Bowls Oxfordshire Constitution
(Effective from April 2025)
1.Title
1.1 Bowls Oxfordshire is the fully unified governing body for outdoor bowls in Oxfordshire as agreed at the Bowls Oxfordshire AGM March 2025.
1.2 The title of the governing body is ‘Bowls Oxfordshire’. There are four sections that will deal with Section matches, competitions and leagues. These four sections will be known as:
- Men’s section
- Women’s section
- Mixed section
- Young Bowlers section
2.Bowls England Membership
2.1 Bowls Oxfordshire is a Member of Bowls England and will seek to conform to all Bowls England Regulations, Rules and Policies.
3. Values
Our values are:
- Inclusivity
- Integrity
- Leadership
- Transparency
- Enjoyment
4. Our Vision
Our vision:Bowls Oxfordshire to be a stronger, economically viable, inclusive Bowls County, creating opportunities for all bowlers.
5. Objectives
5.1 To be the fully unified Body for the Sport of Outdoor Lawn Bowls in Oxfordshire.
5.2 We will encourage competitive and friendly bowling within the county, to raise the skill level within clubs, thus contributing to the overall standard of bowling within the county.
5.3 To advise, assist, promote, foster, and safeguard all aspects of the outdoor, lawn green Sport of Bowls in Oxfordshire and to liaise with other relevant bodies as appropriate.
5.4 To advise, guide and direct all affiliated clubs in Oxfordshire on matters relating to all bowling matters as may be identified by Bowls England or other bodies that may affect clubs.
5.5 To ensure that its affiliated Clubs include, in their constitutions, those Bowls England regulations relating to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults, anti-doping, equality, diversity and inclusion, health and safety, insurance and indemnification, and shall adopt the current policy and guidelines of Bowls England under regulation 9 relating to matters of misconduct, suspension and exclusion of members, and to advise those affiliated Clubs of all or any amendments and additions as put forward by Bowls England.
5.6 To promote equality, diversity, and inclusion within the sport of bowls in the County of Oxfordshire.
6. Bowls Oxfordshire Membership
6.1 Membership of Bowls Oxfordshire shall be restricted to affiliated members of all clubs in Oxfordshire and to other bowling organisations set up to accommodate other forms of bowling, on application.
7. Administration
7.1 The administration of Bowls Oxfordshire (BO) shall be conducted by an Executive Committee hereafter referred to as the ‘BO Executive’. TheBO Executive shall consist of the President, Vice President, County Secretary, County Treasurer, County Safeguarding Officer, Communications Officer and the four Chairs of the sections referred to in 1.2.
The President shall take the Chair of the BO Executive, with the Vice President standing in, as necessary. Alternately, if the President or Vice President are not present, or if present, but unwilling to Chair a BO Executive meeting, then the County Secretary shall take the Chair for that meeting.
The BO Executive via the key officers, County Secretary/County Treasurer, will be responsible for all day-to-day contacts with Bowls England. It will inform all affiliated Clubs of all current and relevant Bowls England business including all affiliation and competition fees. Such fee’s to be returned to the County Treasurer by the specified deadline.
The BO Executive shall have a maximum of 12 members. However, members shall have the option to invite “guests” to specific meetings, for the purpose of updating or informing on a particular subject or area of expertise. Any guest invited will have no voting rights.
The quorum for an BO Executive meeting shall be 60% of those entitled to serve on the committee at the time of the meeting.
7.2 There will be four Sections within Bowls Oxfordshire, a Men’s section, Women’s section, Mixed section, and Young Bowler’s section. Each of these sections will have a Chairperson, Finance Officer, Match Secretary and Competition Secretary, and in the case of the Young Bowler’s section its own Safeguarding Officer. See Policy paper DP21 for the job descriptions.
The BO Executive may form sub-committees as and if required to assist in carrying out its duties. In practice, the BO Executive will be responsible for decisions of strategy, policies, governance, and good practice with day-to-day decisions on operational matters and activity management, being delegated to the sections, provided that BO Policy decisions are respected.
7.3 The BO Executive may put forward proposals to amend the administrative structure to be submitted to the AGM for consideration.
7.4 To carry out its duties the BO Executive may co-opt such persons or seek professional assistance.
7.5 Leagues: Each section may administer or affiliate with a league which represents the section and shall allow a separate committee to organise the league and make decisions that apply to the league format or other specific affairs. The league committee may hold their own bank account and any money transferred to Bowls Oxfordshire from an existing league account may be ring fenced for the use of that league entirely. This will only change if the league committee vote for a variation to this and will require a two-thirds majority to make the change. Two Representatives of the league committee shall also be part of the section committee to ensure consistency with how county policies are enacted. Policy papers will set out the playing rules for each of the leagues that participate, and the county website will provide the primary method of communicating with league teams and other county bowlers.
8. Annual General Meetings / Special General Meetings
8.1 Those permitted to vote consist of the members of the BO Executive, and members of the section management teams, plus the male & female delegates from each affiliated Club.
8.2 The AGM shall be held at a suitable venue on a date in March in the first year and thereafter in October/November, at the end of the playing season, the date to be notified at the previous year’s AGM. 18 members shall form a quorum.
8.3 The Chair of the AGM (or SGM) shall be the President, or if for any reason, in their absence, the Vice President or County Secretary.
8.4 The Annual General Meeting will receive notice of nominations for theposts of President and Vice President which shall have a term of 1 year; all the other officers listed shall serve a term of 3 years, in transition, from OBA/BOL, to a fully unified Bowls Oxfordshire, having been appointed by the Bowls Oxfordshire Executive Committee, thereafter they need to be re-elected if there are nominations from Clubs for any of the officer positions.
8.5 The move from Vice President to President is progressive and a further nomination is not required once a member has been elected to Vice President. After a year in office as President, the member is immediately progressed to Immediate Past President.’
8.7 At the AGM, proposals from the BO Executive, sections or clubs shall be put to the members for consideration. The BO Executive shall receive nominations and elect from its members such posts as shall be jointly agreed by the Committee members.
8.8 A Special General Meeting may be requested by an affiliated Club or section. It must do so in writing and such a request shall state the nature of the business and be supported by 3 other affiliated clubs before being submitted to the County Secretary in the first instance, who will then convene an Executive Committee meeting for discussion.
They shall direct the County Secretary to call the meeting, the notice of which shall state the business for which it has been called and this shall be the only business discussed.
Fourteen days’ notice shall be given to those entitled to attend, and 18 members shall form a quorum.
9. Finance
9.1 The income and authorised expenses of Bowls Oxfordshire shall be conducted by the County Treasurer in compliance with BO policies and may be delegated to the Finance officer for each section when practical, on the proviso that Match Statements or other financial statements are forwarded to the County Treasurer within 48 hours, to include any receipts available. BO Policies will state the rates to be applied across the sections including match fees, travel cost rates etc.
9.2 Annual accounts and balance sheets will be independently audited annually before being presented to the AGM.
10. Complaints and Discipline
10.1 The process for managing Complaints is set out in Policy document number 9, 9a or 13, as appropriate. In all cases, only written complaints will be acted upon.
10.2 In all cases of misconduct at clubs the BE guidance for regulation 9 must be followed. In all cases of misconduct at County level, the BE guidance for Regulation 9A will be acted upon. See Policy documents 9 & 9a for details.
11. Amendments to the Constitution
11.1 Any proposed amendment to the Bowls Oxfordshire Constitution and Rules may only be considered at an Annual General meeting or Special General Meeting convened with the required written notice of the proposal. Any amendment must be duly proposed and seconded and shall be considered to be passed if supported by not less than two thirds of those members present at the meeting.
12. Dissolution
12.1 A decision to wind up the Bowls Oxfordshire organisation shall require a majority of two thirds of the voting members present and voting at an Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting convened for that purpose.
13. Indemnity
13.1 The BO Executive and each and every member of its sub committees or members acting under delegated powers from such committees / sub committees shall, except in the case of wilful default or fraudulent acts or admissions, be indemnified equally from the funds of Bowls Oxfordshire against any loss, damage, expense or liability incurred by reason of, or in connection with, any legal proceedings instituted against them or any of them for any act done, admitted or suffered in relation to the performance of any of their duties in respect of Bowls Oxfordshire or committees thereof.
13.2 The Executive Committee shall ensure that appropriate insurance cover is held in respect of the indemnity provision in this clause.
14. County Audits
14.1 The BO Executive may conduct any specific audits of associated clubs to ensure that Bowls England policies, rules and procedures are being utilized for governing clubs within the county.
15. Data Protection
See the Bowls Oxfordshire policy on data protection.
16. Other Matters
16.1 Bowls Oxfordshire have created a range of Policy documents to provide guidance to members and officers in managing most aspects of the sport. These also provide further details to support the Constitution.
16.1 Any matter not covered by the foregoing rules shall be dealt with by the AGM or a SGM and that decision shall be final. However, if an immediate decision is required, the matter shall be dealt with by a specially called meeting of the BO Executive and that decision shall be final.