National Gerbil Society Rules

These are the official rules of the National Gerbil Society.
CONTENTS

  1. Title
  2. Objectives
  3. Membership
  4. Subscriptions
  5. Suspension and Expulsion Of Members
  6. Officials And Committee
  7. Meetings Of The Committee
  8. General Meetings Of Members
  9. Election Of Officials
  10. Accounts
  11. Inspection Of Documents
  12. Alteration Of Rules and Standards
  13. Judges
  14. Trophies
  15. Cup Shows
  16. Prefixes And Affixes
  17. Applying For A New Standard
  18. Patronage
  19. Show Regulations
  20. Objections

1. TITLE

The Society shall be known as “The National Gerbil Society”.

2. OBJECTIVES

(a)to promote the keeping breeding and exhibiting of Mongolian Gerbils and other species of gerbils and jirds.

(b)to publish the definition of the true type as the only recognised and unvarying standard by which these animals shall be judged and to adopt standards relating to several varieties.

(c)to support shows and take all necessary steps to advance and promote the interest of these animals and their exhibition.

(d)to urge the adoption of the standards of excellence upon breeders, judges and show committees as the only criterion of merit in breeding and awarding prizes.

(e)to foster and maintain a high standard of excellence in judging and show management.

(f)to promote education concerning the proper care of gerbils and knowledge of gerbils generally.

3. MEMBERSHIP

(a)there shall be six grades of membership namely: Adult, Juvenile, Partnerships, Senior Citizens/F.T. Students, Overseas and Life (see rule h).

(b)membership shall be open to all persons in sympathy with the objects of the Society.

(c)juvenile members shall be at least seven years old and not more than sixteen years old. Juvenile members are not allowed to vote at meeting or hold any official position.

(d)application for membership, accompanied by remittance of a full years subscription shall be submitted to the Hon. Secretary. The Hon. Secretary has the right to refuse membership to any person who is considered undesirable.

(e)payment of the first membership shall be deemed to mean that the member agrees to and consents to be bound by the rules.

(f)partnerships will receive one journal only and are only allowed one vote at meetings.

(g)members of the Society shall hold themselves responsible to honourably discharge all liabilities of the Society, providing that they have been properly incurred and sanctioned by the committee.

(h)life membership shall be awarded for services rendered to the Society providing that they have at least ten years continuous membership and is approved at the AGM. Life members can still be removed from the Society in any event of misconduct.

(i)There shall be the following partnerships: Adult consisting of two adults, Family consisting of up to two adults and two children and Juvenile consisting of two members aged under 17.

4. SUBSCRIPTIONS

The annual subscription shall be payable at the following rates:

(All prices in GB Pounds)

Adult 10.00
Adult Partnerships: 12.00
Family Partnerships: 13.00
Juvenile: 8.00
Juvenile Partnerships: 9.00
Overseas Member: 16.00
Senior Citizens/F/T Student 8.00
Elected Life Member: 8.00

A new member shall pay a full years membership at the time of joining. The annual membership fee is payable on the anniversary of joining. A member whose subscription is in arrears may not take part in any procedures of the Society. A member who has not paid for their membership with 3 months of the payment falling due shall be deemed to have resigned.

5. SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION OF MEMBERS

(a)in any case in which the conduct of a member shall in the opinion of the committee, be deemed to be injurious to the interests of the Society, or where a breach of rules occurred, the committee may suspend the member concerned.

(b)at the hearing of the complaint, the member concerned shall have the opportunity of answering as to his or her conduct either personally or by a representative.

(c)a member shall have the right to appeal against suspension or expulsion to a General Meeting, whose decision shall be final. Notice of the appeal shall be given to the Hon. Secretary within 14 days of the decision of the committee.

(d)a suspended member shall be excluded from participating in any of the rights, privileges and benefits of membership.

(e)if the person is re-accepted as a member, the period of membership shall count as from the date of re-acceptance only.

6. OFFICIALS AND COMMITTEE

(a)the Officers of the Society shall consist of President, Chairman, Hon. Secretary/Treasurer, Cup Secretary, Promotions Officer, Journal Editor and 6 committee members. All Officers shall be elected annually except President which is Honorarium position elected on proposal for a five year term.

(b)the affairs of the Society shall be conducted by the committee as enumerated in rule a.

(c)arising out of the affairs, the committee shall have the power to deal with or decide any matter or arbitrate in any dispute provided for or not provided for in these rules.

(d)should any vacancy occur in the committee, the committee shall fill the vacancy until the next election.

7. MEETINGS OF THE COMMITTEE

(a)meetings of the committee shall be convened by the Hon. Secretary when necessary.

(b)the committee shall meet at least 3 times a year.

(c)four members shall form a quorum at committee meetings.

(d)at any meeting where the Chairman is not present the members present shall elect another member to Chair the meeting.

(e)the committee will only discuss items detailed in an agenda previously circulated at least 7 days before the meeting by the Hon. Secretary. The Chairman shall however have the power to accept items under any other business provided that their importance or urgency requires immediate decision by the committee.

8. GENERAL MEETINGS OF MEMBERS

(a)an Annual General Meeting of members of the Society shall wherever possible be held in conjunction with a Cup/Championship Show.

(b)eight voting members shall form a quorum at general meetings.

(c)a copy of the motion to be submitted shall be sent to the Hon. Secretary not less than 21 days before the date of the meeting. The Chairman shall however have the discretion to accept a motion, notice which has not been given, only if he considers the matter requires the Society’s immediate attention.

(d)a member who is unable to attend may have his or her views read out by the Chairman. A member may vote for the proposals by post, send to the Chairman prior to the meeting.

(e)a report of the proceedings of all general meetings will be published in the journal.

(f)AGMs may also be called by twenty voting members of the Society who shall sign a petition stating the object of such a meeting, the date and place.

9. ELECTION OF OFFICIALS

(a)the annual election of the officials shall take place at the AGM but the newly elected officials will not take over until the 1st February.

(b)for any members name appearing in the elections there must be an accompanying letter stating name of nominee, nominees signature of acceptance and signatures of proposer to seconder.

(c)members must at the time of the annual elections not less than one full years membership before they may be nominated for election as committee members.

10. ACCOUNTS

The Hon. Treasurer shall be responsible for the funds of the Society and shall keep a bank account of all money received and paid on behalf of the Society and shall present an audited statement of income and expenditure of the AGM.

11. INSPECTION OF DOCUMENTS

The minutes, register of members, accounts and all documents relevant there to shall be open to inspection by members at all reasonable times.

12. ALTERATION OF RULES AND STANDARDS

(a)subject to the provisions of the next succeeding paragraphs the committee shall have the power to make new rules or standards or alter or reside or add to or vary any existing rule or standard at any time if they deem it expedient in the interests of the Society to do so. All such rules or standards shall be submitted to members at the AGM for conformation.

(b)before any rule is standard or variation or existing rule or standard is made by the committee, notice in writing of the proposed change shall be given to the Hon. Secretary not less than 14 days before the meeting.

(c)before any proposed change of any rule or standard is made, a majority of members voting shall be in favour.

13. JUDGES

(a)a member must have one full years membership before being nominated as a probationary judge.

(b)a member being considered as a probationary judge must attend a reasonable number of shows.

(c)whilst serving their probationary period they must sit in with three different NMGS panel judges at four shows.

(d)having completed points a, b, c above, they must judge themselves two shows, one of which must be outside their own areas, but cannot judge cup or championship shows.

(e)when all the above points have been carried out the probationary judge can be put forward as a full judge at the next AGM.

(f)the committee may start probationary judges at any time, providing the member nominated has a letter signed by a proposer and seconder and their signature of acceptance.

(g)the Hon Secretary shall keep a record of all probationary judges.

(h)the judging panel consisting of not more than 20 judges shall be elected annually.

14. [Deleted]

15. TROPHIES

(a)members who desire to have a Cup(s) in their possession must sign the Cup Secretary’s form and in signing are bound by this rule. All trophies shall be returned to the cup secretary upon written request or to the show the following year at which it is offered for competition. Any member failing to observe this rule shall be suspended until such time as the trophies are returned.

(b)all trophies awarded by the Society that are competed for annually or otherwise at the committees discretion, shall remain the property of the Society.

(c)show trophies and special awards will only be awarded to fully paid up members unless otherwise stated n the show schedule.

16. CUP SHOWS

The venue should be of easy access. The committee must approve the classification for cup shows. Dates and schedules for cup shows should be submitted for approval by the committee.

17. PREFIXES AND AFFIXES

For the purpose of naming studs, any member may register a prefix or affix upon application being made to the Hon. Secretary together with a fee of 5 pounds. This will last the duration of the membership. A list of these will be kept by the Secretary and any duplication of same will be disallowed.

18. APPLYING FOR A NEW STANDARD

A person who wishes to claim a new variety and thus apply for a standard can only do so if the following rules have been observed:

(a)four of the colour in question must have been shown at three different NGS shows in Unstandardised classes.

(b)the colour in question breeds true (except in cases of incomplete dominance eg Argente Cream and Dove or where the homozygote is lethal eg Spot/Broken). for this a breeding pair must be given to the committee to test breed and will be returned to the breeder after testing is over.

(c)the member must draw up a standard for the animal and forward this to the Hon. Secretary. The standard will be then looked at by the committee and if agreed upon will be awarded a Provisional Standard. At the end of two years it will be reviewed and if proved will be awarded a Full Standard providing; the new colour has complied with the provisional standard and shown by at least 3 different members. If the new colour has not been provided it can remain a provisional standard or scrapped.

19. PATRONAGE

The cup secretary shall have the power to accord Society Patronage or support to any show provided:

(a)a suitable schedule is provided. Clubs seeking NGS support must submit a copy of the proposed schedule to the cup secretary for approval by the committee.

(b)proper rules are laid down for the protection of the exhibitors and the welfare of the exhibits.

(c)except in special circumstances left to the discretion of the Hon Secretary/Chairman a NGS judge shall officiate (proposed judge must be a member of NGS for at least a year.

(d)show secretaries of all shows applying for NGS support shall submit a full report of all prize and cup winners to the cup secretary within 4 weeks.

(e)anyone applying for NGS Show Patronage must abide by NGS show regulations and breed standards.

20. SHOW REGULATIONS

(a)a judge appointed for any show shall not exhibit in the gerbil section of that particular show.

(b)the eligibility of a gerbil for under 13 weeks class shall be left solely in the hands of the officiating judge.

(c)in order to determine B.I.S the judge shall bring out the best gerbil from each breed class. From these B.I.S will be chosen before any duplicate classes are judged.

(d)if a section has two judges then they shall jointly agree which gerbil shall go forward as section winner for B.I.S. Only one gerbil can be put up from each section. In the event of combined judges not agreeing on any point, a neutral judge shall be brought in to split the vote.

(e)the show secretary shall not be permitted to judge at any show at which he/she is administrating.

(f)a person residing at the same address as an NGS judge may not exhibit gerbils at a show where that judge is presiding. Nor can one half of a partnership exhibit at a show where the other half of the partnership is judging.

(g)the preparation of gerbils for showing shall be limited to washing or dust bathing. No artificial aids other than talc or chinchilla dust for sand bathing are allowed. Grooming aids must be unperfumed. No colouring maybe used.

(h)grooming should not be done at the show tables. Once exhibits have been penned and judging has commenced no further grooming may take place.

(i)no one should remove a gerbil from a showcage, either before during or after judging without the owners permission from the show secretary.

(j)no exhibitor shall express any views on any exhibit within earshot of the judge unless specifically invited by the judge to do so.

(k)no pregnant or nursing females, or gerbils aged under 8 weeks shall be shown. Under no circumstances should a gerbil aged less than 5 weeks be on view, or be sold at any NGS event, whether accompanied by parents or otherwise.

(l)all exhibits must be entered in the breed classes before they may be duplicated excepting Provisional Standard varieties which cannot be duplicated. (m)at shows held under NGS Patronage and all NGS shows gerbils must be exhibited in the standard “Touchwood” Showcage or Hagen Small Pal Pens Code H352.

(n)as a guard against loss or misdirection, the name of the owner should be marked on the underside of the Touchwood showcage.

(o)showcages must contain clean bedding  with either hay or white shredded tissue for nesting, neither should be excessive. A small amount of food should be provided for the gerbils.

(p)except for unstandardised and other species only one gerbil may be shown in one show cage at Championship Shows. At other shows two gerbils can be shown in one pen as long a they are different sexes or different colours. Failure to follow this rule will result in the animals being disqualified.

(q)only Mongolian Gerbils are eligable for BIS. Other species will have their own duplicate classes at the discretion of the show secretary.

(r)at each show the Show Secretary will be responsible for nominating a Sales Manager. All livestock sold at the show, whether to members or to the public, must be sold through the Sales Manager. The Sales Manager will be responsible for keeping a record of all transactions.

(s)the selling of gerbils at shows and displays is always subordinate to the exhibition and judging of the gerbils, providing information, and the publicising of The Society.

21. OBJECTIONS

An investigation committee consisting of a member of the committee and appointed by that body shall hear and determine all objections. The member against who the complaint is made shall pay all costs incurred by the investigation, if the objection is upheld by the investigation committee only. If however the objection fails the member lodging the objection shall pay all costs connected therewith. No objection covering the eligibility of a gerbil in the under 13 weeks classes may be considered.