As amended November 2013

1. The Group shall be called the “Lin(d)field One – Name Group”.
2. The objects of the group shall be:
   1. to collect, publish, preserve, and make accessible in the interests of genealogy any documents, records or research relating to the surnames Linfield and Lindfield, and to related and similar surnames however spelt, and wheresoever in the world they may occur, and to persons bearing those names.
   2. to provide a forum for individuals and groups of people who are engaged in the collection of family and biographical data relative to any reference branch or occurrence of those names and their variants.
   3. to promote and co-ordinate research into the origins, derivation, and occurrence of all branches of families so named.
   4. to encourage the study of genealogy, with particular regard to the families so named.
   5. to respond to all reply-paid enquiries from members of the Group and from other researchers, relating to the surnames in question
   6. to encourage, by the organisation of meetings, visits, and social events the making, renewal and continuation of contact between members of the families so named.
3. Membership shall be open to anyone with a declared interest in the study of the names as defined in the objects clause, whether or not they themselves are or have been known by those names, but the Executive Committee shall reserve the right to withdraw the membership of any member who shall have: (a) been deemed by the Executive Committee after a hearing before such Committee to have been actively working against the interests of the Group or bringing its name into disrepute; (b) failed to pay any subscription or other monies due to the Group after one request for payment shall have been made in writing to his or her last known address and after three months shall have elapsed since the payment became due. A member so expelled shall be informed of his or her right to appeal against the decision, at the Annual General Meeting or at a Special Meeting for that purpose, at which meeting the member shall have the right to speak but not to vote. Any such appeal shall succeed unless the expulsion is ratified by at least two-thirds of the members present and eligible to vote. Honorary life members may be elected by members at an Annual General Meeting.
4. With effect from December 1st, 2013, membership of the Group shall be solely in the form of Life Membership with an initial subscription by a single payment and no annual subscriptions thereafter. The amount of the Life Membership subscription shall be fixed each year at the Annual General Meeting. Membership shall include the wife or husband of a member, if living at the same address, who shall be deemed to be a full member in his or her own right without payment of a separate subscription. The spouse of a member shall enjoy all benefits, services and voting rights of a member except that only one copy of each notice, newsletter, or other correspondence shall be sent to the member’s address. All cheques shall be made payable to the “Lin(d)field One-Name Group”. Members who joined the Group prior to September 2013 and whose subscriptions were fully paid up at 1st December 2013, shall be deemed to become Life Members with no further subscriptions due. Membership of the Group shall entitle each member to access the ‘Members Only’ section of the Group’s website and to receive electronic copies of publications, notices, newsletters and other correspondence issued by the Group. Members wishing to receive paper copies of any such material may request this service which may be provided at an additional cost, at rates agreed annually at the AGM.
5. The day-to-day affairs of the Group shall be conducted by an Executive Committee elected from members of the Group and shall consist of five Honorary Officers: a Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Membership Secretary, who shall hold office until the Annual General Meeting following the one at which they were elected when they shall all be eligible for re-election, and up to four other members who shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting and who shall be eligible for re-election at the next Annual General Meeting. Nominations for election as officers or committee members shall be sent to the Secretary to arrive not less than 14 days prior to the Annual General Meeting, and shall include the consent of the nominees and be seconded by another member. Contested elections shall be by an open ballot and shall be decided by a majority vote. Should any member cease to serve during his or her term of office the resulting vacancy shall be filled by appointment of the Executive Committee until the next Annual General Meeting. The Executive Committee shall have the power to co-opt other members who will then be eligible to serve until the Annual General Meeting following their co-option. At any meeting of the Executive Committee a quorum shall consist of three of its members or one third of its members whichever is the greater, provided that two of those present are elected Officers of the Group. The members may appoint, at an Annual General Meeting, a Patron, President and Vice Presidents, until the next Annual General Meeting. Such honorary appointees, if not already members of the Group, shall be deemed to become members but shall not thereby be deemed to become members of the Executive Committee.
6. Sub-Committees may be appointed by the Executive Committee as and when required and subject to the overriding authority of the Executive Committee provided that the proceedings and actions of such committees shall be reported to and confirmed by the Executive Committee. All such sub-committees not already disbanded by decision of the Executive Committee shall be automatically disbanded at the Annual General Meeting, unless the meeting decides otherwise. In the event of a decision to continue a sub-committee following the Annual General Meeting, the membership shall be decided at the next meeting of the Executive Committee following the Annual General Meeting.
7. Two members shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting to audit the Group’s accounts for the forthcoming year. In the event of auditors not being elected, the Executive Committee is empowered to appoint Auditors.
8. An Annual General Meeting shall be held within eighteen calendar months of the formation of the Group and thereafter not later than the 31st day of October in each year and at least twenty-eight days notice shall be given to all members of any such meeting. A Special Meeting shall be summoned either by the Honorary Secretary on the order of the Executive Committee or on the requisition in writing of not less than ten members specifying the business for consideration at such Meeting and that business only shall then be considered and resolutions passed thereon. Twenty-eight days notice of any such Special Meeting shall be given in writing to members of the Group specifying the matters to be considered at such Meeting. At all meetings of the Group or any of its committees a two-thirds majority of members present shall be necessary to pass a resolution. At any General Meeting the quorum shall be 10 members. Each member shall have one vote.
9. No honorarium shall be paid to any member of the Group unless it shall have been passed by a vote at a General Meeting.
10. The income and property of the Group, when and howsoever derived, shall be applied solely to the promotion and execution of the objectives of the Group as defined in clause 2 above. All expenditure shall be authorised by the Executive Committee. Cheques shall be signed by the Honorary Treasurer and countersigned by one other Officer of the Group. The Executive Committee or the Treasurer acting on its behalf shall cause proper books of account to be kept with respect to all sums of money received or expended by the Group and the matters in respect of which such receipts and expenditures take place. The business of the Annual General Meeting shall include the Treasurer’s report, which shall include the audited accounts of the Group.
11. Within eighteen months of the formation of the Group, the Executive Committee shall give due consideration to the possible Registration of the Group as a charity at law, and shall report to the next Annual General Meeting on its recommendations.
12. No alteration, change or addition to the above rules shall be made unless passed at a General Meeting and no alteration or amendment shall be made to the Objects clause or Dissolution clause or this clause, which would cause the Group to cease to be a charity at law if so registered or which would prejudice or prevent it becoming a charity at law in the future.
13. The information kept by the Group relating to any living person shall be limited to the minimum that is consistent with normal genealogical research practice and shall only be kept for that purpose and for the efficient administration of membership records and for the financial accounting of membership subscriptions. This information held about a living person shall normally consist only of (a) dates of birth, baptism and marriage of that person and (b) the locations associated with these events, and (c) the names of the parents of that person, and (d) in the case of members a note of any particular genealogical interests of relevance to the aims of the Group and about which the member has supplied information and (e) the current mailing address, except that the address shall not be kept for those non-members who have indicated, by written request to the Group that they do not wish their address to be held in the records of the Group. In the event that any member shall indicate by written request to the Group that they do not wish any particular item of information about them to be kept, that item of information shall be removed from the records. Any enquiry received from a non-member of the Group relating to a particular living person about whom information is held by the Group, whether or not that person is a member of the Group, shall be referred to the person forming the subject of the enquiry if that person is a member, or otherwise to the nearest known relative who is a member. In the event that the subject or the relative expresses the wish that some or all of the information relating to the living person in question should be withheld from the party instigating the enquiry, then that wish shall be respected and the enquirer shall be informed of that fact. No information held by the Group shall be made available to non-members of the Group for purposes other than genealogical research or for commercial gain. Nothing in the foregoing shall be taken to prevent the publication of the names, addresses and research interests of members in accordance with the normal practice of family history societies and for use by other members, and neither shall it prevent the publication of any article, book or other document in furtherance of the aims of the Group as defined in Section 2 of this document.
14. In the event of a resolution taken at a General Meeting to dissolve the Group the Honorary Treasurer shall realise all the assets of the Group and discharge all liabilities. A further General Meeting shall then be called and the Honorary Treasurer shall submit his audited accounts to the meeting. Any balance remaining shall not be distributed amongst the members of the Group but shall be distributed to such charities as shall have similar aims and objects to those of the Group and if and insofar as effect cannot be given to this provision then to some other charitable purpose. The Honorary Treasurer shall make such distribution as the Group may, with the approval of the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales or other authority having charitable jurisdiction, determine, and then submit his final accounts to the Auditors of the Group and the Charity Commissioners; and the Lin(d)field One-Name Group shall stand dissolved.