Duties and Responsibilities

Chair

Hall key-holder; Committee Member; maximum 3-year post

  • Lancs & Lakes Constitution states “…serve for a period of three years.”
  • CHAIR is generally loosely defined as: “The chairman presides over meetings of the assembled group and conducts its business in an orderly fashion. When the group is not in session, the Chair’s duties include acting as its head, its representative to the outside world and its spokesperson…”
  • It is the responsibility of the Chairman to:
    • manage the business of the group and preside over its meetings;
    • collaborate with the Secretary over meeting agendas, taking full account of the issues and the concerns of all members;
    • ensure that members receive accurate, timely and clear information;
    • monitor progress towards the timely and effective achievement and implementation of the objectives;
    • ensure that members of the group understand the aims and objectives of the group;
    • promote the highest standards of group governance;
    • manage the Committee’s time to ensure that sufficient time is allowed for discussion of complex or contentious matters;
    • ensure that new Committee officers receive an induction programme that is tailored and comprehensive;
    • ensure that new members receive “welcome, introduction and information” details.
    • at end of day, check the meeting venue is clear and secure.

Hon Secretary

Committee Member; maximum 3-year post

Outline given as duties & responsibilities to incoming Secretary, 2003 (Programme and Membership aspects filtered out and added below)

  • January – Committee meeting: remind of need for Association AGM delegate and observer; discuss any nominations, points for discussion and propositions. Send new programme to Assoc. Sec. plus change of Sec.’s name and address (if nec.). Give new programme to Website Controller.
  • March – Association AGM Agenda and information?
  • April – Committee meeting
  • September – Committee meeting
  • November – Committee meeting: liaise with Chair re AGM – nominations for vacant posts (preferably in by 12.00), any resolutions; programme ideas for year after next; liaise with Treasurer re arranging presentations to departing officers, committee members and other posts of responsibility; any special considerations. Remind Committee that Committee members bring cakes for after AGM. Confirm AGM Agenda with Chair by end of day – send out by email asap. Write Secretary’s report for AGM.
  • Dec – Distribute copies of AGM Agenda to those without email, and anyone else who requests one. Take minutes, read minutes of previous year’s AGM meeting (plus relevant correspondence); make secretary’s “to do” list during meeting.
  • A week before each Guild day, arrange AGENDA with Chair; send out that month’s email “flyer” (not in 2003 instructions!), plus any other information.
  • At each meeting put out notice-board, adding any notices. At end of day, take down notice-board, take home Minutes notes, additional correspondence given (inc. messages).
  • During the Business Meeting take minutes, read minutes of previous meeting, and (non-email) correspondence, make secretary’s “to do” list during meeting.
  • Write up minutes; write thank-you note to the speaker; deal with any new correspondence.

 Hon Treasurer

Committee Member; maximum 3-year post

  • Guild Accounts: Receipt of subs, payment of membership/insurance to Association, payment of venue costs, additional sales, purchases and incidentals.
  • Calculate workshop costs to booking participants; take full payment from each booking participant (no deposits, and no returns for non-attendance).
  • Write to Yealand Hall Committee representative re booking halls and dates required for following year, plus provisional bookings for the year after (2nd Saturday every month except Easter weekend, and December, which is always 1st Saturday). Pay all associated bills.
  • Any additional transactions necessitated by the programme (gifts to non-remunerated speakers, small expenses; receipt of suppliers’ 10% commissions, November Auction monies, etc).
  • Pay speaker/tutor at each Guild meeting, in a “thank-you” card.
  • Bank monies as necessary; arrange signing of cheques by one of co-signatories.

 Librarian

(hall key-holder; may be a Committee Member, but not obligatory; maximum 3-year post) – Leads a team of volunteers in the care, management and up-keep of the Library. Computer literacy plus confidence in MS-Excel is required for the maintenance of the book stock list; all additional required skills will be passed on by the retiring Librarian. Confirm continuing in post at each AGM.

Programme Organiser

Hall key-holder; ideally a Committee Member, but not obligatory; maximum 3-year post

During Spring and Summer, the Programme for the following year must be developed: We do not have a speaker for January, July, August or December. We also traditionally have a workshop (plus talk) on the March and October meeting weekends (though additional workshops may be included in special circumstances). Suggestions for speakers may be begged from members, found in the Association Speakers List, or simply present themselves at events such as Woolfest, Knitting & Stitching Show, or agricultural shows. Searches on the internet by key words/phrases may also pop up possibilities. An email approach is the primary contact of choice. If a couple of dates are offered, it sounds less pressured! Having confirmed a date and subject, send a letter, 2 copies of the completed Booking Confirmation (one to be completed and returned) and an SAE to the speaker by post. Fill out the Excel Calendar, as confirmations come back. Report to the Committee as required to do so, and definitely at the September Committee meeting, by which time the next year should be complete (including any in-house plans: January activities, July event, August get-together, November Auction). Liaise with the Skill-share organiser for mornings where “voting time” is needed (National Exhibition years, Christmas Card Competition, etc.) Print out programme cards by the AGM, to give to the Hon Treasurer for the January meeting. Computer literacy plus confidence in MS-Excel and MS-Word (and possibly MS-Publisher) is required for this post. Confirm continuing in post at each AGM.

Membership

Ideally a Committee Member, but not obligatory; maximum 3-year post – The person in the organisation who makes sure of compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018. This post may be merged with Chair, Hon Treasurer or Hon Secretary. Each member is required to give 4 items of information (name, postal address, telephone number and email address) upon joining – or renewing their membership of – Lancs & Lakes Guild. This data is tabulated in a database which is secure on a memory medium wholly separate from the internet. A List of Members Names is circulated to all Members (usually after the March meeting). Please also see below the Privacy Statement and General Data Protection Regulation 2018 Collection Form provided by the National Association of WSD and adopted at LLWSD AGM December 2018. Computer literacy plus confidence in MS-Excel and MS-Word is required for this post. Confirm continuing in post at each AGM. (Approved Amendment AGM Dec 2019)

Hospitality

may be a Committee Member, but not obligatory; no limit of tenure –arranging volunteer members (well in advance) as over-night hospitality for long-distance speakers/tutors, a provider of lunch for the speaker/tutor (plus a couple of guests) February to June and September to November, afternoon-tea-servers and Vote-of-Thanks, plus any additional duties of care (including responsibility for hearing loop).

Confirm continuing in post at each AGM.

Webmaster

may be a Committee Member, but not obligatory; no limit of tenure

The maintenance, management and up-keep of the Guild website. Computer literacy plus experience and confidence in web-page design obligatory. An additional post of “Assistant Webmaster” may also be required in the future.

Confirm continuing in post at each AGM.

Plus…

  • Guild Equipment
  • Journal
  • Publicity
  • Tea (provisions)
  • Tea Rota