OVEG Special General Meeting 2011

An OVEG Special General Meeting was held on Wednesday 4 May 2011. We hosted the event at Bushey and Oxhey Methodist Church.

The Special General Meeting was called to seek members’ consent on proposed changes to the OVEG constitution.

Several weeks earlier, on 14 March, we had held OVEG’s Annual General Meeting 2011. John Drummond announced that he would be standing down as Chair, having served on the committee for five years. Two candidates from the existing committee were proposed as Co-Chairs: Ben Atkins and Ruth Blake. However, several members voiced their concerns that there should be only one named Chair, and it would stand at odds with the constitution to have Co-Chairs. With no other nominations forthcoming, the Chair role remain unfilled.

The issue was discussed at length at the next committee meeting, on 23 March, and it was agreed to hold a Special General Meeting where members would be asked to vote on the following changes to the OVEG constitution:

• Clause 5a) be amended to increase the roles from 12 to 13, to include a Deputy Chair role;
• Clause 5c) be amended as shown in italics: “In the event that a role is vacant for any reason the Committee may appoint a member to that role (subject to 5a and 5f). If the Chair role is vacant and all efforts to secure nominations have failed, two members may be nominated as Co-Chairs. Unless removed or they resign. All Committee Members hold their roles until the next Annual General Meeting”.

At the Special General Meeting, members approved the changes. At the subsequent AGM, Ben Atkins and Ruth Blake adopted the Co-Chair roles, and Gavin Ellis was named Deputy Chair.