Motion to the Annual General Meeting of Chelmsford YHA Local Group 31/10/07:

 

The Group’s constitution should be amended to remove explicit ties to the Youth Hostels Association (England and Wales). These changes should be in line with the guidance given in the document distributed by YHA entitled “Changes to Affiliation – Guidance for Hostelling and Local Groups – August 2006”.

 

Proposed by Dave Plummer

 

The proposed amendments are attached here.

 

Notes:

  1. The changes are in no way intended to affect the way the Group operates at the moment. They simply bring the constitution in line with the changed relationship with YHA.
  2. The existing constitution could be interpreted to imply that the Group is a Branch of YHA. The YHA have made it clear that as from 1st March 2007 this is not the case. The Group is independent of YHA, but may be affiliated to YHA. The constitution needs to be clear about this.
  3. The constitution refers to “The Youth Hostels Association (England and Wales)”. This association was dissolved in 2005, and replaced by YHA (England and Wales) Ltd. So currently our main object is to support an association which no longer exists.
  4. Instead of promoting the Association explicitly, support the youth hostels movement in general. This allows us more flexibility should we disagree with policies of the YHA.
  5. Add “appreciation of the cultural values of towns and cities”, as well as “love of the countryside”, so as to include trips to city hostels. This reflects the change made to the YHA object.
  6. We are no longer required to register with YHA. We may (optionally) affiliate to YHA.
  7. The YHA can no longer require us to change our constitution, and the YHA constitution no longer takes precedence.
  8. Should the group be dissolved, any remaining assets will be passed to a charity of our choice, not necessarily the YHA.
  9. Note that the name of the group remains unchanged. Although YHA had asked groups to remove “YHA” from their names, a compromise has now been reached. This involves us entering into a licensing agreement with YHA, which enables us to continue using the name whilst protecting the YHA trademark.