A series of AGM motions will, if passed, establish a group of related bodies including:
- A charity that will carry on the benevolent work of the Writers’ Guild Welfare Fund, but also enhance the status of writers by arranging educational and cultural events such as seminars, showcases and awards.
- A new collecting society to receive payments for online use of television programmes – such as iPlayer and video-on-demand – and distribute the money to writers.
- The Books Co-op, which will help members to produce and market self-published books, concentrating on print-on-demand and ebooks.
- A new trustee company, with the existing trustees as directors, to take responsibility for the Guild’s finances, assets, premises and its responsibilities relation to the new companies.
The AGM takes place on Friday 4 June 2010 from 10.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. at the Free Word Centre, 60- Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA. As required by Guild rules, details of the meeting and proposals have been posted to every member, along with the Summer 2010 issue of UK Writer magazine.
Documentation for the AGM is also available online at the Guild website.
We hope there will be a strong turnout of members to discuss these far-reaching proposals, and to hear this year’s guest speaker — Nick Yapp, author of The Write Stuff, the new history of the Guild marking its 50th anniversary.
Please note that as a cost-saving measure we will not be serving lunch at this year’s AGM, but there is a good cafe in the Free Word Centre plus numerous eating places nearby.
The Guild's Rule Book refers to Citrine's ABC of Chairmanship in various places relative to rules and correct procedures at meetings. Have members been issued with this book?
ReplyDeleteIt would cost a small fortune, which the Guild hasn't got, to supply every member with a copy. I can recommend getting a copy out of the library if you want to see it.
ReplyDeleteThe Standing Orders Committee is elected by the Guild AGM and EC on behalf of the membership to make sure all correct rules and procedures are carried out. A full member may also ask question at the AGM if they feel they have cause.
I thought it would come down to cost. You would think that a person's subscription would cover a cheap paperback copy of Citrines and could be included in a new member's pack.
ReplyDeleteWe've seen a few years ago how a vote of no confidence in the chair was ignored and this condoned by the Standing Order Committee and everyone else assumed they were right because they didn't know any different. This was at the time very convenient for the incumbent Chair and those like Ms Renard and the Standing Order Committee who supported him - but not your (outgoing?) President who was quite vociferous at the time but that was before he was made President.
I wonder if Nick Yapp mentions this in his book.
Nothing has changed, nothing's been learned. The Rule Book is the sovereign authority of a Union and in law. The Guild's Rule Book extends this in various clauses to Citrine's ABC of Chairmanship.