Constitution

Thanks Guy - I'll sit down with that tonight and comment then.

OK, before picking over the 1st draft I'm going back to first principles.

We need to form a constitution because (select as appropriate, not mutually exclusive points):
a) gives a sense of purpose and direction
b) formalises a casual arrangement
c) needed for banking arrangements
c) needed for PLI arrangement
d) needed because we want status as reenactors for VCA defence
e) needed because we want status as 'airsoft site' for VCA defence
f) needed for clarity for taxman - income and expenditure clearly ring-fenced

A constitution need only concern itself with an overview, intent and purpose. It needs to be more generic than specific where possible so allowing for future changes without recourse to constitutional change. It needs to lay down responsibilities and voting rights.

Rules don't have any part in the constitution for they are drawn up and amended by the committee as needs be.

So, as a hierarcy:
Corporate - what external formal bodies need to know (unchangeable over time)
Committee - how the organisation is run (fixed but changeable by mutual consent of committee)
Members - what members are signing up to (fixed but changeable by mutual consent of committee)
Players - rules by which games are played (fixed but changeable by mutual consent of committee as circumstances dictate)

David has listed pretty much all the points i've been thinking over (and a fair few others as well!)

I'm all for keeping things as generic as possible to give us a fair amount of free-play, without having to go back at any point in the future and change the constitution.

One thing that wont be acceptable will be players having "permanent membership". The constitution will have to show a certain robustness so that its not seen as a work-around. Membership, say, on a yearly basis, with the player having to show that they've attended at least one specific WW2 themed event within a 12 month period to allow it roll over for the next years membership.

Could be F&O, could be KGB, could be Cia etc etc.

Off the direct thrust of this thread but funnily enough, the UKARA position seems to have changed from what I could have sworn was the position - they now state that once you have 'qualified' (three games + membership of a registered site) you remain on the database without renewal provided your record has been interrogated by a retailer at least one in a year, otherwise it lapses.

In other words not that you are a continuing skirmisher but a continuing buyer!

Now there's a fucking surprise.....

This one died a death then ?

I think its part of a bigger picture.

What needs defining first is what CiA *is* and what are its capabilities to be.

Say for example, do we want to be able to just go in, hire a site, and have our own insurance to cover it? - would make things a *lot* easier on things like the pyro front, and would also mean we can try and get hold of sites that are otherwise not used for Airsoft. In a way, im glad we did that event with Gunman, its opened my eyes to a few things.

Once we've worked out the what and why we then work out the how

Reviving this in anticipation of AFRA considerations:

Here is AFRA's constitution:
http://www.afra.org.uk/documents/Consti ... RA2008.pdf

I think all my considerations in post three above still stand, so let's start hacking at a constitution. Guy's already started so I thought we could separate the constituent parts (since it's hierarchical) and work down.

First up for your thoughts - the name.

Bear in mind that all activities that we have done, are doing and will be doing (plus those we haven't thought about) need to be covered.

Some key words:
Comrades in Arms
Re-enactment
WW2
Society
Association
Group
Airsoft
Battle
Living History

Comrades in Arms is a given - that's what we are known by and have built upon.
Society: an organized group of people who share an interest, aim, or profession
Association: a group of people or organizations joined together for a purpose
Re-enactment: may cause problems with anti-reenactors and give a false impression although may be of value regarding AFRA
WW2 - sounds obvious for now, what if in some time to come the remit was widened? Even if it doesn't get widened then it's a given anyway
Airsoft - that is what we do at the moment but doesn't sit well with the reenactor aspect - can you be both? Would HMG see it that way?
Living History - too tightly focussed
Battle - certainly what it's all about

So, here is my suggestion for starters:

Comrades in Arms Battle Group

I think we need WW2 in there - at least for the time being. It gives immediate notification as to what we do. If at some point it needs changing, then so be it.

Group/Society/Association.

"Society" and "Association", sound a lot more organised than "Group"

But - and its a big but - by legal definition, do "society" or "association" imply a democratic process? If yes, then we kick those right out. Democracy doesn't work in Airsoft (and I think we can all put down a hundred reasons why)

To the uninitiated Comrades in Arms Battle Group has no context and sounds too aggressive.

I don't think the name is there to sell it to our potential membership particularly, it's also a way of identifying us to non-believers.

I completely concur that WW2 needs to be in there. If the remit is widened at a later date then a name change may need to be made, but I don't see the need to exclude it at the moment and feel that it's inclusion is positive.

Kermit's right, Group does just sound a little thrown together. The word group always tends to have negative or unofficial implications (a group of youths, a music group) an association or society sounds a lot better.

Other nouns:

Federation?
Club?

Club's a big crap though....

PS: Where's Guy whilst we're talking about all of this?!!?

Plymouth I guess, from what he said on the phone mid afternoon.

OK, taking points randomly.

The 'title' is just that - it doesn't have to spell out objectives (that goes elsewhere). But it is 'official' in the sense that that is what will appear in documents - check books, paypal account, reports for HMC&R. I could just be 'Comrades in Arms' but I suspect (don't know for sure) that a bank would like it to be more specific.

Whatever the 'official' title is that doesn't have to what's used day to day. My business name is 'Infinity Visual Communications' but I answer the phone as 'Infinity' and all my clients refer to it as 'Infinity'. Whatever we chose we will still be known as 'Comrades in Arms'.

As far as I can tell 'Club', 'Society', 'Association', 'Group' don't have legal status or meaning, at least not in our context.
I thought Club was a bit school boy - 'Westfield Seniors Stamp Collecting Club'.
Is 'Group' thrown together? It could be associated with large conglomerates down to Toddler Groups
Asscociation does sound to me to be rather democratic - as Jay says, this group won't have any rights for members, nor will they be able to dictate policy (directly, anyway).
Society sounds a bit 'learned' and high-faluting.
Federation - sorry, I just associate that with Americans! But it's meaning is quite specific though - it's a collection of smaller parts.

So,
1. Whatever we choose we can't alter it - at least not without informing all interested parties which would be a ball ache.
2. Whatever the title is 'officially' it doesn't have to be what we are known by in every day working terms

Out of all those terms I thought 'Group' best summed up what we were.

While I think of it - link for banking arrangements: http://www.lloydstsbbusiness.com/commun ... ccount.asp
They ask status and give these options:
Club/Society
Un-registered charity
Registered charity
Non-personal Trust
Company Limited by Guarantee

Clearly we are in the first category.

So, the name chosen is what's used in an official capacity - not how it is 'sold' to players. We are and always will be 'Comrades in Arms'.

Can we be a battalion ?

Agreed name is irrelavant , CiA is the brand .

Some HMR&C advice:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ctsa/small-tax-liabilities.htm
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/ct41g.pdf
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/guidance/clubs-societies.htm
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/BIM24210.htm

VAT is an issue exactly the same as any business once threshold is reached (so way off the scale as far as we are concerned)

I'm not so sure that the name is irrelevant. If we are required, or want, to lobby as representatives of the WW2 airsoft fraternity (and sorority) we would be named as thus, in that case one wouldn't want to give an unrepresentative description of what we do.

I also think that the perception of new members who perhaps don't know an awful lot about Comrades in Arms is important as they may hear about us through the group/association/society. Also, as we keep saying we want to foster a separate and distinct 'organisation' from Comrades in Arms games and CiA website/forums, this is an ideal way to knit the brand with the separate members' organisation/group/association.

Comrades in Arms Historical Airsoft Society/Group?

Comrades in Arms WW2 Airsoft Association?

To be honest I think the latter is better.

You are working on a false premise there Stephen. Externally nothing will change - formalising CiA is a means to an end not a marketing initiative.

'Airsoft' cannot be used in the title at all - it would make the AFRA and re-enacting aspect no-go.

Alright, nevermind then.

Hehe. All I'm trying to do is work through this formalisation process step by step in small chunks so that it doesn't get complicated.

We are not changing CiA fundamentally just getting shit sorted.
Bottom line - we need a bank account. I'm getting grief for handling large amounts of cash and it's not good that things are unaccountable.
To get a bank account we need to be 'proper'.
Once we are proper we can do more ambitious thing like the AFRA initiative, and so on.