The club’s constitution was rewritten to reflect current legislation in 2011 and adopted in July of that year. A link to the document may be found at the foot of this page. At the October 2020 committee meeting Selwyn Wright proposed that the presidency of the club should be shared between the mens’ and womens’ 24hr Lake District Record holders. The rationale was that there is no reason to fixate on having a male president and having a shared presidency could offer encouragement for more women to attempt the round. The committee accepted this recommendation and this site was updated to reflect that.
Unfortunately we didn’t update the constitution to explicitly state this new state of affairs.
It was proposed to change Rule 26 of the BG Club Constitution from the following:
“The president of the club will be the holder for the time being of the 24 Hour Lake District Fell Record. At the date of the adoption of these rules, the President of the Club is Mark Hartell.”
to:
“The roles of Club Co-President shall be jointly held by the holders for the time being of the mens’ and womens’ 24 Hour Lake District Fell Records.”
Since no objection was raised concerning the change it was voted on and passed at the April 2022 committee meeting.
The biennial club dinner takes place on Saturday the 16th October at The Castle Green Hotel in Kendal. Existing members may apply for tickets using the link below.
Back in the mid-1980s, attendance at Bob Graham Club annual meetings sunk to such low levels that the then Chairman of the Club Fred Rogerson and the committee took the decision to cease holding the meetings; there seemed little point in continuing with such a regime when so few members attended. The committee of the Club oversaw the management of the Club’s affairs after that time.
Shortly after taking office, I realised that this method of operating was contrary to the Club’s constitution. With Selwyn, I went to see Fred Rogerson to discuss this glitch with him. Fred agreed that with the surge of interest in the Bob Graham Round and in membership that was ongoing, the time was right for the Club to again hold an annual meeting of members; to test if there was a fresh appetite for democracy as it were. The then committee, of which Fred was a member, endorsed this position.
My research revealed that the Club’s constitution dated back to 1978. The committee asked me to put together a revised constitution for the Club, better to reflect the Club’s position in 2011. In addition to the usual business of approval of accounts and election of officers, the annual general meeting held at Hawkshead in July 2011 had a sufficient number of members present to mean that the Club was able to adopt this revised constitution. There is a link to the constitution at the bottom of this page.
In preparing the revised constitution, both I and the committee had regard to earlier history when thinking about the revised rules. We felt it was possible that the Club may again find itself in a position where members showed no appetite for a formal annual meeting. So the revised constitution included rule 15 which allows the committee, in certain defined circumstances, to suspend the requirement for annual meetings. In a Club where surplus funds are given to charity, the committee is mindful of spending as little as possible on administration and the like, and to maximise the gifts to those charities which do benefit. Spending money on meetings which no-one attends doesn’t help that aim. Rules 14 and 15 provide:
Annual general meetings were again convened in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Each of these has been inquorate under the Club’s rules; that is to say that fewer than 8 members attended these “meetings”. As a result the committee has suspended rule 14 and no further annual general meetings will be convened and held, unless 20 or more members seek to re-activate them under rule 15.
In the meantime, the committee will continue to conduct the Club’s affairs to the best of their collective ability. The Club’s annual accounts will continue to be posted on this page of the website each year after their approval by the committee.
Morgan Williams - Secretary
There are various documents available for download. Please choose the year from the drop down list then click the appropriate button.
