The Parents' Review

A Monthly Magazine of Home-Training and Culture

Notes

Parents' National Educational Union.

BRANCH SECRETARIES

Nothing definite having as yet been published concerning the duties attached to the office of a Branch Secretary of the P.N.E.U., it is hoped that the following hints may prove useful to those friends of the movement who are preparing to act in that capacity during the coming winter.

1. Anyone willing to assist in the formation of a Branch of the P.N.E.U. in a fresh local centre is invited to become an "Organising Branching Secretary pro tem."

2. The first thing to be done is to interest a few friends in the P.N.E.U. and to convene a meeting. At this first meeting a committee should be formed, and the Organising Branch Secretary pro tem would probably be elected Hon. Branch Secretary. It is usual to appoint a Chairman, Vice-chairman, and Auditor of Accounts, and it will be found convenient also to combine the offices of Hon. Secretary and Treasurer. This being the case, the Committee should pass a resolution authorising the Hon. Secretary to open an account in the name of the Branch at a local bank, and two other members of the Committee should be authorised to sign cheques. A form of resolution to the following effect should be passed:--"The Committee of the __________ Branch of the P.N.E.U. do hereby authorise the Manager of the __________ Bank to honour cheques signed on behalf of the above Society by any two of the following members:--

A. ______________________________

B. ______________________________

C. ______________________________

A copy of this resolution, with the signatures of the three members, should be signed by the Chairman and forwarded by the Secretary to the Manager of the Bank. By adopting this plan the Hon. Secretary is at liberty to fill out cheques, sign them, and get them signed by one other member of the Committee.

3. Preliminary matters having thus been settled, the Secretary should call in the first annual subscriptions, and forward the Branch fee (one guinea) to the Central Fund.

4. The next proceeding should be that of drawing up a few very simple Branch Rules, the fewer and simpler the better. All Branch Committees are recommended to draft their rules first in committee; then to have a General Meeting, and to submit the rules, clause by clause, to the members for discussion and amendment. The rules should not be printed until they have been confirmed at a General Meeting. It is suggested that for the future the name of each Branch, with its members of committee, and Branch Rules, be printed on the first two pages of a four-paged sheet of paper, which shall form the outer covering of a copy of the Central Rules and Principles. If this plan be adopted, the first printing expenses of each Branch will be very small.

5. London Branch Secretaries are asked to hold special meetings amongst themselves from time to time during each session, in order that they may confer together on matters relating to Branch Organisation. It has been suggested that each P.N.E.U. session shall include seven or eight months in each year, namely, from October 1st to the following 30th of April, or 31st of May. This point will be discussed at the September Executive Committee Meeting.

6. It is hoped that a series of lectures may be organised for each session, to be held at different London Centres, so that all London Branches of the P.N.E.U. may have the opportunity of availing themselves of them. For the purpose the possibility of starting a Lecture Fund, to which all London Branches will be invited to contribute so much per member, will be discussed shortly.

7. As the Central Fund of the P.N.E.U. does not admit of the disbursement of the traveling and other out-of-pocket expenses of Provincial or District Organisers, it is suggested that each Provincial Branch shall form a Lecture Fund, to be devoted to this purpose. No doubt many good speakers who are wishing to help on the work of the P.N.E.U. would accept an invitation to give an address at some Provincial town, provided their expenses were guaranteed. This plan will be more easily carried out when friends are prepared to offer hospitality to any special Organiser or Lecturer whose services they wish to secure for the benefit of their own local centre. Sometimes also there will doubtless be good resident Lecturers in the same town or neighbourhood in which it is proposed to start a Branch.

8. Branch Secretaries are requested to send copies of their Branch Rules both to Miss Mason and Miss Sharland.

9. One hundred copies of the Central Rules and Principles will be supplied free of cost to any one undertaking the office of Branch Secretary or Organiser pro tem., after which copies can be supplied at the rate of 1s. 9d. per 100, post free, to be obtained from Miss Sharland.

10. It is earnestly hoped that Branch Secretaries will do all in their power to assist Miss Mason and Miss Sharland, by keeping them posted up to date with their respective Branch news, so that complete accounts of the progress of the P.N.E.U. may be published constantly, and the mutual interests of London and Provincial Branches thus secured.

11. The duties of Branch Secretaries may be summed up as follows:--

(i.) To convene all Committee Meetings, General Meetings, and Lectures. Branch Secretaries are advised to draw up a short agenda paper before each Meeting, and to send a copy to each Committee Member when notice of the meeting is given.

(ii.) To collect Branch subscriptions, and to pay them into the Bank.

(iii.) To take charge of the Bank Pass and Cheque Books.

(iv.) To pay the Branch annual fee to the Treasurer of the Central Fund.

(v.) To receive and pay all bills.

(vi.) To enter particulars of each meeting in a Minute Book, and to have those minutes read and confirmed at the next meeting before other business is proceeded with.

(vii.) To send a notice of each Branch Committee Meeting, General Meeting, or Lecture to the Organising Hon. Secretary so soon as it is convened; also to forward particulars of such meetings and lectures to the organizing Hon. Secretary after they have taken place. N.B.--London Branch secretaries should send to Miss Sharland; Provincial Branch Secretaries to Miss Mason, Mornington House, Bradford.

12. As it is very desirable that the necessary printing for each Branch shall be done at a small cost, Miss Sharland hopes to be able to supply Branch Secretaries with Printed Circulars, Notice and Receipt Forms, &c., in small quantities, and will furnish particulars on application.

13. It is intended after September, 1890, to issue leaflets in connection with the P.N.E.U. The Organising Hon. Secretaries are also hoping next session to be able to furnish Branch Secretaries with the names of Speakers and Lecturers when required.

E.C. Sharland

London and Cen tral Organising Hon. Secretary, P.N.E.U.

N.B.--Address after September 5^th --Ayshford School, Uffculme. North Devon

Typed by fosheja, February 2016