At the Association's 126th Annual General Meeting, held on 14 June 2024 at Riverside Church in Whitstable, the Membership decided, on the recommedation of the Board, that the Rules of the Association should be suspended indefinitely. As a resut of this suspension, the Association has ceased to operate at the County level.
However, eight of the Association's ten Branches have decided that they wish to countinue to operate as fully autonomous entities using the Association's name. The Whitstable Branch closed in December 2024, although its members are continuing to meet monthly as an informal lunch group. Deal & Walmer Branch also closed late in 2024, with its members meeting socially occassionally.
The actual motion adopted at the Annual General Meeting was as follows:
That the Chair be authorized to undertake all actions necessary to suspend, as soon as is reasonably practicable, the operation of the Association at the County level including, but not limited to:
- paying all monies due or committed to the government and others,
- disposing or arranging for storage, as appropriate, of all assets of the Association, including regalia,
- offering to Kent Archives all records of the Association in the possession of the Chair, or alternatively arranging for storage or the disposal, as appropriate, of such records,
- arranging for preparation of Financial Statements by the Association’s Accountant up to the date of the suspension of operations,
- notifying the Association’s insurers, indicating that the insurance of the Branches should continue until the end of the current policy,
- closing the bank account(s) held by the Association, and
- convening a final meeting of the Board to suspend formally the Rules of the Association indefinitely.
For information on events leading up to the decision to cease operating at the County level, please click HERE.