These rules may only be altered by a properly constituted General Meeting of the Club. However they do not form part of the Club’s statutes. This means that they can be altered by a GM at which 5% of the membership is represented.
1. Financial
1.1 The Club’s financial year will run from 1 June each year to the following 31 May.
1.2 The annual subscription will be reduced to two-thirds for members who join the Club for the first time in the second half of the financial year. No such reduction will apply to previous members who rejoin at any time in the financial year following a year in which they have been a member.
1.3 Members will be informed via the newsletter when their subscriptions are due.
1.4 Each Area and each Activity within the Club will be allocated an annual budget to spend as they see fit. Such monies can only be claimed against receipts (except for phone calls, postage and petrol money). The rates for such allocations are given in the Area Reps Guide.
1.5 The Club will normally aim to have an operating reserve, at the end of any financial year, excluding the value of capital goods (such as computers), of around EUR 15,000. This reserve will act as a buffer against any unforeseen problems or emergencies.
1.6 If the Club makes an operating surplus in any financial year the Committee may donate all or part of this surplus to charitable purposes in the next financial year. In addition, Members and/or the Committee may donate to charity such additional sums as are raised from events organised specifically for this purpose (e.g. tombolas, the car boot sale).
1.7 All Committee and other functions exercised within the remit of the Club are voluntary and will not be remunerated.
2. Membership
2.1 A Membership Directory listing members’ names and contact details will be issued annually to all members who agree to have their details published.
2.2 If the Committee decides that a member should be excluded from the Club, the member concerned will not be eligible to attend any meetings of the Club from the moment that the Committee’s intention is made known to her in writing until the final decision to exclude or re-admit her is taken by a General Meeting.
2.3 Any member who has been excluded from the Club may apply to rejoin in the following year. Any such application must be explicitly accepted or rejected by the Committee.
3. Club meetings and activities
3.1 Members will receive a monthly newsletter from the Club at the beginning of every month except August, setting out the events the Club is organising and other information of interest to members.
3.2 Only paid-up members of the Club and their partners and minor children may participate in free Club activities regularly and free of charge.
3.3 Partners of BLC members may attend free meetings free of charge, at the discretion of the organiser.
3.4 Guests (friends, visitors etc.) may attend a maximum of three free meetings free of charge without becoming members of the Club.
3.5 Partners and guests may be asked to pay an additional fee to attend any meetings and events for which members are charged.
3.6 There shall be no smoking at any meetings or events organised by the Club unless the event is specifically advertised in advance in the newsletter as one at which smoking will be permitted.
4. The Committee
4.1 The Committee will normally meet at least once a month, except in August, to conduct its business.
4.2 Committee members with young children may claim babysitting expenses for their attendance at Committee meetings.
4.3 Retiring Committee members will be thanked with the gift of a shopping voucher to the value of the annual membership fee for each year of their service on the committee.
4.4 Committee members who leave the Committee will not be eligible for re-election to the Committee until a period equal to their period of service on the Committee has elapsed.
4.5 If the Committee decides that one of its members should be removed from office, that member will not be eligible to attend any Committee meetings from the moment of the vote to exclude her until the final decision to appoint or dismiss that member from the Committee is taken by a General Meeting.
5. Miscellaneous
5.1 The partner of the British Ambassador to Luxembourg will normally be invited to be the President of the Club.
5.2 Retiring Area Reps and group organisers will be thanked with the gift of a shopping voucher to the value of the annual membership fee, at the discretion of the committee.