The Round Constitution

Cambridge University Country Dance Club

  1. The club shall be called ‘the Round’.
  2. Membership shall be open to all members of the University and others wishing to dance English Country Dances, especially those found in the Playford collection.
  3. Anyone may become a full member of the Round upon payment of an annual fee, set by the Committee.
  4. The Round shall be governed by a Committee of not fewer than eight nor more than twelve members, six being required to form a quorum.
  5. The Committee
    1. Shall meet at least once in each University term, after due notice has been given to all full members of the society. Full members who are not members of the Committee may propose matters for discussion by the Committee and may be permitted to attend Committee meetings at the discretion of the chairman, but may not vote.
    2. Shall organise ordinary meetings during University terms at which country dances shall be taught.
    3. Shall fix the date for termly country dance parties, to include an annual Playford Ball.
    4. Shall organise at least one ceilidh per term.
    5. Shall set charges to be made for ordinary meetings and parties.
    6. Shall from time to time elect new members whom it considers likely to maintain the traditions of the Round and to remain in Cambridge long enough to be of service to it.
    7. May elect a President. The position shall be an Honorary one and reserved only for those who have rendered especial service to the Round over a period of years.
    8. Shall elect a Senior Treasurer who shall be of M A standing and shall supervise the finances of the Round in accordance with University Regulations.
    9. Shall elect from its own number a Chairman, a Junior Treasurer and a Publicity Officer.
    10. Shall have the power to decide on the selection of dances taught and the suitability of Callers. Such decisions shall be subject to frequent review.
    11. Shall have the power to send teams from the Round to perform at Festivals, and to incur reasonable expenses thereby.
    12. Shall have the power to affiliate the Round, as an autonomous club, to any other Country Dance organisation.
    13. Shall have the power to suspend, change, or add any rule by a two-thirds majority of the whole Committee.
  6. The President and the Senior Treasurer shall have all the rights and privileges of a committee member.
  7. Members of the Committee shall retire after three years service but shall be eligible for re-election. Any member shall be required to resign from the Committee on ceasing to be an active member of the Round.
  8. The Chairman
    1. Shall be a student and shall hold office for one academic year only.
    2. Shall call and preside over all meetings of the Committee.
    3. Shall ensure that arrangements are made for Round meetings to be held in the Long Vacation Term if required.
    4. Shall be responsible for the safekeeping of the properties of the Round.
    5. Shall have the casting vote in Committee.
    6. Shall keep a list of dances danced and make it available to Callers.
    7. Shall, before each term begins, ensure that halls have been booked for all meetings of the Round.
    8. Shall organise extra activities as directed by the Committee.
    9. Shall ensure that Minutes are kept of all Committee meetings.
    10. Shall ensure that a competent Caller is present at each meeting of the Round.
    11. Shall ensure that musicians or music are available for each meeting or party.
    12. Shall ensure that for each party there is suitable refreshment and a Master of Ceremonies.
    13. Shall be responsible for the maintenance of the society e-mail lists.
  9. The Junior Treasurer
    1. Shall hold office for one academic year, but may be re-elected.
    2. Shall be responsible for the safekeeping of the funds.
    3. Shall draw up cheques to be signed by the Senior Treasurer; if the Senior Treasurer so wishes, he or she may authorise particular Junior Treasurers to sign cheques.
    4. Shall collect the charges for all meetings and parties and shall pay these and all other receipts into the Round banking account.
    5. Shall make payments as directed out of petty cash.
    6. Shall keep a single-entry cash book with a detailed account of all monies received and spent.
    7. Shall, before going down at the end of each term, pay into the Round banking account all monies held and if required hand to the Senior Treasurer a completed account for the term and all receipted bills.
    8. Shall prepare an account for the previous academic year, ending 30th September, to be presented to the Committee in the Michaelmas term.
    9. Shall present an interim account at any time if required to do so by the Committee.
    10. Shall organise refreshments at ordinary meetings.
  10. The Publicity Officer
    1. Shall hold office for one academic year, but may be re-elected.
    2. Shall ensure that notice of ordinary meetings appears regularly in appropriate listings, in particular in the weekly Cambridge University student newspaper.
    3. Shall ensure that fliers, posters, a display and other publicity material as directed is available for recruiting at the start of each academic year and that reminders are sent to interested parties.
    4. Shall ensure that publicity material is produced and distributed for those events for which this is directed.
    5. Shall ensure that any Country Dance organisations to which the Round is affiliated are informed of the Round's activities, if they wish it.
    6. Shall provide copies of the Rules as necessary.
    7. Shall be responsible for the Round's webpages.
  11. Any person may attend their first ordinary meeting free of charge.
  12. Only full members and their guests shall be allowed to attend parties.
  13. The Rules shall be publically accessible.

Change history

This is not a part of the Rules.

1960. Rules written
23rd April 1963. Amended
20th November 1978. Amended
24th April 1986. Revised
1994. in statu pupillari’ replaced by ‘student’
2nd February 1995. Clarified the permitted number of committee members; created the post of Publicity Officer
June 1995. Used ‘he or she’ as common gender pronoun
October 1997. Converted to HTML (with unchanged content)
November 2004. Renumbered clauses. Added clauses 3, 5.4, 8.13, 9.7. Replaced ‘member’ with ‘full member’ in clauses 5.1 and 12. Extended clause 5.1 to include ability for full members to influence committee meetings. Amended rule 13.