Constitution Of BTA
CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF THE BRITISH THEMATIC ASSOCIATION
(Version 7)
1. Title
The Association shall be known as “The British Thematic Association” (BTA)
2. The membership of the BTA will consist of :
a) ordinary members
b) family members i.e. a second adult and all children under 18 years of age in the same household
c) junior members i.e. under 18 years of age
d) Societies, i.e. any National, Specialist, Federation or local philatelic organisation with an interest in theme based philately or postcard collecting. Members of such Societies are not themselves full BTA members and services which are provided must be requested through the Secretary of the Society.
e) Honorary members, who may be elected by the committee from time to time for outstanding services to thematic philately.
3. Aims and Objects
a) To promote, encourage and assist the study and development of all theme based philately and postcard collecting and to promote the wider understanding of them within both philatelic organisations and non‑philatelic clubs, societies and other organisations.
b) To provide the means to record the collecting interests of ordinary, family and junior members and to endeavour to put members in touch with other collectors with similar interests.
c) To encourage the formation of new specialist theme based and postcard Societies or Groups.
d) To publish and distribute the magazine "Themescene” a number of times per year and to issue any other publications whenever considered appropriate by the Committee.
e) To provide a panel of speakers willing to visit Societies.
f) To organise from time to time exhibitions, meetings, seminars, workshops and any other appropriate event.
g) To affiliate to other philatelic organisations as decided by the Committee.
h) To maintain a website containing information pertinent to the activities of the BTA
4. Business Organisations
a) The business of the BTA shall be conducted by an Honorary Committee consisting of its Officers and elected members.
b) The Officers elected by the membership shall consist of:
i. a Chairman who shall act as chief executive of the BTA and take the chair at meetings of the Committee; in the absence of the Chairman or Vice‑Chairman the Committee shall elect an acting Chairman for each particular meeting. The term of office of Chairman shall be limited to a maximum period of 4 years, after that the Chairman may stand for re-election by the committee.
ii. a Vice –Chairman: the term of office of Vice –Chairman shall be limited to a maximum of 4 years, after that the Chairman may stand for re-election by the committee.
iii. a Secretary who shall be the Chairman's principal assistant in dealing with day to day matters and shall have particular responsibility for the agenda and minutes of Committee meetings, Annual General Meetings and Extraordinary General Meetings.
iv. a Treasurer who shall be responsible to the Committee for the management of the financial affairs of the BTA, shall keep proper books of account and once a year as soon as possible after the close of the financial year submit all books and vouchers to the examiner. He shall prepare a set of audited accounts for the presentation to the Annual General Meeting.
v. Such additional officers as the committee may deem it necessary to appoint. Such appointments shall be submitted to the next Annual General Meeting for ratification by the membership.
c) Members of the Committee shall hold office for 12 months, and shall be eligible for re-election at the Annual General Meeting.
d) Casual vacancies within the Committee may be filled by the committee by co‑option. Persons so appointed shall hold office until the next AGM but shall then be eligible for election.
e) The Committee shall:
i. meet not less frequently than half‑yearly, and Committee members shall be given not less than 14 days notice by the Secretary. Four members shall form a quorum.
ii. have the power at its absolute discretion to suspend or terminate the membership of any member whose conduct is considered prejudicial to the BTA.
iii. delegate any of its powers (other than those in e iii) as it may think fit. In carrying out its duties it may appoint such committees, sub‑committees and working parties as it may deem appropriate.
iv. submit a report of its activities during the year to the AGM
v. have the power to fix the subscription rates.
f) An Examiner of the BTA's accounts shall be appointed at the AGM. No member of the Committee shall be Examiner
g) The BTA’s Financial Year shall end on 31 December
h) All members of the Committee and co-opted Members of the Committee shall be entitled to re-imbursement of expenses incurred on BTA business subject to individual items in excess of £50 requiring authorisation by two of the Officers.
i) In case of the BTA ceasing to exist, any residual funds will be vested in the Association of British Philatelic Societies or any such other philatelic ruling body having similar objectives which may be in existence at the time.
5. Annual General Meeting
a) An Annual General Meeting (AGM) shall be held each year not later than ten months after the end of the financial year on 31 December.
b) Resolutions proposed and seconded for inclusion on the AGM agenda must be received by the Secretary at least 8 weeks before the AGM.
c) Nominations for election to the Committee must be received by the Hon Secretary at least 8 weeks before the AGM.
d) The Secretary shall give notice of the AGM to all members at least 4 weeks in advance.
e) All members are entitled to speak and command one vote at the AGM. A family membership will command one vote. Societies may nominate 2 delegates in advance, to attend and speak at the AGM but each Society will have only one vote. No voting by proxy will be allowed.
6 Extraordinary General Meeting
a) An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) may be called at any time by the Committee by giving members four weeks notice of the date, time and place of the meeting and the general nature of the business to be conducted.
b) A minimum of 20 members or 20% of the membership may by notice in writing instruct the Secretary to call an EGM. The Secretary shall send the notice required by rule 6a, within 28 days of receiving such instructions.
7. Subscriptions
a) Subscriptions are due on the 1st February each year and are to be sent to the Hon. Membership Secretary. Members who have not paid their subscriptions by 30th April will be deemed to have resigned from the BTA and shall cease to be entitled to the benefits of membership.
b) New members joining on or after 1st October will be entitled to membership for the following year.
8 Amendments to Rules
These rules may only be amended at the AGM of the BTA, or an EGM called for the purpose.
S.A.F.
1‑7.95 (adding President and 4 year limitation of office)
M.A.S.
24-6-2000 (Clause 4h inserted, committee expenses)
26-6-2004 (Clause 4b and 4f (twice) change auditor to examiner)
M.A.S.
09-6-2012 (Clause 3d removed ‘publish other booklets, newsletters’ inserted ‘issue any other publications’instead)
M.A.S.
June 2013 (Clause 2d removed Thematic collecting and replaced with ‘theme based philately or postcard collecting’).
(Clause 3a removed thematic collecting and replaced with ‘all theme based philately and postcard collecting’)
(Clause 3b removed ‘thematic’)
(Clause 3c changed ‘thematic to theme’ and added ‘based and postcard’
(Clause 3f removed ‘thematic’ and ‘and’ added ‘seminars, workshops and any other event deemed appropriate’.
Added Clause 3h
(Clause 4e spelling of quorum corrected)
(Clause 5e ‘by’ amended to ‘but’)
(Clause 7 1st April altered to 30th April)
M.A.S.
June 2014 (Clause 4e iv ‘cii and’ removed)
M.A.S.
October 2018
Clause 4b i) reference to re-election of Chairman added
Clause 4b ii) reference to re-election of Vice-Chairman added
Clause 3 e i) reference to library – removed as library no longer exists
Clause 3 e ii) reference BTA Auction – removed as no longer held
Clause 3 e iv) reference to training of Judges removed
Clause 4 e ii) reference to acceptability of membership removed
Clause 4 e v) reference to Election of President – removed
Clause 4 i) ‘resources’ added
M.A.S.
March 2019
Clause 6b) or 20% of the membership added
Clause 7b) Joining on or after 1st October added
