Crewe & District Model Boat Club

As our membership has grown it has become increasingly difficult and time consuming to ensure that our members are aware of the rules to protect them and the Public and to ensure we can continue to enjoy the sailing waters.

We have therefore now adopted a more formalised set of rules to address the position and to enable us to advise new members on joining.

Hard copies are available from the secretary but are published here in full:


Crewe and District Model Boat Club
General Rules

Names and Objectives.
The Club (hereinafter called “The Club”) shall be known as The Crewe and District Model Boat Club

Its objectives are to promote model boat building and sailing in the Crewe and District and surrounding areas.

Officers
The Club will be governed by the following Officers

Chairman
Secretary
Treasurer / Membership Secretary
Safety Officers
Boiler Tester
Boiler Tester
One or more extra elected committee Members
Yachting Representative
Northern Association of Model Engineers Representative
A quorum of two thirds of The Committee must be present before any decision is reached.

Indemnity
Except such loss as arises from their respective or willful default, the Members of the committee shall not be liable (otherwise than as Members) for any loss suffered by The Club as a result of the discharge of their respective duties on its behalf, and they shall be entitled to an indemnity out of the assets of The Club and from all Members of The Club in equal shares for all expenses and other liabilities incurred by them in the discharge of their respective duties.

All persons attending or sailing at The Club events do so entirely at their own risk.

General Meetings
General meetings shall be held on a regular monthly basis

The Chairman shall preside at all Meetings or in the absence of the chairman the Secretary. If neither is available a Chairman shall be elected by the Meeting.

Extraordinary Meetings may be called at the discretion of the Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer

True and accurate records shall be kept of all Meetings.

Finances.
The Treasurer shall be responsible for banking all moneys received and for payment of accounts.

The Auditors remuneration is to be fixed annually at Annual General Meeting.

In the event that The Club shall cease to exist then the Assets shall be converted to cash. After payment of all and any liabilities of The Club the balance shall be paid to The R.N.L.I. as a donation from the Club.

Annual General Meeting
Officers and the Auditor shall be elected annually at the A.G.M. which shall be held in January.

Notification of the A.G.M. or any Extraordinary Meeting shall be given to all Members either verbally or at their current known address by letter or e-mail at least 14 days prior to the Meeting.

The Treasurer shall present at the A.G.M. a balance sheet of the audited Club Accounts

The Secretary shall maintain a list of all Club Assets and their respective locations. The list showing the previous two years Assets and their estimated current value shall be presented by the Secretary at the A.G.M.

General Rules may be amended at the A.G.M. or at an Extraordinary Meeting convened just for that purpose. Any proposed changes to the rules are to be advised not later than at the monthly meeting prior to the A.G.M. or included in the announcement of an E.G.M.

Any alterations or additions to the General Rules must be passed by a simple majority of Members present who are eligible to vote

Subscriptions for the following year shall be decided at the A.G.M.

Membership
Membership will run from 1 January and be signified by a Membership card.

Payment of the annual Membership fee will signify that a Member has read and accepted the Rules of The Club

Any Member not paying their subscription by the end of February will cease to be a Member and will not be permitted to use The Club facilities or allowed in any of The Club events

Membership is limited to 34 full Members

Where the Membership limit has been reached a Membership waiting list will be maintained by the Secretary in date of application order. As vacancies become available new Members will be invited to join in the order of their inclusion on the list.

New Member applications will be subject to proposal and secondment from two Members and approval by the Members at monthly meeting.

The current subscription plus the joining fee becomes payable on acceptance.

Junior Members up to age 17 and full time students are entitled to free Membership. Junior Members must be under adult supervision at all times

The Club Insurance Scheme is compulsory for all Members and is included in the annual subscription.

Any Members’ application deemed detrimental to the Club can be refused without any reason given.

All committee Members must be paid up Members.

New Members applying to join during the year will pay 1/12 of the annual subscription for each of the remaining months to December, plus the joining fee.

Prospective new Members and guests are allowed to sail at the site for a maximum of three days in any given year after which they must join and become fully insured Members. During the initial three visits they must be supervised by a current Club Member.

Whilst at Club sailings children are the responsibility of their parent or guardian, vulnerable adults are the responsibility of their carer, and must be accompanied by the relevant parent, guardian or carer.

Under no circumstances should any Club Member supervise children or vulnerable adults without the presence of the relevant parent, guardian or carer who must be present at all times.

Disciplinary Procedure
The Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer shall have the power to order the withdrawal from Club functions any Member(s) under investigation for misconduct which includes

Vandalism
Antisocial and abusive behaviour
Malicious damage
Any action deemed detrimental to The Club
Any Member(s) under investigation for misconduct shall be suspended from all Club activities until a full investigation by the Committee at the earliest possible date.

The offending Member(s) may be asked to explain to the committee their actions before any decision is made. In order for a decision to be reached, a quorum of two thirds of The Committee must be present.

A suspended Member shall not be entitled to use any of the Club’s facilities but shall remain liable to pay his/her subscriptions.

Any complaints regarding a Member must be raised in writing to the Secretary for consideration by The Committee within two months of the incident taking place.

General Sailing Rules.

We do not have exclusive rights to the use of the lake and both the Sea Scouts and Fisherman have a right to use the lake.

We must avoid any fishing lines at all times and if necessary check with the fishermen where their lines are cast.

Our agreed sailing area is the lake immediately in front of the two landing stages up to the 30 feet from the far bank of the lake.

The area to the right of our sailing area is reserved for fishing and we must not sail past a line from the promontory on the right to the far side of the lake.

Similarly the area to the left of our landing stage within 30 feet of the bank is also reserved for fishing.

All Members are required to comply with the Sailing Area Rules and the Sailing Safely Advice.

No Member may operate an Internal Combustion powered model boat

All sailing activities must be undertaken in a safe manner with due regard to any other models or wildfowl on the lake.

The Safety Officers and / or their nominees will check for compliance with current insurance legislation any model steam plant sailing on club waters.

Members must comply with any reasonable request to have their models inspected by a Club Safety Officer or Club Member at the request of a Club Safety Officer.

Safety Officers of the Club are empowered to stop a model sailing . Any such model may not be sailed until the Safety Officer is satisfied with the model’s compliance