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| CONSTITUTION OF THE PETER HENRICH HENNING FAMILY LEAGUE |
CONSTITUTION OF THE PETER HENRICH HENNING FAMILY LEAGUE
WHEREAS PETER HENRICH HENNING, who was born during December 1740 in Lippstadt and who arrived in 1765 at the Cape of Good Hope as a soldier in the service of the Dutch East India Company;
AND WHEREAS the mentioned PETER HENRICH HENNING who in the course of time became PIETER HENDRIK HENNING, acquired FREE BURGHER status on 17 November 1783 and decided to make the Cape of Good Hope his PERMANENT and ONLY FATHERLAND and in so doing became the PATERNAL ANCESTOR of a multitude of people with the surname HENNING in the Republic of South Africa;
AND WHEREAS at a gathering of descendants of the mentioned PETER HENRICH HENNING held on 21st day of July 1984 at WIERDA PARK, VERWOERDBURG it was decided to establish a LEAGUE of the descendants of PETER HENRICH HENNING and to accept a constitution as circumscribed hereinafter.
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A. NAME:
1. The title of the league is the PETER HENRICH HENNING FAMILY LEAGUE and is henceforth called the LEAGUE.
2. The LEAGUE is a body corporate and can in its own right act as plaintiff or defendant in legal matters and perform all functions necessary for the accomplishment of its objectives.
B. OBJECTIVES
1. The furtherance of the fellowship and interests of the members of the PETER HENRICH HENNING lineage.
2. The furtherance of pride in the surname HENNING and the strenthening and preservation of social and cultural ties among members of the lineage in order to establish and promote contact among descendants.
3. The purchase and acquisition by whatever means of goods, movable as well as immovable that may be of traditional, historical or cultural interest to members of the lineage.
C. MEANS OF PROMOTING OBJECTIVES
1. The registration, in collaboration with the Bureau of Heraldry, of an acknowledged LEAGUE Coat of Arms for the descendants of PETER HENRICH HENNING.
2. The compilation and regular up-dating of a genealogical register.
3. The establishment and development of a family archive and/or family museum.
4. The convening of regular gatherings and meetings of the LEAGUE.
5. The distribution a LEAGUE newsletter and amendment notices to the genealogical register.
6. The purchase and maintenance of assets mentioned in Clause B.3 above.
7. The establishment of branches of the LEAGUE in distant regions and countries.
8. Any other method deemed fit by the committee of the LEAGUE.
D. MEMBERSHIP AND VOTING ELIGIBILITY
1. The following categories of descendants of the PATERNAL ANCESTOR, as well as those related through matrimony are in terms of Clause D.4 below members of the LEAGUE;
1.1 The HENNING head of the family, his spouse and unmarried children under the age of 18 years.
1.2 Persons older than 18 years of age whose father or mother was born a HENNING and such person’s spouse.
1.3 A HENNING widow, irrespective of whether or not she has another surname due to a second or susequent marriage.
2.1 2 Honorary membership may be awarded to undermentioned Clause D.1 members. Honorary members are exempted from all membershipfees:
2.1 Members who are older than 80 years.
2.2 Members who have rendered in the opinion of the management exeptionally meritorious service to the LEAGUE.
3.3 The following categories of persons become, subject to Clause D.4 special members of the LEAGUE. No application of this kind shall, however, be accepted prior to approval by the management of the LEAGUE.
3.1 Persons who do not comply with the requirements of Clause D.1 but has an alliance with the HENNING family.
3.2 Persons who do not comply with the requirements of Clause D.1 rendered exceptional service of a high standard to the LEAGUE and are invited by management to become a special members.
4. The prerogative to vote at member meetings and to be elected to the management committee is sircumscribed as follows:
4.1 Unmarried members under the age of 18 years, have no voting rights.
4.2 Members over the age of 18 years can acquire the mentioned right to vote consequential upon the head of the family or any single member making a one-off payment as expressed by the management committee in terms of Clause F.7; or on payment of the annual subscription as decided by the management committee. Such a member and his/her spouse is referred to as a fully eligible member.
4.3 In the case of a family, the head of the family and his spouse have the right to vote at meetings.
E. MEETINGS OF MEMBERS
1. Notice of a meeting of members is to be served via post on fully eligible members at least two months prior to the stipulated date at the address appearing on the register.
2.4 Twenty fully eligible members constitutes a quorum at a meeting of members. The Chairman of the committee or in his absence the Deputy Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and at most five additional members.
3. Unless otherwise herein provided, voting will be conducted by a show of hands.
4. Financial statements of the LEAGUE are to be presented and reviewed at a meeting of members.
5. A meeting of members must take place once a year.
F. ADMINISTRATION OF THE LEAGUE
1.5 The committee of the LEAGUE consists of a Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Management Secretary, League Secretary/Treasurer (or League Secretary and Treasurer) and at most five additional members.
2. The Chairman (or his proxy) of distant branches has the right to attend and vote at committee meetings.
3. The members of the committee are elected annually at a meeting of members. Any vacancies that arise from the resignation or death of a member, are to be accommodated until the next meeting of members, by the remaining members of the committee and in case of the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman will act as chairman.
4. In the event of a tied-vote at a meeting of the Committee, the Chairman has a casting vote.
5. Five members of the Committee constitutes a quorum.
6.6 The Chairman, Deputy Chariman, Management Secretary and League Secretary/Treasurer will perform the day-to-day administration to deal with those matters specifically designated by die Committee.
7. The Committee will from time to time the one-off contribution that a member of the LEAGUE must pay to enjoy for life certain privileges as expressed more fully in Clause D.4 above; and alternatively the annual subscription that must be paid by members to enjoy similar privileges.
8. The accomplishment of all objectives lies with the Committee.
9. The Committee will open a bank account.
10. The books of the LEAGUE must be audited annually. Properly audited financial statements must be presented at the annual meeting of members.
11. A special meeting of members must be convened if with good cause, thirty eligible members of the LEAGUE requested the Committee to convene a special meeting of members. Any members who is not satisfied with the Committee’s handling of affairs, can lodge his grievance in writing with the Committee. In the event of irreconcilability, the members may then follow the procedure prescribed above.
12. The Committee will organise regular lineage gatherings (at least once every five years) and will act in this respect either on the decision of a meeting of members or according to own judgement.
13. The Committee will meet at least once per annum.
G. AUTHORITY OF THE COMMITTEE
1. To accept, acquire, buy sell, exchange, transport and receive the way of donations or otherwise movable and immovable goods and to invest the funds of the LEAGUE.
2. To borrow money for the benefit of the LEAGUE against the security of immovable property and to register bonds against such.
3. Generally, after due consideration, to give effect to the objectives as contained in Clause B.3 above.
4. To institute legal proceedings beneficial to the LEAGUE.
5.
5.1 To consider applications for the fouding of branches of the LEAGUE and to make decisions related thereto.
5.2 After careful deliberation to lay down stipulations upon applications requesting permission to establish branches of the LEAGUE inter alia the production of a draft constitution of the branch for approval or otherwise.
H. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION
1. The LEAGUE may only be dissolved on a two-thirds majority decision of the quorum taken at a meeting of members specifically convened for such purpose.
2. Upon dissolution, the assets of the LEAGUE will be liquidated by a liquidator appointed by the quorum. The liquidator will administer such monies as he is directed to by the meeting of members at which the LEAGUE was dissolved.
J. LEAGUE COAT OF ARMS
1. The symbolism of the LEAGUE Coat of Arms registered in terms of Clause C.1, must be set forth in an official document of the LEAGUE.
Symbolism of the League Coat of Arms:
The Coat of Arms of the Peter Henrich Henning Family League was officially registered in Government Notice no 575 in Government Gazette 9620 of 15 March 1985 in accordance with the Herarldry Act (Act 18 of 1962) and is described as follows: Arms — Per pale Gules and Azure, at fess point a wagon wheel surmounted by a cross of sword-blades Argent, in dexter chief an Afrikander bull passant, in dexter base a castle and sinister, surmounting the arm of the cross, a lion rampant, Or; a chief Argent.
Symbolism
The symbolism of this Armorial Bearing is described as follows:
The Castle. The castle gate symbolises the origin of Peter Henrich Henning and is the gate depicted on the city of Lippstadt’s coat of arms, unchanged to this day.
Ox Wagon Wheel. This symbolises that the three generations of Hennings who during the last quarter of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century, trekked into the unspoiled, unknown interior of South Africa there to endeavour to establish a homeland for themselves.
The Afrikaner Bull. The bull symbolises the fact that the Hennings in South Africa were livestock farmers and that their love for the unspoiled virgin bushveld, the soil and their country are also symbolised by this authoritive bull.
The Rampant Lion. The rampant lion symbolises the courage, daring and the guts of the Hennings, who were a pioneering people and who paid dearly for their new homeland, with enormous cost to themselves in their lives, blood, sweat and tears. They tamed this beautiful country of which we their descendants, are enormously and justifiably proud and for which their descendants have an undying devotion.The Four Swords. The four swords symbolise the sacrifices made by the pioneers during the various wars they had to endure to achieve their independence and freedom. The significance of the cross formed by the swords emphasises their firm belief in Christianity.
The Horizontal White Bar. This bar situated across the top of the shield symbolises that the Armorial Bearing is a Family Foundation Armorial Bearing
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1 Amended at the annual general meeting held on 3 August 1985
2 Amended at the annual general meeting held on 18 October 1986
3 Amended at the annual general meeting held on 3 August 1985
4 Amended at the annual general meeting held on 27 October 1990
5 Amended at the annual general meeting held on 27 October 1990
6 Amended at the annual general meeting held on 27 October 1990
Last Updated Wednesday, August 20 2008 @ 03:41 PM
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