes, and correspondence of the Association.
• The Committee will be made up of no less than five members and not more than eight.
• The Committee will appoint an independent examiner of the Association's accounts.

• In respect of the Committee a quorum will be a minimum of 5 members of the Committee.
• In respect of the membership at an AGM or EGM a quorum will be 25% of its members.

• The committee may make, and from time to time alter rules governing the Associations affairs. These will be subject to approval by the Association in a general meeting.
• Rules.
  

The data base for the ATA must be kept up to date with accurate information, including all changes in classification & grading or anything else which affects the information displayed on the website e.g. grading for the property must be current and of the standard advertised. All properties should be inspected before advertising with the ATA. 'Awaiting Inspection' was judged not to be acceptable unless they could provide proof i.e. a receipt, that they had paid to be part of an Inspection scheme and were visible on VisitBritain.

Rule 2 - Late payment of membership fees
Membership fees are payable at the AGM, however, businesses who have not attended the AGM will be given two weeks to pay their membership fees. If the fees remain unpaid they will be sent an email reminder. If the reminder fails to elicit a response the members will be deemed to have resigned from the Association, and their business will no longer be promoted by A.T.A.

Membership fees are to be paid within two weeks of the date of the AGM. After this, reminders will be sent out to those who have not paid stating that if monies are not paid within two weeks, it will be deemed that they have chosen to leave the Association.

• Any decision to amend the Constitution or to dissolve the Association shall be taken by a general meeting. At least 14 days notice will be given. Such a notice will specify the proposals which are to be discussed.
• If a general meeting decides to dissolve the Association any assets which remain after all liabilities have been met shall be used for the promotion of tourism in the area. These assets will be allocated to the Alnwick District Council Tourism department or a body responsible for tourism in the area.
• The Articles of Association were drawn up in year 2000* and are copyright of A.C.C.T.A.
  *As amended at the EGM on 4th August 2004. The Constitution as they are now called is the copyright of Alnwick Tourism Association the new name for the Association.
• The abbreviation of the Alnwick Tourism Association is A.T.A. or ATA.

Constitution Word Doc