Dear Members, a reminder that the club’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held this year on Monday 24th November, commencing from 7.30pm. All members are invited to attend.
In addition to the usual standing matters for the AGM, being the issue of the Club’s Annual & Financial Reports, confirmation of the meeting minutes for the 2024 AGM, appointment of auditors and other standing matters, eligible members entitled to exercise a vote at the meeting will be requested to determine 1 ordinary resolution, being the appointment of Member Ashley Brown as the Club Patron and 2 Special resolutions (as members were previously advised on the 9th October 2025).
The 1st Special Resolution seeks member support to amend the club’s constitution to change the club’s method of voting to electronic rather than postal voting (members who wish to vote by post will continue to be able to do so).
The 2nd Special Resolution seeks member support to amend Club Director terms of office from the current 1-year term to 2-year terms of office.
The full text of the resolutions and guidance comments are set out below. These are important matters for the Club and Club members to consider. For clarity, members eligible to exercise a vote at the meeting are Life members, Senior members, 5-day, 6 day & 7-day members and Intermediate Members (only). We look forward to welcoming members to the Annual General Meeting on Monday 24th November.
Resolutions to be determined by the meeting are as follows.
Ordinary Resolution 1. Appointment of Club Patron.
In accordance with clause 8.26 of the club’s constitution, Directors request member support of the Board’s recommendation for the appointment of Member Ashley Brown as the Clubs Patron. Ashley Brown has been a continuous member of VGC for 64 years and has previously supported the Club as a Director and volunteer over the years. Ashley is widely respected by Members and the Club’s Board recommends Ashley as an entirely appropriate person to undertake the important role of VGC Patron.
An Ordinary Resolution requires the support of at least 50% of members who exercise a vote to be passed at the meeting.
Special Resolutions.
The following 2 special resolutions to change the Club’s Constitution, seek Member support to amend clause 7.5.3 of the existing Club Constitution to provide for the introduction of electronic voting for Board Director elections and for any other matters requiring a vote to be held amongst members to determine a decision for the club, and to amend clause 7.12 relating to Director terms of office to provide enhanced organisational knowledge amongst the Club’s Board of Directors in determining matters of strategic and governance activities of the club.
A Special Resolution requires the support of at least 75% of members in attendance at the meeting who exercise a vote to be passed.
Special Resolution 1. Method of Voting
This resolution seeks member support to amend Clause 7.5.3 of the Club’s constitution (method of voting) as follows. To amend the Clause from current wording of…..’Those eligible members who have notified the Club of their email address and that they wish to vote electronically must vote electronically. All other eligible members must vote by post’ to read ‘Those eligible members who have notified the Club of their email address will receive voting material to the notified email address and will vote electronically. Those eligible members who notify the club that they wish to vote by post will vote by post’.
The rationale for this special resolution is to minimise the significant cost to the Club in the conduct of a postal voting process both in terms of cost and use of staff resources, and to streamline the voting process
Special Resolution 2. Terms of Office – Club Directors
This resolution seeks member support to amend clause 7.12 ‘Term of Office’ (for Club Directors). The recommended amendment to this clause is to remove wording of ‘ the term of office for all Directors is for a period of 1 year commencing at the ending of the annual general meeting at which they were elected and ending at the conclusion of the next annual general meeting’ to be replaced by wording of ‘ the term of office for all Directors is for a period of 2 years’ commencing at the end of the annual general meeting at which they were elected and ending at the conclusion of the annual general meeting held 2 years since the Director was elected.
Further to the above, to accommodate the change in Director terms of office as recommended to members, it is proposed to also amend Clause 7.13 in relation to the maximum term of the Captain from 3 consecutive years to 4 consecutive years.
Any interim non-elected Director appointed by the Board pursuant to clause 7.21 of the Constitution (due to a vacancy occurring on the Club’s Board during any year), will stand down from the appointed interim Directorship of the Club at the conclusion of the next following Annual General Meeting, but may stand for election at that Meeting if eligible.
A transition arrangement for this change to come into effect from the 25/26 annual general meeting will be determined by the Board during the 12 months between the 24/25 Annual General meeting and the 25/26 Annual General meeting so that in effect, at the time of each AGM, half the number of directors will retire each year. Those retiring directors could seek re-election, if eligible, to remain on the board for a further two-year term.
This special resolution is recommended to provide greater retention of organisational knowledge amongst the Club’s elected Directors to provide improved insight and surety in managing the continuity of Club strategic and governance activities. In practical terms, this resolution, if endorsed by 75% of Eligible Members in attenance who vote, will require half the number of Directors to retire at each AGM and, if eligible, seek re-election to remain on the Board.
Tony Bourke
Company Secretary
