InDepth Dive Club
Constitution

The club shall be known as the “InDepth Dive Club” (“InDepth” or “the Club”)

InDepth shall be an independent group of divers whose objective is to facilitate safe, active and inclusive diving by means of mutual assistance, co-operation and experience of its membership. In pursuance of this InDepth shall be:

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          i. A PADI Dive Centre, no: 26763
          ii. A member of the Sub Aqua Association, branch no: 1170 iii. And other agencies as agreed by the Membership

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Membership will have due regard for the conservation of the natural environment and the protection of War Graves.

There shall be five classes of membership.

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          (i) Full Diving/Snorkelling Membership, for which any person 12 years of age or over shall be eligible and will have full use of the pool and all Club equipment and can attend Club Dives.

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          (ii) Associate Membership, for which any person 12 years of age or over shall be eligible but which shall not entitle such a member to take part in snorkelling or any other activity involving his use of a breathing set.

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          (iii) Student Membership, for which any person of the age of 12 years or over shall be eligible provided that they are in full time education and can provide proof of said.

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          (iv) Country Membership, for which any person take part in Club activities and use Club equipment. This type of membership is available to those who live at a distance that prevents them from regularly attending club pool and club dives. (this is a InDdepth specific membership category and so for insurance purposes will be enrolled with either association as a full diving member.

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          (v) Honorary Membership, which shall be conferred solely by the committee and for which any person, 18 years or over, shall be eligible and will have full diving membership privileges.

There is an initial joining fee, which covers the SAA joining fee and dive manuals.
Full, Associate, Country, Junior and Student members shall pay annual subscriptions to InDepth; subscriptions shall become payable by 1st April. Members whose subscription is not received by this date shall cease to be Members of the Club.

There shall be the following Principal Officers

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          (i)  Chairman

          (ii)  Diving Officer

          (iii)  Training Officer

          (iv)  Equipment Officer

          (v)  Treasurer

          (vi)  Secretary

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Principal Officers shall be full diving members or honorary members.

The Diving Officer and Training Officer must be at least an open water instructor and ideally hold an SAA Dive Supervisor qualification.

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The committee will be elected at a General Meeting of InDepth; having been proposed and seconded by Diving Members of the Club. Principal Officers shall serve until the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting

The committee may co-opt club members on to the committee at its discrection, in order to undertake roles and assist in the running of the club. Co-Opted members shall have the same voting rights as full members. Examples of co-opted position include, but are not limited to:

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          (i)  Vice-Chairman

          (ii)  PR & Marketing Officer

          (iii)  Social Secretary

          (iv)  Welfare Officer

The Principal Officers may jointly administer the affairs of the Club.

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CHAIRMAN

The Chairman’s primary role is to guide all meetings. He/She is not an overall leader / representative or mouthpiece for the club, that role is incumbent on the committee collectively. He/She does not and should not engage in any dispute arbitration or idle gossip with club members. The Chairman should be seen to set an example and discourage ‘Club politics’ or discrimination within the club. Any dispute resolution should be done openly and in a transparent manner by the committee.

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DIVING OFFICER

The Diving Officer shall be responsible for the standard of training and the diving conduct of the Club. He/she shall have an overriding duty to ensure safe diving and may establish Diving Officer’s Rules for this purpose.

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TRAINING OFFICER

The Training Officer shall be responsible for the standard of training in the Club under the guidance of the diving Officer. He/She is responsible for all Instructors, Assistant Instructors, Divemasters/Dive Leaders and support divers / surface cover. He/She is also responsible to ensure all of the instructor team are adhering to the guidelines laid down in the ‘standard safe diving practices’ and adhering to agency ‘standards’. He/She is also responsible for ensuring all appropriate paperwork and student records are completed correctly and in full. All of which is done under the guidance of the Diving Officer, who has overriding responsibility for all of the Training Officer’s duties.

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EQUIPMENT OFFICER

The Equipment Officer shall be responsible for organising the safekeeping, maintenance and repair of club equipment.

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TREASURER

The Treasurer shall be responsible for keeping proper books of account for the Club. He/she shall report on the Club’s financial state of affairs and present a proper financial account at the Annual General Meeting. He/she is authorised to incur expenditure on behalf of the Club up to the amount set by the budget. If expenditure is incurred on items not in the budget, the Treasurer must call a General Meeting and account for this expenditure to the Club.

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SECRETARY

The Secretary shall be responsible for maintaining records both of General Meetings and committee Meetings, membership queries & renewals and for dealing properly with the correspondence of the Club.

General meetings may be called at the request of four or more Diving Members to the Secretary, who shall give two weeks notice of the meeting to the Members.

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The quorum shall be the lesser of eight diving members or two thirds of the diving membership.

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Annual General Meetings shall be held during March of each year in order to:

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          (i) Receive the accounts and reports from the principal Officers. (ii) Set rate of subscription for the coming year.
          (iii) Elect the officers for the coming year.
          (iv) Appoint honorary auditor.

          (v) Agree the diving activities for the coming year.
          (vi) Deal with any other business not requiring an Extraordinary General Meeting.

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Special General Meetings shall be held in order to:

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         (i) Amend the Constitution.
         (ii) Remove any principal Officer.

         (iii) Dissolution of the Club.

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Each diving Member shall be entitled to vote in person at a General Meeting or cast a proxy vote in writing, which must be received by the Secretary one week before the meeting.

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At a Special General Meeting motions shall require a two-thirds majority for the motion to be carried.

Committee Meetings will be held at the discretion of the committee but will be held on not less than two occasions a year.

The general fund of the InDepth Dive Club shall be invested on behalf of and for the benefit of the Members. Withdrawal shall require the authority of two Principal Officers one of them being the Treasurer.

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In the event of the insolvency of the Club, each member shall be responsible for no more than the total of his/her subscription, which may at that time be outstanding.

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New members joining part way through the financial year will pay a Pro Rata fee calculated on one twelfth of the annual membership fees per month remaining plus the joining fee.

The committee shall administer such insurance policy or policies as may be needed fully to protect the interests of the Club, its Officers and its members.

In pursuance of the authority vested in the Committee by members of the Club, members of the Committee shall be indemnified by the members of the Club out of the assets of the Club from and against any liability, costs, expenses or payments whatsoever which may be properly incurred or made by them or any one of them in the exercise of their duties on behalf of the Club wherever the contract is of a duly authorised nature or could be assumed to be of a duly authorised nature and entered into on behalf of the Club.

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Should the assets of the Club be insufficient to satisfy such liability, costs, expenses or payments the Committee shall be entitled to a personal indemnity from the individual members of the Club.

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The limit of any individual member’s indemnity in this respect shall be a sum equal to one year’s subscription at the then current rate of that category of membership unless the Committee has been authorised to exceed such limit by a General Meeting of the Club.

The Committee shall endeavour to ensure that the following clause is incorporated in every contract, lease, licence or other agreement entered into by the Committee of the Club, as appropriate.

“The liability of the Committee for the performance of any contractual or other obligation undertaken by them on behalf of the Club shall be limited to the assets of the Club.”

Should the Club membership decide to dissolve the Club this will be a majority decision and only be carried out where the minority feels they can not reasonably continue. Once the final accounts are resolved, should there be any remaining Club funds this will be shared on a pro rata basis according to length of membership.

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