WELLOW RECREATION
Wellow Recreation - a new way to manage activities on the Playing Field
Background
The Parish Council decided last year that it wished to see a new charitable organisation, called Wellow
Recreation, set up that would do three things:
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Provide a co-ordinated way of managing all the Parish Council linked facilities on the Playing Field
Enable the Parish Council not to have to deal with the day to day management of these facilities
Create an organisation that would actively promote a range of recreation and leisure activities for
Wellow residents
We have begun the process of setting up Wellow Recreation. The first stage in doing this is to create a set rules
– a constitution – which will define the objectives of Wellow Recreation and how it will be run. We have
drafted these rules, and are seeking the views of Wellow Parishioners before submitting the application to the
Charity Commissions to formally create the charity.
What is Wellow Recreation?
The aim of Wellow Recreation will be to promote recreation and leisure for Wellow residents. All Wellow
residents over 16 will automatically be members at no cost (though people can withdraw from membership if
they wish).
The proposal is that Wellow Recreation should be established as a ‘Charitable Incorporated Organisation’ or
CIO for short. A CIO is a charity, which means that it is not-for-profit, and that it’s objectives must be for the
public benefit. It also provides limited liability (like a company) for the Trustees. The new organisation will be
registered with the Charity Commission – which provides guidance on how to set up the CIO, and then
oversees the CIO’s operation.
Why do we need a new body?
With the new multi-sports facilities coming into operation on the Playing Field it is necessary to provide for
their day-to-day management, in the same way that the Village Hall Committee manages the Village Hall.
The Parish Council finds it difficult to take quick decisions on routine matters (such as urgent repairs and
maintenance) as it can only do this at its monthly meetings, subject to its previously agreed agenda. The new
body will also provide the benefit of having a co-ordinated approach to managing the different activities on
and around the Playing Field - in the collective interests of the parish.
What will be the scope of Wellow Recreation?
The Parish Council hope that all the activities on the Playing Field including Wellow Valley Tennis, other
sports such as Football, Cricket, Boules, Netball as well as the Village Hall will agree to become part of
Wellow Recreation, so we can have a co-ordinated way of operating activities on the Playing Field, including
the Children's Play Area and the Outdoor Gym. The Parish Council will then grant a new lease to Wellow
Recreation that would protect the interests of Wellow Valley Tennis and the users of the other sports facilities
(including as required by the funders of the tennis courts). The Village Hall Committee have decided that they
wish to stay outside this arrangement for the time being. We hope they will join the CIO sometime in the not
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too distant future and Wellow Recreation is being set up in a way that will enable this to happen when the
moment arises.
The constitution – a set of rules with which to run Wellow Recreation
Based on guidance from the Charity Commissioners, a draft constitution has been written which sets out how
Wellow Recreation will operate and be accountable back to the people of Wellow. The Parish Council has
given its approval to the draft. We would now like to have comments from Wellow residents before it is
sent to the Charity Commission for their approval. It is available for consultation on the Wellow Parish
website: www.wellowparish.info or on request from the Parish Clerk, email: [email protected].
Important Points from the Draft Constitution
The constitution, based on the standard model provided by the Charity Commission, has been written to
enable the different activities (like tennis, cricket, boules or eventually the village hall) to be managed by subgroups or sub-committees of people who are interested in and want to run those activities.
The different sub-groups can have their own additional membership and, if they want, charge fees for that.
(For example, Wellow Valley Tennis has tennis members who pay an additional tennis membership fee).
These members of sub groups can also come from outside Wellow if wanted – but those people outside
Wellow Parish would not have a vote in decisions about how Wellow Recreation is run.
There will be 8 elected CIO Trustees, plus two Trustees appointed by the Parish Council. Sub-groups who
have either a large membership or a high financial turnover can also appoint someone to be a Trustee.
Financial systems will be established that will ensure that money raised for and by the different activities/sub
groups is used for those activities.
A Site Management Group will be established that will co-ordinate and deal with all day to day issues about
how the different groups that use the playing field site work together and to ensure the facilities are well
maintained. All groups that have activities on the site and operate as part of Wellow Recreation will be
represented on it. This will be chaired by one of the CIO Trustees.
The proposed constitution also provides for various things to help ensure the CIO operates in an open and
democratic way. For example, an annual general meeting, election of Trustees every year, a limit on how long
one person can continue as a trustee, minutes to be publicly available, rules for how meetings are conducted,
rules to prevent conflicts of interest, and so on.
Next Steps
Before submitting the constitution to the Charity Commission, we now wish to hold a public meeting on July
23rd so every Wellow Parishioner can find out more about the proposed constitution and make comments on it.
After taking into account all comments, the constitution will be submitted to the Charity Commission for their
approval.
We hope that Wellow Recreation will be formally established as an organisation during the autumn.
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WELLOW RECREATION AND TO CONTRIBUTE TO CREATING AN
ORGANISATION TO SUIT WELLOW’S NEEDS, PLEASE COME ALONG TO THE PUBLIC MEETING
AT THE VILLAGE HALL ON THURSDAY 23 JULY from 7.30pm
Hugh Prentice
[email protected]
14th July 2015
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