Special General Meeting

Special General Meeting to be held on 13 January 2022 at 7pm online via Zoom.

Members will recall that at previous AGMs we have voted to restructure the Bury St Edmunds Society as a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) in order the give the Society the protection of being a corporate body with limited liability.  CIOs are the new structure for charities – they have only been available since 2013, but the vast majority of new charities are now formed as CIOs and many existing charities, like the Bury Society, are moving to the new structure.

That process has been underway for some months – the charity trustees (the Committee) appointed Gareth Morgan of charity consultants, The Kubernesis Partnership LLP to advise on the process.  A new CIO constitution was agreed by the trustees, and the CIO was registered by the Charity Commission on 17 November.

As the CIO is a new charity, we now need members’ approval to wind up the existing charity and transfer everything to the CIO – we propose that this will happen on 31 March 2022 which is the end of the Society’s financial year.  This will be considered at a Special General Meeting on 13 January 2022 where we invite members to vote on the following resolution – a two thirds majority of those voting is needed.

• The members of The Bury St Edmunds Society (registered charity 263230 – “the Society”) hereby resolve, in accordance with clause S9 of the Society’s constitution, that the Society shall be dissolved on 31 March 2022 (or such other date as the Committee may decide) and all assets remaining after satisfaction of any debts and liabilities shall be transferred the The Bury St Edmunds Society CIO (registered charity 1196640 – “the CIO”) being a charity with similar objects to those of the Society. Any funds held by the Society for restricted purposes, including funds held for Bury in Bloom and the remaining funds of the Dr Alison Rae Bequest, shall be transferred to the CIO to be held for the same purposes as at present.

Under our existing constitution, the vote has to be confirmed at a further meeting at least 14 days later. So we will hold a further very brief Special General Meeting immediately before the lunch on 5 February 2022 at 11.45am at the Southgate Community centre, Caie walk, off Hardwick Lane, IP33 2QA.  (Any member can, of course, come for this brief vote beforehand, even if you are not planning to book for the lunch.)

Note that under the CIO constitution, all members of the Society are also members of the CIO, so members will have similar powers in the CIO as they have in the existing charity.

Joining instructions:  This is a meeting for members only.  To register your interest please e-mail: events@burysociety.com.  Log on details will be sent out to all those who have registered interest, one week before the event date.

Old Bury St Edmunds Society constitution pdf

New Bury St Edmunds Society constitution pdf

If you have any queries on this proposal or if you wish to see a copy of the Society’s existing constitution or the constitution of the CIO, please contact Tim Page – Secretary & VC, Bury Society secretary@burysociety.com