Are you a Manse Bairn?


manse

mans/

noun

noun: manse; plural noun: manses

  1. 1a house provided for a minister of certain Christian Churches, especially the Scottish Presbyterian Church.


bairn

bɛːn/

noun  SCOTTISHNORTHERN ENGLISH

noun: bairn; plural noun: bairns

  1. 1a child.


P.K.

pee-kay/

acronym

Originally meant Preacher's Kid or Pastor’s Kid. M.K. is an acronym often used for ‘missionary kid’.

GLASGOW SOCIETY OF THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND

CONSTITUTION

March 2022


  1. 1.Objects

  2. The objects of the Society are:-
    (Firstly) to grant financial assistance to such children of deceased ministers of the Church of Scotland as shall require and be deserving of it.


  3. (Secondly) to grant financial assistance to such children of ministers of the Church of Scotland as shall require and be deserving of it to meet educational expenses at schools, universities or in post-graduate training, or in finding employment. Such expenses may include the cost of tuition fees, board and lodging and travel, and a preference will be given to those children who are training for the ministry or mission work of the Church of Scotland.

  4. 2.Membership

  5. (i)  Membership of the Society is open to all sons and daughters of ministers of the Church of Scotland wherever their parents had or have charges as ministers of the Church of Scotland.

  6. (ii)  Applications for membership shall be made in writing to the Secretary of the Society, and after approval by the president the applications shall be taken to be granted and shall be intimated at the next Council meeting.

  7. (iii)  All new members shall make payment of ten pounds or such other sum as the Society in general meeting may from time to time determine, and thereafter members may make annual or other payments to the Society at their discretion.

  8. (iv)  If, for three successive years after attaining the age of twenty- five, a member fails to make any payment to the Society, his or her membership shall cease. Otherwise, membership shall continue throughout life.

  9. (v)  Where complaint has been made and it appears to the Council that a member may have been guilty of conduct prejudicial to the good name of the Society, that member shall have the right to be heard by the Council. If the Council is satisfied that the complaint has been made out, it shall have the power to expel that member from the Society.


  1. 3. Meetings

  2. (i)  The Society shall hold an annual general meeting in March of each year on a day and at a time and place to be fixed by the Council. The president shall act as chairman, and in his absence the members shall choose one of their number to act as chairman.

  3. (ii)  The business of the meeting shall include consideration of a report by the secretary on the activities of the previous year and by the treasurer on the accounts for the previous year. It shall also include the election or re-election of a president, and the election or re-election or appointment or re-appointment of a secretary and treasurer for the ensuing year.

  4. (iii)  Prior to the annual general meeting members shall attend a service in one of the churches in the City of Glasgow.

  5. (iv)  A special general meeting of the Society may be called at any time by the Council on their own initiative or on the request of six members of the Society.

  6. (v)  At least two weeks notice of a general meeting shall be given by the secretary to all members of the Society.

  7. (vi)  The quorum for all general meetings shall be six.

  8. (vii)  All questions arising at a general meeting shall be decided by a simple majority of those present at the meeting, the chairman having a casting vote in addition to a deliberate vote.

  9. 4.Office-bearers

  10. (i) The office-bearers of the Society shall be the president, the secretary and the treasurer. The secretary and treasurer need not be members of the Society, but if they are not members they shall not be entitled to vote at any meetings of the Society or its Council that they attend.

  11. (ii)  It shall be competent for one person to hold the combined offices of secretary and treasurer.

  12. (iii)  Office-bearers will hold office for one year at a time, but may be re-elected or re-appointed to their offices or elected or appointed to another office.

  13. 5.Council

  14. (i)  The affairs of the Society shall be run by a Council consisting of the president and at least six but not more than ten members of the Society to be elected by the Society in general meeting. Subject to clause (ii) following, Council members will hold office for three years and may be elected for a second term of three years, i.e. a total of six consecutive years. Thereafter one year must elapse before they are eligible to stand for office again.

  15. (ii)  Apart from the president, one third of the members of the Council shall retire by rotation at the next annual general meeting of the Society and subject to clause 5(i) above other members shall be elected at such annual general meeting to take the places of those who have so retired or have died or have resigned.

  16. (iii)  The Council shall have power to co-opt up to three members at any time, but such co-opted members shall only hold office until the next annual general meeting of the Society, when, if so advised, they may present themselves for election.

  17.  The president of the Society shall be the convenor of the Council.

  18. (v)  The quorum for Council meetings shall be four.

  19. (vi)  The Council shall meet at least once a year on such a date as the president shall appoint. At least two weeks notice of meeting shall be given by the secretary to members of the Council.

  20. (vii)  The Council shall consider applications for assistance and shall recommend grants to such applicants as the Council considers to be in need of and deserving of assistance.

  21. 6.Sub-committees

  22. (i)  The Council may appoint such sub-committees as it may from time to time deem necessary.

  23. (ii)  The office-bearers shall be additional members of all sub- committees.

  24. (iii)  The quorum for meetings of sub-committees shall be three.

  25. 7.Finance

  26. (i)  The Council shall have power to invest the funds of the Society widely, including in property, investments, stocks, shares and deposits whether within the United Kingdom or abroad, and including power to delegate the investments of the Society's funds on a wholly discretionary portfolio management basis and the holding of investments in nominee companies. The provisions of the Trustee Investment Act 1961 and subsequent relevant legislation shall not apply. Such investments are to be reasonably prudent having regard to the charitable nature of the Society.

  27.  (ii) The Council shall arrange for an annual independent review of the funds of the Society by any method at their discretion and approved for the purpose by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). A report on the state of the funds and on the independent review thereof shall be submitted to the annual general meeting of the Society.


  28. 8.Application of Funds

  29. (i)  The Council shall instruct the treasurer to disburse such amounts from the income of the Society as are required to meet the running expenses of the Society, the Council and its sub-committees, and all debts, taxes and other burdens which may fall upon it.

  30. (ii)  The remainder of the income shall be applied in meeting the objects of the Society as set out in Clause 1 of this constitution. Any income not so required in any one year shall be added to the income available the following year.

  31. (iii)  Applications for assistance may be made by any son or daughter of a minister of the Church of Scotland wherever such applicant is resident.

  32. (iv)  All applications for assistance from the Society shall be made in writing to the secretary. The Council will then make enquiry into the circumstances of the applicants, and if they are found to require and to be deserving of assistance, the Council will then instruct the treasurer to disburse such financial assistance as they consider appropriate to such applicants out of income, and out of capital if deemed necessary.

  33. (v)  It shall be competent for the president to instruct the treasurer to disburse interim or emergency grants of financial assistance at any time. Any such grants shall be reported to the Council at its next meeting.

  34. 9.Alteration to Constitution

  35. (i)  Any proposal to alter this constitution shall be made in writing to the president by at least three members and placed before the Society in general meeting.

  36.  (ii) At least three weeks' notice of such a proposal shall be given by the secretary to all members of the Society before the Annual or Special General meeting.

  37. (iii) No such proposal shall be adopted without the approval of two-thirds of the members present at the meeting.


  1. 10.Dissolution

  2. (i)  Any proposal to dissolve the Society shall be made in writing to the president by at least three members and placed before the Society in general meeting.

  3. (ii)  At least six weeks' notice of such a proposal shall be given by the secretary to all members of the society before the meeting.

  4. (iii)  No such proposal shall be adopted without the approval of two-thirds of the members present at the meeting.

  5. (iv)  If such a proposal is adopted the whole funds of the Society shall be made over to any other charitable body having similar objects, as near as may be, to those of the Society, and the Minute Books of the Society shall be deposited with the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.

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