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Standing Orders |
These Standing Orders form an addition to the Constitution of the New
Varangian Guard Incorporated for the regulation of activities within the
bounds of the Vlachernai Garrison and the guidance of Vlachernai members
at functions which do not fall under the administration of other garrisons.
To achieve this each prospective member must be given a copy of the
Standing Orders with the application for membership form, and should read
it before that form is filled out.
There are two classes of participants in the activities of N.V.G. Vlachernai, each with different rights and obligations.
Members.
Full or financial members (here-after referred to simply as "members") are those who have attended three regular meetings of the group, been nominated by a member, seconded by another member, acknowledged by the committee, and have paid both their joining fee and annual subscription. The rights of a member are to vote in Annual and Special General Meetings and Warriors' Convocations, to stand for election to local and national offices, to propose motions for these meetings and committee meetings and to take advantage of discounts offered on Vlachernai events and supplies, to receive Vlachernai's newsletter and the Varangian Voice.
The obligations of a member are as follows.
At the time of admission a new member ought to be on the way to defining
an area of interest in the Guard's field, whether in one or more activities
like combat, archery, music, cookery and so on, or a historical culture
like the Vikings, Byzantium, Persia or some other.
Having defined an interest a member should assemble a full set of properties needed to indulge and display that interest with proper authenticity at events. This presentation must be internally consistent and historically documentable to the period and the culture in which the member is working and a member should have such documentation readily to hand. For example warrior must take the field with costume, armour, arms and accessories appropriate to one culture, era and social class. At a feast a member ought to have costume, accessories and table-ware which are all appropriate to one culture, era and social class.
Ideally, a member should be able to go from one activity to another without violating this principle of consistent authenticity, since various activities inevitably merge into one another: a warrior must take nourishment for example, and to preserve consistent authenticity should do so with utensils befitting the warrior represented on the field. One way to achieve this consistency is by means of a "persona", an hypothetical person of a definable period and nationality, which can be used to direct research and presentation.
Members who do not choose to employ a persona must always respect the rights of those who do at all functions which are re-enactments. (See Functions and Activities).
A member should be acquainted with such historical facts as are appropriate to his or her field(s) of active interest, and also should commit to memory the following essential information concerning the Varangian Guard.
While there had been Norse and Rus visiting Byzantium for at least a century before, the 'Varangian Guard' was formally established in 980 when King Vladimir of Kiev, later Saint Vladimir, sent 6000 Rus and Norse troops to Constantinople to serve Emperor Basil II. The Guard was made up primarily of Norsemen until the late eleventh century when a large influx of Englishmen fleeing Norman persecution significantly changed its ethnic composition. After the destruction caused by the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204 the Varangian Guard continued to exist in name, but became a hereditary ceremonial guard drawn from internal Byzantine sources.
Financial stipulations and penalties.
A person who has fulfilled the administrative components of membership but has not discharged the financial component is considered to be a "provisional member", and have no voting rights, nor a subscription to the Varangian Voice.
Any member who is in arrears with dues at the end of an A.G.M. will revert to the status of "provisional" until both the arrears and newly due subscription is paid. Any person who is provisional six months after the end of an A.G.M. shall cease to be a member and must apply for membership as any newcomer.
Any member who participates in a display which draws income for Vlachernai is entitled to a 20% deduction on the following year's dues.
Other participants.
Newcomers and visitors are those attending events as quests. It is the obligation of members or associates introducing newcomers to ensure that they have some awareness of the identity of the N.V.G. and the focus of the event they are attending, where-ever possible to obtain accurate, quality costume and accessories for them.
By the time a newcomer has attended six events he or she should be able to decide whether to become a member.
Vlachernai may decide from time to time to bestow Life Membership upon members who have rendered outstanding service. Life Membership status endures until death or formal resignation, however each life member must be contacted at the end of each administrative year and asked whether they wish to continue to receive mailings of the Varangian Voice.
Dues.
Full $ 55
Concession $ 45
Family $ 90 & $28 for each additional dependant.
Family (concession) $60 & $28 for each additional dependant.
Joining Fee $ 10
Dues may be paid in half yearly instalments or by arrangement with the Treasurer in special cases.
The Dues covers the following costs: NVG Inc. Public Liability Insurance, NVG Inc. Incorporation fees, Varangian Voice subscription, Garrison Newsletter and Garrison running costs.
President (Akolouthos).
The President functions as the Public Officer. A report on the year should be presented at each A.G.M.
Training Officer (Protosparthios).
The Training Officer is responsible to the warrior's convocation, which is turn may be overruled by a general meeting. A report on the year should be presented at each A.G.M.
Secretary (Tabularios).
The Secretary is responsible for all correspondence and non-financial records, and for the publication of the Ratatosk. A report on the year should be presented at each A.G.M.
Treasurer (Sakellarios).
The Treasurer is responsible for , and for keeping a true and accurate record of all financial transactions made by or on behalf of the Garrison, and for production of annual financial report, to be presented at the AGM, and for providing such records as required by the NVG Inc. The Treasurer is also responsible for the Quarter Master. The Treasurer is responsible for the maintenance of an up-to-date list of current members.
Ordinary Members * 2 (Demotoi).
The Demotoi are responsible for canvassing the views of the membership and presenting them to the committee as appropriate.
No committee officer shall hold any official position to which duties are attached in any other group or organization without the express permission of the general membership.
Non Committee Officers.
National Representative.
A National Representative shall be elected at the AGM each year. Their duties are to be the garrison representative for the Council of the NVG Inc., and to communicate the activities of the NVG Inc. to the committee of the garrison.
Quarter Master.
A Quarter-master is to be appointed by the membership from time to time. Their duty is to maintain the assets of the garrison, and they are responsible to the treasurer.
The committee of the Vlachernai Garrison may appoint an acting committee member if the position falls vacant with less than six months to run.
5: Functions and Activities of the NVG Inc.
The activities of the NVG Inc. are any which:
- promote the study of the history of its period;
- promote the awareness of the history of the period
amongst its members and the general public;
- promote the social prosperity of the group;
- and are necessary to support and prepare for the
foregoing.
Activities of the first two classes such as public and private displays, feast, revels, tournaments and battles shall be always deemed to be historical re-enactments in principle unless explicitly declared to be otherwise by the organizers.
As re-enactments these events ought to have a theme and a period and all attendees are expected to approach such events with due commitment and make a reasonable attempt to conform to the theme and period.
Charges.
All events which have any sort of a charge upon attendees the garrison must offer a lower charge to NVG Inc. members than to any other participant.
The President may request documentation at any time of any object, collection of objects or presentation that does not fall within the commonly available information base of the Guard's activities.
If convincing documentation is not forthcoming in a reasonable time, or if the documentation is not satisfactory for an item or for the relationship of items to each other, or to the historical character or presentation claimed by the user, the President may ban the queried object, collection of objects or presentation from use.
A persuasive case for a hypothetical item or presentation may be accepted as documentation.
A ban made under this clause may be appealed in the manner set out in the section on disputes.
The Training Officer may make a similar request for documentation in regard of items or ensembles used in combat.
Annual General Meetings.
An Annual General Meeting shall be held each year within two months of the end of the financial year.
The AGM shall include elections of officers, major items of policy and planning for the garrison and such business as the membership and committee sees fit.
The date and place of an AGM must be made known to members either via the Ratatosk or in a separate mailing at least one month before the date of the meeting. Wherever possible that notification should contain notices of business to be considered and candidates for officers.
Special General Meeting.
Special General Meetings may be called from time to time by the committee or petition of members to hold extra-ordinary elections, or discuss major items of policy and planning for the garrison and such business as the membership and committee sees fit.
Special General Meetings shall be notified to all members at least a fortnight before the date of the meeting. The notification may be contained in the regular newsletter or in a separate notice. An agenda, ballot paper and proxy form must accompany the notification of a meeting.
The quorum for General Meeting is 50%+1 of the membership.
If quorum is not reached at a general meeting at the next general meeting the quorum is reduced to 40%+1 of the membership.
Proxies must be brought in writing. They must state whether they relate to specific items of the agenda and ballot paper, or are assigned to the discretion of the bearer.
Only members of the current financial standing may vote in any General Meeting.
Decisions at General Meetings shall be by simple majority.
Warriors' Convocations are gatherings held half-yearly or as necessary to discuss matter pertaining to combat, or problems or plans which may arise.
Warriors' Convocations are open to all those who have taken part in combat or are interested in doing so.
Decisions of Warriors' Convocations shall be by a simple majority of votes with authorised warriors having two votes and all others one vote.
Warriors' Convocations must be advertised at least a fortnight in the Ratatosk with an agenda distributed in advance.
General.
Any dispute arising between members or participants should first be a matter of civil discussion between the contending persons, at which time the issues should be clearly voiced and a resolution arrived at if possible.
If the dispute cannot be resolved by such discussion to the satisfaction of both parties it may be taken to the garrison committee. If both parties do not approach the committee, fair warning must be given to the party which does not approach the committee for the meeting at which the dispute is to be considered. The committee must make every effort to reach a settlement based upon conciliation and compromise, but remains the right to make a resolution in favour of or to the detriment to either or both parties.
Combat.
Any dispute including minor combat rule infractions arising on the field should first be a matter of civil discussion between the contending persons as soon as possible off the field, and the aggrieved party should also immediately notify the problem to the Training Officer who must make a written note of it for future reference.
A re-occurrence of the problem or infraction should be taken up with the accused by the Training Officer with the aim of determining the nature of the problem and what steps might be taken to solve it.
If there are still continuing problems after the consultation with the Training Officer the matter may be brought to a Warriors' Convocation. Every effort to reach a settlement based upon conciliation and compromise should be made, but the Warriors' Convocation may resolve to suspend any of the contending parties from combat, or refer the matter of the committee if it seems serious enough.
Amendments to these standing orders can only be made at a special or annual general meeting. See section on meetings.
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Stephen Francis Wyley 1999 - 2004
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