The Morrell Room is a charity with a Constitution set out in the Conveyance and Trust Deed dated 1 June 1945. It has therefore operated for over 80 years as an unincorporated charity. The Management Committee have been discussing whether and when to update that Constitution. We set out some of the background in the article in the April edition of the Goring Gap News. (page 27).

We propose to change the Morrell Room from an unincorporated charitable trust into a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). It will be easier to run as a legal entity acting in its own name. It will have clearer rules for operating, including the ability to use modern communication (email and virtual meetings); and easier ways of involving other local bodies. The Morrell Room will remain a community facility for the benefit of the “inhabitants of Streatley and the surrounding area”.

There are three main stages in making this change:

Amending the current Constitution: Although the current Trust Deed allows the Management Committee to take some actions it does not explicitly provide for a transfer to a newly created body. We have also been advised that the Charity Commission prefer any differences between the main terms of the existing Deed and the proposed CIO constitution to be  dealt with by amending the existing Deed. These changes are being dealt with at the AGM so that we can seek the Charity Commission’s approval.

Creating the new CIO: We intend to set up the new CIO using a model constitution prepared by Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE). The Charity Commission will usually approve CIOs based on that model. We will prepare the final version of a new CIO constitution after the AGM and submit it to the Charity Commission for approval.

Moving the existing charity and property into the CIO: Once the Charity Commission has approved both the changes to the existing Deed and the create of the new CIO we will be able to transfer the the Morrell Room and all its assets and obligations into the CIO and operate more flexibly day to day under the new constitution. We hope to complete this stage by the end of the year.

Resolutions to make changes to the existing Deed

The MorrellRoom Management Committee (trustees) met on 16 February to deal with the issues on which changes might be needed to the existing Deed. They passed a resolution making three changes:

• Amending the clause in the Deed stating the object of the trust. This has been replaced by a form of words that will also be the object of the new CIO. In practical terms there is no impact on the way in which the Morrell Room will be managed for the benefit of the inhabitants of Streatley and the surrounding areas.
• Inserting two new clauses in the Deed  allowing a decision to be taken to transfer the Morrell Room and other assets and obligations to a CIO.
• Removing the provisions for various local bodies to nominate trustees. These provisions had not been used for some considerable time. The particular way in which the CIO will need to be made a sole corporate trustee for the existing trust makes it necessary to remove these powers from the existing Deed. However the CIO will be able to offer such rights of nomination to the CIO itself to local bodies.

The full resolution passed by the Management Committee can be seen here. The AGM will be asked to agree to this resolution before it is sent to the Charity Commission for their approval.