PDFAA Constitution

PDFAA Constitution

Name

The name of the Association shall be “The Plymouth and District Freshwater Angling Association”.


Objectives

The objects of the Association are :-

  1. to foster the interest of anglers in Plymouth and the surrounding districts

  2. to rent or otherwise acquire the right to fish for migratory fish and brown trout on the Plym and Tavy and other adjacent rivers in the county of Devon and Cornwall and to make such fishing available to members of the Association and others as provided by the rules.

  3. to assist in the preservation and conservation of indigenous wild fish stocks in the club waters for future generations, through ethical and unselfish fishing methods and behaviours.


Membership

The Association shall consist of :-

  1. not more than sixty members in total consisting of a mix of Full Members and Trout Members:

    • Full Members may fish for salmon, sea trout and brown trout.

    • Trout Members may fish for brown trout only.

  2. an unlimited number of Junior Members aged between 10 and 18 years of age and have the same fishing rights as Full Members. However those aged 10 to 15 years of age may only fish if accompanied by a Full Member.

  3. Honorary Members who may be appointed by the Committee and granted life long full membership in recognition of their services to the Association.

Application for Membership

All applications for membership shall be made in writing via email to the Secretary.


Subscriptions

Subscriptions for each class of membership shall be recommended by the Committee for approval at each Annual General Meeting.

A member who has not paid his subscription by 28th February will be deemed to have resigned their membership and their place will be open to new applicants.


Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of the Association shall be held every year not later than 1 March to undertake the following business:-

  1. Receive a report from the Chairman and Secretary of the year’s activities.

  2. Receive a statement of the Associations accounts for the preceding financial year.

  3. Consider any motion that has been submitted to the Secretary at least 7 days before the meeting.

  4. Set the membership fees for the year.

  5. Elect a Chairman, Honorary Secretary. Honorary Treasurer and no less that 2 Committee members. Nominations for the above posts to be received at least 7 days before the date of the AGM.

  6. The Officers and Committee Members shall retire every year but shall be eligible for re-election.

  7. The notice of the AGM and agenda shall be sent to every member at least 21 days before the meeting.


Meetings

The Committee shall meet at least 3 times each year.

The quorum at any General Meeting shall be ¼ of members.

Voting shall be by show of hands unless requested otherwise by any Member. The Chairman of the meeting shall have the casting vote.


Finance

The Association will maintain a bank account with Lloyds Bank.

The account will have 2 signatories. Any one of the two is authorized to sign cheques.


Catch returns

Every member is required to complete the PDFAA catch return and return this to the Chairman by 15 January after the close of the season. To download a copy of the catch return please click here.


Control

The affairs of the Association shall be managed by the Committee with the officers.

The Constitution and Rules may only be altered by majority vote at the Annual General Meeting.


Dissolving the Association

The Association will be dissolved if agreed by the members by majority vote at an Annual General Meeting (AGM), Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) or Special General Meeting (SGM). The Association will also be dissolved by default in the event that Officers are not successfully appointed at an AGM. The process will be as follows:

Deciding to dissolve the Association

• The Committee will meet and formally decide it is necessary to close the organisation.

• The Committee will recommend closure to all the members, at a SGM called for the purpose; this meeting must be quorate and must formally approve the decision.

• Minutes of the meeting, which record the wording of the special resolution, will be kept.

• The minutes will indicate how the assets of the organisation will be allocated after the settling of any outstanding liabilities. The assets will be donated to upon winding up.


Following the meeting

• The Treasurer will ensure that all assets and liabilities are identified.

• The Chair will contact land owners to terminate contracts with landlords. Any outstanding rent will be paid by the Association.

• Surplus funds in the Association Bank Account will be paid to the organisation agreed by members at the SGM as a charitable donation.

• The final accounts will be prepared, before the formal winding up. The following will be informed

- Immediate past committee members (current members should already know)

- Creditors

- West Country Rivers Trust Angling Development Officer to remove Association Beats from the FishPass Scheme.

- Any other organisation or person that the management committee thinks relevant

Once completed

• The Treasurer will arrange to close the bank account which will be witnessed by the Chair.

• Accounting records relating to an organisation will be kept for seven years (the six previous years plus the year of closure itself). The Treasurer will ensure that these are permanently deleted at the end of this period.

• Any paper records not required to be kept will be shredded and digital documents deleted.

• The website and social media accounts will be deleted.