B is for Board, Buddies, Blog and Bookshop #AtoZChallenge

 

Welcome to Day 2 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge for April.  To find out more about the blogging challenge click here. 

My theme for this month is Family History Societies: What does it take to run one?  What do they do?  Who is in a Society and why? What kind of societies are there?  Are Societies relevant in this day and age?

B is for Board, Buddies, Blog and Bookshop.

Let's deal with the Board first.  

 

Our meeting room isn't this swish...in fact we meet via Zoom!

Now "Board" can be quite a controversial term.  Perhaps you don't even know what I am talking about.  The Board is the group that manages the Society on behalf of the Members.  Our Board at QFHS is called a Management Committee.  Same thing really.  But perhaps not.

In Queensland the Associations Incorporation Act has been modernized and reviewed by the Associations and Incorporation and other Legislation Amendment Act 2020, some of which came into effect last year and some of which won't come into effect later this year and again next year. The suggested terminology for Management Committee is now Board which may sound pretentious to some, but to others may give a sense of the responsibility board or management committee members undertake when they join.  The goal of the review is to improve the internal governance standards.  

So, for example, the Secretary must now be aged 18 years or older.  Things like the expected standard of duty of care and diligence have been clarified. Disclosure of personal interest and having a proper grievance procedure will be mandated. 

According to the constitution of QFHS which is the Society of which I am a member and a Management Committee member, our Management Committee consists of a President, one or two Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, a Treasurer, all of whom must be members of the Society "and such numbers of other members, being not less than five (5)".  We usually have more than that.  Currently we have six of us in addition to the President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer.  We also have a position of Minutes Secretary which is vital. This is what our Constitution says are the functions:

The Management Committee shall a) have the general control and management of the administration of the affairs, property and funds of the Society; and (b)shall have authority to interpret the meaning of these Rules and any matter relating to the Society on which these Rules are silent.

Our Management Committee meets at least once a month.  There's a lot to discuss.  We have to approve new members to the Society, discuss the budget, future directions, our premises, how the place is running, respond to things like COVID and so on. 

 

B, as you can imagine, is for Busy too :)

 

But in case you find all this discussion of Boards somewhat Boring, I invite you to consider why people might join a Society or one of the Benefits they find after joining a Society: Buddies!

 

We all know that meme on Facebook of the guy at the BBQ trying to talk Family History with his friends....he's sitting alone on a swing looking glum.  No-one wants to know.  What unmitigated joy to join a Family History Society and find others as obsessed as you and as excited as you when they talk about the exploits of their ancestors or getting a certificate at last :) 

 

QFHS thinks buddies are so important that they have set up a Buddy program to help newbies settle in and find their feet.  You can read all about it here.

 

Some Societies share their members' stories on a Blog which I think is a brilliant idea.  The Genealogical Society of Queensland has one here. It's a great way for members to put their toe in the water as it were and what's more, for those of us blog regularly, they might get some nibbles from cousins. 

 

Last but not least, your friendly family history society might have a Bookshop.  I always dreamed of owning a bookshop.  Working in libraries is the next best thing...actually it might be better ;)  When I first joined QFHS I eyed the trestle table full of enticing books longingly....and before I knew it, I was the bookshop convenor.  It was a great introduction to the Society and I got to know the suppliers (Gould Books) and publishers really well.  I started to get a handle on what people were after and realized that Societies who published often kept the wolf from the door in terms of finances.  QFHS has been a prolific publisher through the enormous efforts of a volunteer force who index, transcribe and now digitize like there's no tomorrow.   

 

I hope today's post has Broadened your mind about what a family history society does.  

 

Can you think of anything else to do with family history societies that begins with B?  How are you going with the A-Z challenge? 

 

Thank you for taking the time to comment.