Constitution

ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH IN INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

(Registered as a Charity, April 1967, No. 252115)

Governing Instrument: Trust Deed, 31st March 1967 as amended by a Resolution of the Association in General Meeting dated 14 October 2006.

THE ASSOCIATION’S CONSTITUTION

THIS TRUST DEED is made the 31st Day of March 1967 by
RUTH FLORENCE GRIFFITHS of 47 Hollycroft Avenue Hampstead N.W.3
EMILY ROSE WEST UNMACK of White Gables Manor Road Reigate Surrey
and BRIAN HENRY BURNE of Eden House Clifton Lawns Chesham Bois Amersham Bucks (hereinafter called “the Trustees”)

WHEREAS (i) At the Annual General Meeting of the Association for Research in Infant and Child Development (hereinafter called “the Association”) duly convened and held on the 7th May 1966 it has resolved that the Executive Committee of the Association should cause the constitution of the Association to be embodied in a written form (ii) Pursuant of such resolution the said Executive Committee has approved the draft of a deed (being this deed) for setting out the constitution of the Association in writing (iii) The assets of the Association at the date thereof are specified in the Schedule hereto and are held by the Trustees upon trust for the Association.

NOW THIS DEED WITNESSETH AS FOLLOWS:

1. The Trustees (which expression shall where the context admits include the trustee or trustees for the time being of the Association) hereby declare that the assets specified in the Schedule hereto and all other subscriptions and donations made or given for the purposes of the Association shall be held upon trust that the same shall be applied in accordance with the provisions hereinafter contained for the purposes of the Association namely:-

(i) To promote and maintain standards of work in the diagnostic testing of babies and young children using the Griffiths Scales;

(ii) To foster studies and research designed to increase knowledge and understanding of mental development problems in very young children both normal and handicapped; and, in particular to further use of the Griffiths Scales;

(iii) In connection with the above, to organise meetings for the exchange of ideas and the development of activities designed to help normal and handicapped children of all groups.

2. The charity shall be known as “The Association for Research in Infant and Child Development” (hereinafter called “the Association”)

3. . The Association shall be administered by the Executive Committee which shall be constituted and its meetings regulated in accordance with the provisions hereinafter contained.

4. Any person who has attended the basic course on Mental Development and Diagnostic Testing of the Very Young using the Griffiths Scale is eligible for membership and upon signing a written application for membership and paying the subscription for the then current year such person shall be admitted to membership of the Association. In addition the Executive Committee may from time to time nominate Honorary and Associate Members. Honorary and Associate Members shall be entitled to receive notice of and to attend meetings of the Association but shall not be entitled to vote thereat. All such nominations shall be reviewed annually.

5. Any member may resign by notice in writing and any member who shall not from time to time pay his annual subscription within eighteen months of the same becoming due shall be deemed to have resigned at the expiration of the said period of eighteen months.

6. (i) An Annual General Meeting of the Association shall be held on the First Saturday in May each year at which all members shall be entitled to attend and vote.

(ii) An Extraordinary General Meeting of the Association may be called at any time by the Executive Committee or by any ten members of the Association.

(iii) Not less than twenty-one days’ notice in writing of meetings shall be sent to members of the Association but the accidental omission to give notice of a meeting or the non-receipt of notice of a meeting by any person or body entitled to receive notice shall not invalidate the proceedings at the meeting.

(iv) The President shall be chairman of any meeting at which he is present. In his absence the Vice-President shall be chairman and if he is not present the meeting shall elect a chairman. The chairman shall have the casting vote.

(v) There shall be a quorum when members are present.

(vi) All motions shall be in writing signed by the proposer and seconder and shall be delivered to the chairman and read by him before any debate thereon shall take place but this provision may be waived at the discretion of the chairman.

(vii) Every matter shall be decided in the first place on a show of hands but the chairman may order a poll and must do so if it is required by more than one member.

7. The Executive-Committee shall consist of:-

The President, The Vice-President, The Honorary Secretary, The Treasurer (who are together hereinafter called the honorary officers) together with no more than eight elected members.

8. (i) The Association in Annual General Meeting may elect such persons as it thinks fit to the President and Vice-President of the Association. The President and Vice-President may hold office for a term of three years and shall be eligible for re-election.

(ii) The Association in Annual General Meeting shall elect the Treasurer who shall be responsible to the Executive Committee for the proper keeping of the Association’s accounts.

(iii) The Association in Annual General Meeting shall elect an Honorary Secretary who shall attend meetings of the Executive Committee and shall subject to the directions of the Executive Committee be responsible for the day-to-day management of the affairs of the Association.

(iv) The Association in Annual General Meeting shall elect from among the members of the Association eight members of the Executive Committee.

(v) Each member of the Executive Committee other than the President and Vice- President shall hold office only from the end of the meeting at which he was elected until the end of the next Annual General Meeting of the Association but any member may be re-elected for a further term or terms provided that a member (other than an honorary officer and the President and Vice- President) who has served on the Executive Committee for the last four years consecutively shall not be eligible for re-election until the next Annual General Meeting.

(vi) The Executive Committee may appoint or co-opt members to fill any vacancy amongst the Honorary Office or the Committee. Honorary Officers or Committee Members so appointed or co-opted shall hold office until the end of the next Annual General Meeting.

9. Meetings of the Executive Committee may be called by the President as often as he may consider necessary or may be called by any two members of the Executive Committee. At least five days’ notice of meetings of the Executive Committee shall be given to members thereof. The provisions of Clause 6 (iv) shall apply to meetings of members of the Executive Committee as they apply to meetings of the Association. There shall be a quorum when four members including one of the honorary officers are present.

10. Minutes of all meetings of the Association and the Executive Committee shall be kept in books provided for that purpose. At every meeting of the Association or of the Executive Committee the minutes of the last meeting of the Association or of the Executive Committee (as the case may be) shall be read and if confirmed by the meeting shall be signed by the chairman.

11. The Executive Committee may appoint sub-committees which may include members who are not members of the Executive Committee with a view to furthering the purposes of the Association provided that no member of such sub-committee who is not a member of the Executive Committee shall have any power of voting at meetings of such sub-committee. Sub-committees may co-opt members who shall not have voting power on the sub-committee.

12. The Executive Committee may appoint a secretary and such other officers and such employees as may from time to time be found necessary to carry out the work of the Association and may fix their duties and remuneration. The Honorary Secretary may delegate to the necessary staff all duties of a routine nature.

13. The Executive Committee shall from time to time appoint by notice in writing and may likewise remove by notice in writing the Holding Trustees of the Association and the Holding Trustees shall apply or deal with assets of the Association held by them in accordance with the directions of the Executive Committee from time to time.

14. The Association may from time to time open and maintain in the names of the Holding Trustees a bank account or bank accounts at such banks as the Executive Committee shall from time to time decide. Cheques shall be signed by at least two Holding Trustees.

15. The Executive Committee shall have power exerciseable from time to time as they may in their absolute discretion think fit:-

(i) to determine annual subscription payable from time to time for membership of the Association;

(ii) to collect gifts;

(iii) to issue appeals for gifts and to issue periodical reports of the activities of the Association;

(iv) to accept gifts from any special trusts in connection with the Association so that every gift so accepted shall be held subject to the terms and conditions of that gift and in this Clause the expression “gifts” includes gifts of property of any nature and wheresoever situated.

16. All the assets of the Association shall be held by or under the control of the Holding Trustees and all sums of cash at any time standing to the credit of any banking account and not required for immediate working purposes shall be invested by the Holding Trustees at the direction of the Executive Committee upon any investments for the time being authorised by law for the investment of trust funds.

17. The financial year of The Association shall end on the 31st day of March each year and the accounts of the Association shall be presented by the Treasurer to the Executive Committee at its first meeting after that date and shall be presented to the Association at its first Annual General Meeting after that date. The accounts shall be audited by a qualified chartered accountant to be selected by the Executive Committee.

18. All proper costs and charges and expenses of and incidental to the management of the Association shall first be defrayed out of the income of the Association.

19. Subject to the payments aforesaid the Executive Committee shall as and when they think it apply or cause to be applied the whole or part of the capital or income of the Association in furthering the purposes of the Association.

20. The provisions of this Deed other than Clause 1 thereof and of this Clause may be altered or revoked and new provisions not inconsistent with Clause 1 hereof and this Clause may be made altered and revoked by the Association in General Meeting but any such proposal to alter the provisions of this Deed for the time being in force must be communicated in writing to the Honorary Secretary at least eight weeks before the meeting at which the proposal is to be moved and such proposals shall be circulated to the members of the Association prior to such meeting.

IN WITNESS ……..etc.
(Deed duly executed by the parties named in the first paragraph)

(Schedule of Assets)
Certified copy of Original Deed of A.R.I.C.D. dated 31 March 1967 as amended on 14 October 2006.