Moving Forward

At a meeting of the Association’s Management Committee, held in Whitstable, on 3^rd October 2023, decisions were taken that will profoundly affect the way in which the Association will operate in the future.

At the Association’s Annual General Meeting in 2022, the membership agreed a proposal for a new way of operating, a model that would give greater control to the Branches and slim down the ‘headquarters’ functions, a model that would modernise the Association.

In order to implement the new model, it was necessary to change the Constitution and Rules. Attempts to effect the necessary changes by modifying the Rules were unsuccessful, and a proposal put forward at the AGM in 2023 was rejected.

However, at that meeting the membership authorised the Management Committee to adopt new Rules for the Association, without the need to refer them back to the membership for approval.

At the 3^rd October meeting, a complete rewrite of the Rules was tabled. This was adopted unanimously by the Management Committee, to come into effect immediately following the end of the meeting.

Here are some of the key points in these new Rules:

• Branches are self-governing, ie can operate in whatever way best suits their membership, are responsible for their own finances, including setting their own membership fee, and can admit new Members to the Association,
• The Branches have full control of the Association, as it is managed by a Board whose voting members are one representative from each Branch. (The Board replaces the Association's Management Committee.)
• There are a maximum of two Officers at the County level, a Chair and optionally a Vice Chair, who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the Association, co-ordinating communication, administering finances, and maintaining records.
• The cost of operations at the County level, which will be greatly reduced, will be financed by contributions from the Branches, each paying a share proportional to their number of Members.

Also at that meeting, a new County Chair, Tim Meadley, and a Vice Chair, David Woodnott, were elected to serve until the time of the 2024 AGM.

Some of you will know Tim, who is a member of the Medway Branch, as the person responsible for establishing and maintaining our website, as well as his own Branch’s site. He has been an ex officio member of the Association’s Management Committee for a number of years. He was a member of the subcommittee responsible for developing the new model.
David, an Association Vice President and Chairman of the Whitstable Branch, is well known across AMKKM, having served both as County Secretary and as County Chairman. In recent years he has chosen to step back from active involvement at the County level but has agreed to return to bring his experience and expertise to the role of Vice Chair.