1. Name of the Club

The name of the Club is "Brookfield Lawn Tennis Club"

2. Colours

The colours will be silver-grey and red

3. Object of the Club

The object of the Club is the provision of facilities for the playing of amateur lawn tennis and generally to promote the game amongst its members.

4. Membership

The Club membership shall consist of

(a) Senior Tennis Members

(b) Junior Members, who shall be under 18 and over 7 years of age on 1st January

(c) Pavilion Members, including Life Pavilion Members

(d) Honorary Members, who shall be elected by a two thirds majority vote at a General Meeting

The number of playing members (categories a & b combined) shall not exceed 500, of which not more than 250 shall be Junior Members (category b). The number of Pavilion Members shall be limited to 60.

Pavilion Members must (a) have been Senior Tennis members or (b) have a member of their family a playing member of the Club. Honorary Members must have been a Senior Tennis Member for at least 15 years.

5. Admission of Members

(a) Every candidate for membership shall be proposed and seconded by Senior Tennis Members or Pavilion Members who have formerly been Senior Tennis Members, who were members of the Club in the previous season and to whom the candidate is personally known and who are not members of the same household. The full name and address of each candidate and their proposer and seconder shall be communicated on the appropriate form to the Honorary Secretary. The application for membership must be accompanied by the entrance fee and first annual subscription which will be returned in the case of a candidate not being elected. A member can only propose or second two individuals or one family group in any season, unless there are vacancies after the first ballot of the season

(b) An interval of not less than two weeks shall occur between receipt by the Honorary Secretary of the completed application form and the election of the applicant.

(c) Junior Members applying for Senior Membership should do so in the same way as other applicants but without the need for proposal.

(d) Junior Members shall have to stand for re-election annually but without proposal

6. Election

All members of the Club, except Honorary Members, shall be elected by the Committee. To be eligible for election, candidates must have been introduced to at least two members of the Committee by their proposer. Honorary Members shall be elected by a two thirds majority at a General Meeting.

7. Management

(a) The management of the Club shall be entrusted to a Committee of 11 people, consisting of the Officers (the President, the Honorary Treasurer and the Honorary Secretary) and eight Senior Tennis Members who shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting.

(b) The Committee members, excluding the Officers, must retire after five consecutive years on the Committee. Members retiring under this provision shall not be eligible for re-election to the Committee for two years.

(c) The President, Honorary Treasurer and Honorary Secretary shall not remain in those offices for more than three consecutive years.

(d) Nominations for the Committee must be received by the Honorary Secretary not less than seven days before the Annual General Meeting on the prescribed form.

(e) The Committee shall meet at least once every month and at any other times as the Committee shall decide. At all meetings six members shall form a quorum. All members must receive at least 48 hours notice of the time and place of the meeting.

8. Authority of the Committee

(a) The Committee shall have the power at any time, and from time to time, to fill a vacancy amongst the Officers and Committee. Any Officer or member, so appointed, shall hold office until the Annual General Meeting but then be eligible for election.

(b) The Committee shall have the power to appoint the members of any Sub-Committees as they may consider necessary for the orderly running of the club. Any member so appointed shall be for one year but can be removed within that time by the Committee

(c) The Committee shall have the power to make such regulations as they deem necessary for the orderly running of the Club. Any such regulations shall be posted on the Club noticeboard.

(d) The Committee shall have the power to commit the Club to expenditure each year within the overall Budget approved at the previous Annual General Meeting. Additional expenditure of up to 20% of the approved budget may be incurred with the consent, in writing, of the Trustees. If either of these provisions are contravened, and a General Meeting does not give retrospective approval to such a contravention, the Committee shall be held liable for the debt collectively.

9. Sub-Committees

(a) The four main activities of the Club will be organised by the following Sub-Committees

i) Tennis Sub-Committee to include two members of the Committee

ii) Bar & Social Sub-Committee to include two members of the Committee

iii) House & Grounds Sub-Committee to include two members of the Committee

iv) Junior Sub-Committee to include two members of the Committee

(b) Each Sub-Committee shall consist of a Chairperson and four other Club members, all of whom shall be appointed by the Committee under Rule 8

(c) The Chairperson shall be one of the ordinary members of the Committee and shall be responsible to the Committee for the affairs and activities of the Sub- Committee.

10. Honorary Auditor

(a) The Honorary Treasurer shall keep correct accounts and books showing the financial affairs and receipts and disbursements of the Club

(b) The books and records of the club shall be examined each year by an Honorary Auditor, who shall have been elected at the previous Annual General Meeting.

11. Annual General Meeting

An Annual General Meeting shall be held between 1st October and 31st December each year, upon a date decided by the Committee. The business of the Annual General Meeting must include

(a) The presentation and, if accepted, the adoption of the audited accounts for the financial year ending 30th September immediately prior to the Annual General Meeting.

(b) The election of Officers, Committee and Honorary Auditor.

(c) The adoption of the Schedule of Subscriptions for the year.

(d) The adoption of the Budget for the year.

(e) Such other business as shall have been communicated to the Honorary Secretary, in writing, and included in the notice of the meeting sent to the members.

12. Extraordinary General Meetings

An Extraordinary General Meeting may be convened at any time and shall be convened within 21 days on the requisition in writing of 10 voting members or three Trustees. Any requisition must state the purpose for which the meeting is required.

13. Notice of Meetings

The Honorary Secretary shall at least 10 days before any General Meeting send to every member, entitled to attend at their address in the club’s books, a notice of the meeting. The notice shall state the time and place where the meeting will be held and the business to be transacted.

14. Quorum

The quorum at any General Meeting shall be 25 members entitled both to attend and vote.

15. Voting

At all General meetings all members, other than Junior Members, may attend but the right to vote shall be restricted to:

(a) Senior Tennis Members

(b) Pavilion Members

16. President

The President of the Club shall preside at all meetings of the Club but if he is not present within fifteen minutes after the time appointed for the meeting, or if he has signified his inability to be present, the members present and entitled to vote shall choose one of their number to be Chairman of the meeting.

17. Subscriptions, Fees and Charges

(a) There shall be a defined subscription payable by members in advance.

(b) Every member shall pay an annual subscription, which shall include the Tennis Ireland Capitation Fee, which shall be due on 1st January each year. The subscriptions, entrance fees and other charges shall be in accordance with the attached schedule which shall form part of these Rules. Such subscriptions will be deemed to be a debt due to the Honorary Treasurer of the Club for the time being.

If any member fails to pay their subscription within 15 days of it coming due, the Honorary Secretary shall send them a notice, in writing to their address in the Club’s books, calling on them to pay same within 15 days. If the member fails to so do, the Committee shall be entitled to terminate membership without further notice and report the offender to Tennis Ireland.

Any member wishing to resign from the Club shall notify the Honorary Secretary in writing prior to 1st March and in default of such notification, the member will be liable for that year’s subscription.

18. Discipline

(a) The Committee shall have the power to expel, suspend or discipline, which powers shall include inter alia the power to advise, admonish, censure, fine or disqualify, any member as defined in Clause 4 against whom an allegation of misconduct is upheld.

(b) The Committee shall vest the power to investigate such allegations and to decide on any necessary sanction to a Disciplinary Committee of 3 Senior Tennis Members excluding the Officers of the Club.

(c) Any member against whom an allegation of misconduct is upheld can appeal to an Appeals Committee made up of the Officers of the Club, namely the President, the Honorary Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer.

(d) A decision of either the Disciplinary Committee or the Appeals Committee to expel a member must be ratified by the Committee before it is communicated to the member and acted upon.

(e) The procedures to be followed by the Disciplinary Committee and the Appeals Committee are laid out in Appendix 1 which can only be altered by a majority vote at a General Meeting.

(f) The Committee may also authorise individuals and employees to enforce these Rules and the Club Regulations and such persons, together with any member of the Committee, are empowered to require any member or visitor to vacate the premises immediately if they are reasonably of the opinion that the member or visitor is, or has been, in breach of these Rules or the Club Regulations.

19. The Trustees

(a) The property and effects of the Club shall be vested in five Trustees in trust for the Brookfield Lawn Tennis Club. The Trustees shall have the power of making such invests of the funds of the Club as they shall deem advantageous to the interests of the club with the prior consent of the Committee.

(b) The Trustees shall remain in office until death or resignation or until a General Meeting shall think proper to remove them or any of them.

(c) The Trustees shall be elected by the Committee from amongst the Senior Tennis Members and Pavilion Members entitled to vote at a General Meeting. When a vacancy occurs amongst the Trustees, a new Trustee shall be elected in the same way.

(d) The Trustees may from time to time with the sanction of a resolution of the Committee of the Club, which resolution shall have been voted on by not less than six members of that Committee and which shall only be passed if two thirds of those voting vote for the resolution, do any of the following acts or things, that is to say: Sell, exchange, partition, lease, let, mortgage, charge, purchase, take on, lease or otherwise dispose of, or deal with, any of the property of the Club, whether the same be reason or personal, for the time being vested in the Trustees provided that the sale, mortgage or other disposition of any property in excess of the value of Ir£5,000 or the equivalent in Euro in any one year must have the sanction of an extraordinary meeting called for that purpose.

(e) Subject to the proviso hereinbefore contained, any deed, document, act or thing signed, executed or done by the Trustees on behalf of the Club, shall be binding on the Club if authorised or confirmed by resolution of the Committee of the Club.

(f) A certificate signed by the Chairman at the meeting, at which any resolution referred to in this rule has been passed, shall be conclusive evidence of the passing of such resolution in a manner provided for by this rule and of the terms of such resolution.

(g) No personal liability shall attach to any trustee except to the extent of such club funds as may be actually received by that trustee.

20. Dissolution of the Club

The Club shall be dissolved on a resolution passed by three quarters of the members present, and entitled to vote, at a General Meeting of the Club, called in the manner provided by these rules. In the event of the dissolution of the Club, the Trustees shall realise the assets of the Club and having discharged all debts, shall divide the proceeds equally amongst all Senior Tennis Members and Pavilion Members who have been members of the Club for any five, not necessarily consecutive, seasons of the six seasons immediately preceding the season in which the vote is being taken to dissolve the Club.

21. Visitors

(a) Any member shall be entitled to introduce visitors provided that no person whose application for membership has been declined or who has been expelled from the Club shall be introduced as a visitor.

(b) No visitor shall be permitted to purchase excisable liquor in the Club premises, and visitors shall be subject to such regulations as the Committee shall make from time to time.

A visitor shall not be supplied with excisable liquor in the Club unless on the invitation and in the company of a member, and the member shall upon the admission of such visitor to the club premises, or immediately upon his being supplied with such liquor, enter his own name and the name and address of the visitor in a book which shall be kept for the purpose and which shall show the date of each visit.

22. Purchase of Liquor

The purchase of excisable liquor shall be in the absolute discretion of a sub-committee of not less than three members being members of the committee appointed by the Committee for that purpose. In the event of any member, for any reason, ceasing to be a member of the committee, they shall automatically cease to be a member of the sub-committee and another member of the committee shall be appointed in their place. Such sub-committee shall in no way be restricted in the freedom of purchase.

23. Commission

No person shall at any time be entitled to receive at the expense of the Club any commission, percentage or similar payment on, or with reference to, purchase of excisable liquor by the Club; nor shall any person directly or indirectly derive any pecuniary benefit from the supply of excisable liquor by, or on behalf of the Club to members or guests apart from any benefit accruing to the Club as a whole; and apart also from any benefit which a person derives indirectly by reason of the supply, giving rise, or contribution to a general gain from the carrying on of the Club.

24. Application of Profit

(a) No money or property of the Club or any gain arising from the carrying on of the Club shall be applied otherwise than to the benefit of the Club as a whole.

(b) No member of the Committee and no Manager or servant employed in the Club have any personal interest in the sale of excisable liquors therein or in the profits arising from such sale

25. Permitted Hours

1. Subject to the exceptions specified in section 2 of this rule, no excisable liquor shall be supplied for consumption on the club premises to any person (other than a member of the club lodging on the premises) or be consumed on those premises by any person (other than such member) -

(a) at any time on Christmas Day or Good Friday

(b) on any other day, as specified hereunder, outside the times so specified in respect of that day.

(i) Saint Patrick’s Day: between 12.30 pm and 12.30 am on the following day;

(ii) the 23rd December: if it falls on a Sunday, between 10.30 am and 11.30 pm:

(iii) Christmas Eve and the eve of Good Friday: between 10.30 am and 11.30 pm:

(iv) the eve of any public holiday (other than Christmas Eve) ;

(I) If the eve falls on a weekday, between 10.30 am and 12.30 am on the following day, or

(II) if it falls on a Sunday, between 12.30 pm and 12.30 am the following day;

(v) Any other Sunday (except a Saint Patrick’s Day which falls on a Sunday): between 12.30 pm and 11.00 pm

(vi) any other Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday: between 10.30 am and

11.30 pm; and

(vii) any other Thursday, Friday or Saturday: between 10.30 am and 12.30 am on the following day.

(1A) The hours specified in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) in respect of any day specified in that paragraph are in addition to the period between midnight and 12.30 am on that day where that period is included in the hours so specified in respect of the eve of that day

(1B) In subsection (1), "public holiday" has the meaning given to it by the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997.

2. Nothing in the Registration of Clubs Acts, 1904 to 1999, or contained, by virtue only of the operation of subsection (1) of this section, in the rules of a club registered under those Acts shall operate to prohibit the supplying for consumption on the club premises of excisable liquor to any person or the consumption of excisable liquor on those premises by any person -

(a) on Christmas Day between 12.00 midday and 10.00 pm, or

(b) on any other day, for one hour after the expiration of any period in respect of that day during which it is lawful for the club, by virtue of subsection (1) (b), to supply any excisable liquor for consumption on the club premises,

if in each case the excisable liquor is -

(i) ordered by or on behalf of that person at the same time as a substantial meal is ordered and

(ii) consumed by that person during the meal or after the meal has ended.

3. No excisable liquor shall be sold or supplied for consumption outside the premises of the club, except to members of the club, between the hours of 8 o’clock in the morning and 10 o’clock at night.

4. No excisable liquor shall be sold or supplied, in the club premises, to any person under the age of 18 years.

5. No person under the age of 18 shall be admitted as a member of the club unless the club is one primarily devoted to some athletic purpose.

26. Modification of Rules

Subject as hereinunder provided, no alterations or addition to these rules shall be made except by a resolution, which shall not be contrary to law, carried by a majority of at least two thirds of the members present at a General Meeting the notice of which shall have contained particulars of the proposed alterations or additions.

27. Compliance with Statute

The Committee may alter or add to the rules for the sole purpose of complying with the provisions of the Registration of Clubs (Ireland) Act 1904, or any Act extending or amending same without the necessity of complying with the provisions of Rule 26 hereof.

Appendix 1 Disciplinary Regulations