DIDYMUS (Unitarians in Ringwood) August 2022
Description
A non-profit making society centred on Ringwood, Hampshire that situates itself within the cultural context of British Unitarianism and which is open to, and accepting of, all persons sharing its aim and offering the same openness and acceptance to its Members.
Aim
To celebrate, support, and stimulate the journey of realized faith of its Members, Associates and Visitors, where faith is understood to be an open-ended personal relationship to the world as it is recognized by reason and conscience.
Method
· To organize regular meetings or gatherings, sometimes referred to as “services”, for shared reflection on spiritual texts.
· To facilitate talks and discussions on spiritual and ethical themes.
· To facilitate activities locally where Members, Associates and Visitors can effectively put the fruit of their reflections into practice.
· To facilitate interaction with other groups of similar aims.
· To ensure locally that people who may share the aim of the society are aware of, and are welcomed by, the society.
Structure
1. The society is one of equal Members where all such are entitled to attend all business meetings, which must be announced no less than one week in advance, and have equal voting rights.
2. Members are those accepted as such by the society and who contribute to its life.
3. Membership is by invitation (and the acceptance of it) after:
— a period of mutual acquaintance between a prospective person and the extant group, normally but not exclusively signified by their participation in six routine meetings/services during any one annual period, such that the beginnings of mutual trust and understanding can be seen and described (see NOTE 1).
— one or more existing Members have forwarded the prospective person’s name to the Committee and there has been no objection raised.
4. Those who do not wish to accept the invitation to become Members may wish to declare themselves to be Associates or Visitors (see Annex).
5. Persons under the age of 18 are not to be identified as having responsibility for the life of the society thus may be invited to declare themselves as Associates or Visitors only.
6. Members will declare themselves to be “local Members” or “denominational Members” (see Annex) when a muster is recorded at the DIDYMUS Anniversary point, without reference to their class of membership in the preceding year. This is the only way in which a class of membership can be changed.
7. Associates and Visitors may choose to be recorded at the Anniversary muster, or not, without reference to their position in the preceding year.
Business Management
8. Day to day administration of the society is done by the Committee which comprises the Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer, and any other persons invited by a majority of the existing Committee to fulfil a designated role. With six or fewer Members the Committee is formed of all the Members.
9. The names and roles of all Committee members must be made accessible to all Members.
10. The Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer are selected annually after nomination by at least two other Members of the society and ratification by a majority vote at the AGM.
11. Committee decisions are reached by consensus and where this cannot be reached after three successive meetings the Committee is dissolved and must be newly nominated.
12. The minutes of Committee meetings and quarterly accounts for the society must be accessible to all Members.
13. The choice of bank account will be made in consultation with all the Members.
14. Should the society’s Members decide, after wide consultation, to dissolve the society, the funds held will be handed over to another group, whose aims, as set out in their constitution, are felt to be aligned with the aims of this society. Other domestic assets (hymn books, advertising boards, worship table goods etc) will be donated to others or may be shared out between Members, by common agreement.
Dated 13 August 2022
NOTE 1: Exemplars where the six-meeting rule might be waived are (a) where a lapsed Member returns or (b) where someone starts participating, with whom a long-term, mutual understanding in the Unitarian context has already developed in some other way. (This is not an exhaustive list.)
