Aha, very exciting. Thanks for all that info, I can understand totally
where all those roadblocks have come from.
I guess it's sad to see that you have been forced into a 'fake' AGM
purely to meet requirements, but that's the way things are I suppose.
Sean
On 27/06/07, Alison Wheeler <wikimedia(a)alisonwheeler.com> wrote:
Hello everyone,
First, a quick reply to Sean:
On Wed, June 27, 2007 18:44, Sean Whitton wrote:
Excuse my ignorance, but being an AGM I assume
it's essentially public?
An company AGM is open to all the members (shareholders) of that company.
At present there are - legally - only six members of WER Ltd t/a Wikimedia
UK.
I assume it'd have to be with no procedure
for WM UK membership (or
lack of) right now.
This was our issue and we got stuck between a rock and a hard place in
sorting it all out.
Firstly, because the Wikimedia Foundation only - finally - authorised our
status as a recognised Chapter of the Foundation but two weeks ago
(despite many promises to the contrary) this meant we couldn't consider
adding new members of the Chapter before that confirmation was received.
We had a Board meeting therefore as soon as we were able to schedule one
once that confirmation arrived to discuss how to open up the membership
procedure, and how to schedule the AGM and other events.
The first AGM of the company was required by law to be within 18 months of
the registration of the Company, which meant it had to happen by August
13th. There was then an issue that the Company Secretary (James Forrester)
and probably others would be at Wikimania in Taiwan in the couple of weeks
leading up to that date and wouldn't be able to attend a meeting. Allied
to this was that to accept membership applications requires various
procedures to take place (ie written application, information checking,
cheque clearance, etc) as well as notice periods and there just weren't
the days available on the calendar.
All this meant that the Board couldn't see a way to open the membership up
properly and fairly and still meet the legally-required schedule. We
therefore authorised an AGM to take place within a restricted notice
period (as permissable by the Articles of Association) and asked the
membership to validate this request. This (slight legal fiction) happened,
and the first AGM actually took place last Sunday.
However! that meeting was predominantly to ensure the Company met the
legal requirements to continue, and we have worked out how to open the
membership up and details (ie downloadable pdf application form) will be
on the website within a week. In outline, anyone (any age) may become a
member of the Chapter, but to be a member of the Company as well (not
mandatory) you will have to give additional information and must be over
18, etc, hence the written application. There will be an annual fee
involved for membership of the Chapter.
We considered when best to arrange a Members Meeting, and concluded that
July and August are not good months for this (if summer ever arrives!) and
so we are looking at hosting a dual-purpose event in September, probably
either Saturday 8th, 15th or 29th in London (though no date/location is
confirmed yet).
I say 'dual-purpose' as we plan to start with an EGM, with the Directors
reporting to members present about what we have managed to achieve and
where we plan to go next, and at least one election for a Director will
also take place then. The other part is that we are seeking to have a
public-facing event with a couple of special guests. We can't say more at
this time (we haven't asked them yet!) but we want to use the combined
meeting to garner fresh media interest and possible sponsorship income.
We'll be able to give you all more information in the near future, and it
will appear first on our website at
www.wikimedia.org.uk Thanks for
sticking with us this long - we're now ready for action!
Regards
Alison Wheeler
Chair, Wikimedia UK
requirement for a
Thanks,
Sean
On 10/06/07, Alison Wheeler <wikimedia(a)alisonwheeler.com> wrote:
> On Sun, June 10, 2007 12:32, Gordon Joly wrote:
> > When is the first general meeting (annual general meeting) of Wiki
> > Educational Resources Ltd to be planned?
>
> 'great minds' and all that, but I sent an email to the board last week
> regarding just this thing (well, the AGM and a Board meeting
> beforehand).
> As soon as date/location are fixed James (as Company Secretary) will be
> making the official announcements.
>
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