Background

In December 2021, the Association’s Treasurer, John Kingsmell, sadly and unexpectedly died. No one had realised just how important John was to the organisation,. His loss left some very big shoes to be filled. Unfortunately, no one came forward to fill them. This left the Management Committee concerned about the future of the Association and, early in 2022, it came to the realisation that the Association needed to change if it were going to survive into the 21^st century.

The Covid pandemic, which had forced Branches to cancel meetings and events, and had severely limited activities at the County level, led many to wonder about the value of AMKKM. Questions were asked about its relevance in a world which was much changed from when the Association was founded, over a hundred years previously.

So significant were its concerns that the Committee gave serious consideration to closing down the Association entirely. However, it decided that it was worthwhile to try and save it, and early in 2022 it established a subcommittee to investigate, and to suggest what actions might be required. The subcommittee found that, while in the past Members had identified with the Association as a whole, they had become much more focussed on the activities of the Branch to which they belonged, and they felt much more loyalty to their Branch than they did to the Association at the County level. It also found that there were financial concerns in the Branches. Active Branches, in particular, saw their operating costs rising and their reserves being depleted. There was an awareness that the Association at the County level had lots of money which it was not using.

The subcommittee recommended, and the Management Committee accepted, three key points:

1. That the operating model of the Association should be changed to downplay the role of County and to give the Branches greater autonomy,
2. That the Branches should be given full control of what happened at the County level, and
3. That the funds held by the County should be distributed to the Branches.

These ideas were put to the 2022 Annual General Meeting, and they were endorsed by the membership.

However, at that AGM, the Association did not elect a Secretary or a Treasurer. This left the County Chairman with the responsibility for implementing all the changes that had been agreed. Unfortunately, he did not call on the Management Committee for help with the required tasks. As a result, by the time of the 2023 Annual General Meeting there had been essentially no progress on either adopting a new operating model or releasing funds had by the County.

Matters came to a head at the 2023 AGM.. which the chair of the meeting described in her closing remarks as ‘confrontational.’ Among other things:

• There was a motion submitted for consideration at that meeting which called for closure of the Association. This the County Chairman ruled was inadmissible on the grounds that the subject had been discussed at the 2022 AGM. However, this was not the case. Consequently, there was no opportunity for the membership to discuss the future of the Association.
• A proposed new set of Rules were presented, but these were rejected. They did not adequately reflect the new operating model that the membership had endorsed at the 2022 AGM. In light of the urgency for action, the Meeting aurthorised the Management Committee to adopt new Rules on behalf of the membership.
• The Chairman reported that he had been unable to secure access to the Association’s investments, so funds were not available for distribution to the Branches. He was unable to give a commitment as to when they would be.
• Financial Statements for 2022, which should have been prepared by the Association’s Accountants and presented at the AGM were not available.
• It came to light that the Association’s Secretary had resigned shortly before the Meeting. The Management Committee were not advised of this prior to the AGM.
• Printed copies of the Minutes of the 2022 AGM were not available for review by the Members.
• There were no elections held to fill the vacant positions of Treasurer and Secretary, and the Chairman indicated that he intended to continue in office in spite of not having been elected to do so by the Management Committee as required by the Rules.

Some three months later, on 3^rd October 2023, at a meeting of the Association’s Management Committee called by a number of its members, a motion of no confidence in the County Chairman was adopted. In addition, a complete rewrite of the Rules was tabled and was adopted unanimously, to come into effect immediately following the end of the meeting. The adoption of new Rules by the Committee had been authorised by the 2023 AGM.

These new Rules included the following:

• Branches to be self-governing, ie can operate in whatever way best suits their membership, are responsible for their own finances, including setting their own membership fee, and can admit new Members to the Association,
• Branches to have full control of the Association, ie it is to be managed by a Board whose voting members are one representative from each Branch.
• The Assoication to have a maximum of two Officers at the County level (a Chair and optionally a Vice Chair) who are to be responsible for the day-to-day running of the Association, co-ordinating communication, administering finances, and maintaining records.
• The cost of operations at the County level to be financed by contributions from the Branches, each paying a share proportional to their number of Members.

Also at that meeting, a new County Chair and a Vice Chair were elected to serve until the time of the 2024 AGM. They were given three tasks:

1. Implementing new Rules for the Association to enact the operating model that had been approved by the membership at the 2022 AGM,
2. Securing the release of the Association’s funds that were invested, and
3. Distributing all funds, in excess of those required to continue operations at the County level, to the Branches.

By the time of the 2024 AGM, all of these tasks had been completed.