Butchers' and
Drovers' Charitable Institution
RULES AND REGULATIONS
At an
extraordinary General Meeting of the Charity known as Butchers’ and Drovers’
Charitable Institution held at Butchers Hall, Bartholomew Close, EC1 on 16th
February 1987 the following were adopted as the Rules and Regulations of the
Charity.
1.
Definition Clause
“The
Charity” means the Butchers’ and Drovers’ Charitable Institution (an
amalgamation of the Butchers’ Charitable Institution and the London Meat Trades
and Drovers’ Benevolent Association)
“A
Beneficiary” may be a Master Butcher or Drover or any other person who is or has
been connected in any capacity with the Meat Trade in the United Kingdom or the
wife or widow, husband or widower, son or daughter of such a person or of a
deceased person who was eligible to be a beneficiary and who is over the age of
60 years or unable to work and who because of his limited financial resources
requires assistance from the Charity.
In these
Rules where the context so admits words importing the masculine gender include
the feminine and singular words include the plural.
2. Objects
The Objects
of the Charity are the relief of distress among beneficiaries (a) by providing
pensions and grants (b) by securing residential accommodation in Homes whether
belonging to the Charity or to other bodies and (c) by providing other benefits.
3. Membership
All persons
or Corporations who donate not less than £10.00 to the Charity’s Funds shall be
entitled to attend and vote at a General Meeting (a Corporation by a nominated
representative) and are hereinafter called “the Donors”
4. Management
The Charity
shall be directed by a Council consisting of a President, Vice-Presidents, a
Treasurer, four Trustees and not less than twenty other Donors. The quorum of
the Council shall be five.
5.
There shall be held annually a General Meeting of the Donors and the
quorum of the meeting shall be seven. At this meeting the Donors shall then
elect from their numbers the President, Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer, the
Trustees, the Members of the Council an Honorary House Steward and an Auditor or
firm of Auditors of the Charity’s Accounts. All Donors who have been Festival
Chairmen of the Charity or of the Butchers’ Charitable Institution or Presidents
of the London Meat Trades and Drovers’ Benevolent Association shall be eligible
to be elected Vice-Presidents. The Treasurer shall present a Balance Sheet and
Income and Expenditure Account for the preceding financial year which shall be
signed as having been audited by the Auditor.
6.
The Council or any thirty Donors shall have power to call a Special
General Meeting by signing and addressing a requisition to the Secretary stating
the objects of such meeting and giving fourteen days’ notice and at any such
meeting there being not less than thirty Donors present any matter may be the
subject of a motion, but not the amendment of the Rules of the Charity.
7.
(a)
Any General Meeting shall have power to add to or to amend the present Rules or
resolve to amalgamate the Charity with any other Charity or Charities upon terms
acceptable to the Council. Any Donor intending to propose such an alteration
shall give two months notice thereof to the Secretary. The Secretary shall
include the terms of the proposed additions or amendments in the Notice
summoning the General Meeting with the Council’s recommendations thereon
PROVIDED THAT no such addition or amendment shall have effect if it would cause
the Charity to cease to be a Charity.
(b)
The President of the Charity shall preside at all General Meetings.
(c)
Notice of all General Meetings shall be given by fourteen days’ notice in
the Meat Trades’ Journal or other Trade Press published in the London area and
there shall be no obligation to notify any Donor of the General Meeting
otherwise than by such notice.
8.
The Council shall meet at once twice a year. At the first meeting in
each year which shall be held within four weeks of the Annual General Meeting,
it shall elect a Chairman for the ensuing year and the Council shall also
appoint from among its numbers not more than twenty five Donors to form an
executive Committee (hereinafter called “the Committee”) to carry on the general
administration of the Charity. It shall also appoint a House sub-committee of
which the Honorary House Steward shall be an ex-officio member and such other
sub-committees as it considers desirable for the efficient management of the
Charity and of the residential flats at “Smoothfield” and any other residential
homes of the charity and may delegate to each sub-committee such matters as it
considers desirable. The acts and proceedings of every sub-committee shall be
reported promptly to the Committee. The Council shall also appoint each year a
Festival Chairman whose responsibility shall be to preside over the fund raising
activities of the Charity for the ensuing twelve months.
9.
There shall be vested in the Trustees or in a Trust Corporation as
Nominee for the Trustees all the land and investments of the Charity. The
Charity shall maintain a Bank Account at Lloyds Bank PLC, West Smithfield or
such other Bank as the Committee shall appoint and shall authorise the Secretary
and such of the Committee as they shall decide to draw on the account.
10.
Proceedings of the Committee
(a)
The Committee shall meet once in each calendar month when there is
sufficient business to justify a meeting. Five members present shall be a
quorum. The Chairman of the Committee shall be the Donor elected as Chairman
of the Council. Every monthly meeting shall be convened by the Secretary and
if at any time there is no Secretary it may be convened by the Chairman or if
none by any two members of the Committee. In addition to the monthly meetings
the Secretary shall convene a meeting of the Committee whenever required by the
Chairman or any three Members of the Committee and if there is no such Secretary
any such meeting may be convened by the Chairman or any such three Members as
aforesaid.
(b)
Unless and until otherwise determined by the Committee seven days’ notice
at least of every meeting of the Committee specifying the date the hour and the
place of the meeting shall be given to the Members of the Committee but the
accidental omission to give such notice to any Members of the Committee shall
not invalidate the proceedings at the meeting.
(c)
The Chairman shall preside at all Meetings of the Committee at which he
is present, or if he be absent the Committee shall elect one of their number to
act as Chairman of that Meeting.
(d)
All questions to be determined by the Committee shall be decided by a
majority of votes. Each Member of the Committee present shall have one vote
and in case of an equality of votes the Chairman shall have a second or casting
vote.
(e)
Subject to the express provisions of these rules the Committee may meet
for the despatch of business adjourn and otherwise regulate their Meetings and
proceedings as they think fit.
(f)
The Honorary House Steward shall supervise the works of the officers at
“Smoothfield” and any other residential homes of the Charity. He shall operate
an imprest account for the discharge of routine liabilities incurred at the
homes.
(g)
A minute book shall be kept in which proper minutes shall be entered of
all Meetings of the Council and the Committee and the proceedings held and
resolutions passed thereat. The minutes of each Meeting shall be read over at
the next following Meeting and signed by the Chairman and any minutes so signed
shall be conclusive evidence of the proceedings and resolutions recorded
therein.
(h)
The Committee may act notwithstanding any vacancy in their body but if at
any time their number is reduced to less than ten, they may only act for the
purpose of filling vacancies in their body. All acts done at a Meeting of the
Council, the Committee or of any sub-committee thereof shall be valid
notwithstanding that it shall afterwards be discovered that there was some
defect in the election of any Member of the Committee present at such Meeting or
that such Member was disqualified.
(i)
The Committee may at any time appoint a Donor as Treasurer or as a Member
of the Committee to fill any casual vacancy until the next Annual General
Meeting. The Committee may also at any time co-opt additional Members,
provided that the total number of twenty five Members shall not be exceeded.
11.
Duties of the Committee
(a)
The Committee shall administer the funds of the Charity.
(b)
Subject to Clause 9 above the Committee shall invest so much of the
surplus funds of the Charity as the Committee shall deem expedient in
investments authorised by law and shall be entitled to hold and to acquire land
of any tenure for the functional purposes of the Charity or for investment.
(c)
The Committee shall have an absolute discretion in deciding if an
applicant whether for pensions and grants or accommodation or other benefits is
eligible and shall determine the numbers of persons who may receive pensions at
any one time and the amount of such pensions but so that if there are more
applicants than the Charity can support in any year, the Committee shall give
priority to applicants who work or have worked within 20 miles of Charing Cross.
(d)
The Committee shall from time to time make regulations for the management
of “Smoothfield” and any other residential homes of the Charity.
(e)
Pensions to pensioners not residing at “Smoothfield” shall be paid
quarterly in advance and shall be at the rates of £4 per week or at such other
rates as the Committee may determine.
(f)
The Committee in its absolute discretion may make grants in suitable
cases of which the following are examples:-
(1)
for the accommodation of a beneficiary in a private nursing home or
similar institution
(2)
to any one family for the maintenance and/or education of the infant
children
(3)
to provide additional support at Christmas or other public celebration,
for assistance towards an annual holiday, and to assist in resolving a
beneficiary’s personal financial problem in cases of emergency.
(g)
Every beneficiary and anyone eligible to be a beneficiary of the Charity may
apply to reside in a flat at “Smoothfield” or any other residential home of the
Charity and the Committee shall have a full discretion whether or not to accept
any applicant and in reaching their decision shall have regard to the report of
the Charity’s Medical Adviser on the state of the applicant’s health. The
Committee may at any time require any resident to leave the flat allocated to
him or her for another or to leave indefinitely.
The
Committee may make it a condition of appointing or permitting any person to be
or remain a resident in the flats maintained by the Charity that he shall
contribute from resources available to him a weekly sum towards the cost of
maintaining the flats and essential services therein but so that the amount of
the weekly sum shall not be such as to cause hardship to him.
(h)
The Committee shall appoint the following Officers:-
A Secretary, a Chaplain, a Medical Adviser, a Superintendant, a Matron and such
other Officers as they may consider necessary at such salary or remuneration and
upon such terms and conditions as the Committee may determine.
(i)
The Committee shall administer the Scarlett Memorial Trust Fund and may transfer
from the General Funds of the Charity to the Scarlett Memorial Trust Fund a sum
not exceeding £500.00 in any one year.
Back to top
