NORFOLK COUNTY BOWLS ASSOCIATION
Constitution
1. The Association shall be called ‘The Norfolk County Bowls Association'. All Championships and Indoor Championships shall be confined to Male Members only of Clubs affiliated to the County with the exception of any mixed of any mixed or open competitions as arranged by The County or EBF governing body.
2. It shall consist of Bowls Clubs and Leagues whose headquarters or playing green are situated in the County of Norfolk, and of Honorary Life Members resident in the same area.
3. The objects of the Association shall be:
To adopt rules for the governance of the game, championships, leagues and tournaments.
To appoint or act as arbitrators in cases of dispute.
To do all such things as may be necessary for the encouragement and regulations of the game of Bowls.
To affiliate to the English Bowls Federation and compete for the Adams,Newton, Reg Wright, Eversley, Derbyshire and Durham Centenary Trophies.
4. Each Club and League seeking affiliation shall make application to the Secretary and shall forward, if requested, a copy of its rules and constitution.
5. The Subscriptions to the Association and charges for Handbooks will be decided at the Annual General Meeting and will be published in the County Handbook. All of these payments shall be made by 31st March each year. Additional Handbooks may be purchased if the order is submitted with the yearly invoice.
6. Any Club, League or Vice President whose subscription is one month in arrears shall forfeit all privileges of membership of the Association so long as subscription remains unpaid.
7. (a)The officers of the Association shall consist of -
All shall be open for re-
Captains of the Adams, Newton, Reg Wright, Derbyshire and Eversley teams shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting.
The Officers above shall have the power to appoint at their discretion the following: -
8. The County shall be divided into four Areas. Each shall have an Area Secretary, a maximum of 8 and minimum of 6 committee members eligible to serve on the Executive Committee. Each Area will invite all Clubs in their Area to a meeting, at least 4 weeks prior to the Counties Annual General Meeting in order to elect their secretary and committee. The said members names and addresses then being forwarded to the County Secretary in good time before that Annual General Meeting. The Area Secretaries must upon receipt of the competition forms, do the draw and send it to the person printing the competition handbooks by 12th February, 2025
9. The general business of the Association shall be transacted by the Executive Committee comprising of: -
1. The Officers from Rule 7.
2. The Area Representatives from Rule 8.
3. Captains of the Adams, Newton, Reg Wright, Eversley & Derbyshire teams.
4. The County League Controller and 3 elected representatives.
5. The County Coaching Delegate, Safeguarding Officer, Competition Secretary & County Cup Secretary.
The Executive committee may set such fees and expenses as may be found necessary. Nine shall form a quorum so long as they do not all come from the same area.
10. The Area Committee has the power to disqualify a sub-
11. An emergency Committee shall be appointed to deal with all matters of urgency and shall consist of the 4 area secretaries and 1 committee member from each area and the County Secretary. In the event of an Area Secretary being unavailable a second member of that Areas committee may deputise. The County President, Vice President, Chairman or Vice Chairman shall chair the meeting. The County Secretary shall not be eligible to vote.
12. The Appeals Committee shall consist of 5 Honorary Life members with no declared interest in the matter for appeal, chaired by a serving or retired Justice of the Peace. The Secretary shall attend and record the meeting. They will preside over issues dealt with by the Emergency Committee where the appellant is not satisfied with the result. The complaint shall be made in writing and forwarded to the Secretary within three days, together with a fee of £5. This shall be returned if the complaint is upheld. The Secretary shall arrange a meeting of the Committee at which all parties involved may give evidence. The Committee decision shall be final and will be forwarded to all concerned by the Secretary.
13. The Annual General Meeting of the Association shall be held annually either of the first two weekends in November. The date shall be chosen by the Officers in order to avoid clashes with pre-
14. (a) The financial year of the Association shall be from 1st September to 31st August.
(b) The accounts shall be audited at the end of each year, a statement of the financial position of the Association submitted to the Annual General Meeting, and a copy sent to the President, Vice Presidents and to each affiliated Club, League and Honorary Life Member 14 days prior to that meeting.
15. The Association shall have the power to elect Honorary Life Members for services rendered to the Association. Nominations should be made in writing to the Secretary. The County Executive shall ratify the nomination prior to the Annual General Meeting. Honorary Life Members shall only be elected at the Annual General Meeting. Honorary Life Members will be entitled to attend Executive Meeting and the Annual General Meeting. They will have the right to speak and vote at both.
16 One Honorary Auditor shall be elected annually unless the role of Secretary & Treasurer is carried out by one person whence there should be two Honorary Auditors.
17 Team selection will be the responsibility of the elected Captain and their appointed Vice-
18. The Under 25 (Reg Wright) Captain(s) and Vice-
The Indoor Executive Captain shall select the Eversley team.
The Derbyshire Captain shall select the Derbyshire team.
Captains of all teams may select vice captains to assist them. They will not be members of the Executive and have no right to vote at meetings if that is their only capacity when attending.
All team captains may play for the team that they captain providing they are eligible.
19. A player who has played three times for a County Team will be awarded a County Badge.
A player playing three times for a particular team will be awarded a Flash for that team.
A player must be awarded his Newton Flash before being considered for the Adams team.
A player playing three times for the Under 25 Team will be awarded the Under 25 Badge.
A current player representing the County 50 times will be awarded a ‘50 Games’ tie and on playing 100 times will be awarded a ‘100 Games’ tie and badge.
20. A Male Player or Female Player in Mixed Competitions who wins a County Championship will be awarded National Championship badge and swinger to denote the year of achievement providing they attend and play at the National Finals.
21. No alteration to this Constitution, County Competition, Championship Rules, or the Laws of the Games shall be made except at the Annual General Meeting of the Association. Notice of any suggested alterations shall be given to the Secretary by the 1st October and notice there of shall be sent to all of the Executive, Honorary Life Members, affiliated Clubs and Leagues at least 14 days before the Annual General Meeting of the Association. Any club or individual proposing or seconding any changes to the rules or constitution should attend the AGM to put forward their proposal and answer any questions. If you don’t attend the proposal will not be put forward.
The Secretary shall convene a Special General Meeting at any time, on receiving a requisition to that effect, signed by the Secretaries of not less than 10 Clubs belonging to the Association. Such requisition to state the object of such General Meeting.
Any team forfeiting a game in the County Cup, County Subsidiary or Durham Centenary Cup shall be liable for all game fees and refreshments where provided.
That Cup donors be approached if available and offered the opportunity to award them on finals day. That where possible Cup donor’s names be printed in the County Handbook with register of past winners.
Norfolk County Bowling Association fully accept its legal and moral obligation to exercise its duty of care and to protect all children and vulnerable adults participating in its activities, and to safeguard their welfare. We are committed to do this by acknowledging that:
The welfare of the individual is paramount;
Each individual irrespective of age, gender, religion, race or disability has the right to protection from abuse;
Each individual has a right to be safe, and to be treated with respect and dignity
We shall use our best endeavours to ensure that:
All allegations of abuse are taken seriously;
The response to them is swift and appropriate;
The effectiveness of our policy is reviewed annually;
A responsible person shall be appointed annually as Safeguarding Officer to whom members can address any concerns
All parents, carers, children and volunteers must sign and agree to abide by the relevant code of conduct.
Our Safeguarding Officer is: -
Sponsorship – No company or individual(s) may sponsor County teams or individual players without the express consent of the Executive committee. Any company or individual(s) wishing to put such sponsorship in place must give written notice of the proposed sponsorship to the Secretary in order that it may be placed before the next Executive committee meeting for consideration. Sponsorship means ‘Any money, service or property of any kind’. The company or individual(s) will be notified of the committee’s decision and must await approval before sponsorship may be put in place.