Results from Consultation on the SHARP Constitution

Thank you to everyone that took part in the consultation and filled in our questionnaire. We had a good number of responses from a variety of members, as well as past committee/trustees. It was nice to see that we had feedback from both current SHARPies and those involved in the project in the earlier years.

The results gave us a good understanding of your feelings on where we should go with the Constitution. Many of the responses were positive to our suggested changes, such as the objects, powers, definition of members and elements over the make-up of the committee. There were a few interesting points that were raised by members that we feel are worth mentioning, and aspects that we agree need to be addressed that will be discussed below.

We had proposed to remove the power to ‘To invest the Monies of the Association not immediately required for its purposes in or upon such investments, securities or property as may be thought fit subject nevertheless to such conditions (if any) and such consents (if any) as may for the time being, be imposed or required by law and subject also as hereinafter mentioned.’ However, several members suggested that we leave that power in place to give us flexibility going forward, in practice it will only now be applied with the approval of the executive committee and most likely only with wider membership approval at an AGM.

There was general agreement over the membership and limiting it to two years. However, there were questions over the definition of participation. We are therefore intending to provide a definition of participation within the constitution to ensure that this is clarified, to ensure it is clear this applies to those doing courses, cleaning finds, or other processes beyond excavation or even post-ex work out of season. There were a few comments about being unable to participate if SHARP does not offer any such opportunities beyond the season. This is something that the committee have now taken on board and agree we have failed to do in recent years. We will hopefully address this in the next couple of years so that there are even more opportunities to get involved with SHARP.

There was a general agreement that not all committee needed to be trustees, but that any other committee members should still be voted in by the membership. We have agreed to reduce the number of committee members to a maximum of 16. There was an even split between the three options for the length of service, so we have chosen 2 years. Our aim will be to ensure this is staggered so that not everyone will step down at the same time.

The question that perhaps caused some confusion was over the power ‘to employ and remunerate staff’ and the question related to payment to trustees. The power is currently regularly used to pay our catering team and cleaning staff for services that our volunteers are not able or qualified to do and occasionally external consultants. This will be better defined in the new constitution. The item that does not allow a salary or remuneration of benefits to trustees will remain, which means no trustees or committee members have been or will ever be paid for working as a committee member. We agree that there should be no payments for excavation team during the season. Sometimes we do need external or professional expertise for services that SHARP and its current team are unable to provide voluntarily. In these circumstances, there may be a payment made to an individual member of SHARP and that may be a committee member. For now, we have suggested that trustees should not be receiving any payment from SHARP for any work carried out, however non trustee committee members can be. For example, this would allow for a representative of the catering team to contribute to the planning for a season, but any conflicts of interest will mean they do not get to vote on relevant topics. These committee members would have to be agreed by the executive committee and would still need to be voted in by the membership, and potential conflicts of interest highlighted. However, as there was a very strong response on this issue from members, we will be re-assessing and updating the finance policy after the season to ensure that payments to SHARP volunteers, team and/or committee are few and far between, well regulated, and that there are no conflicts of interest.

There was also a positive response to SHARP looking into becoming a CIO. The committee will investigate this possibility further, although may choose to wait until things have settled down in the next couple of years.

We hope this explains the feedback received, answers a few questions and will ensure members that the SHARP committee are interested in their views. Any more comments on this or the constitution can be sent to bookings@sharp.org.uk, or brought to the AGM on Wednesday 31st July 2024 in Sedgeford.