RGSC Charitable Incorporated Organisation update – July 2023

Since we passed the resolution in February at the AGM for RGSC to become a CIO, we’ve made great progress. Our CIO application was accepted by the Charity Commission and the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall came into existence as a CIO on 2nd May 2023 with a new charity number, 1202892.

A new bank account for the RGSC CIO has been opened with the Co-op Bank and we have transferred our balance from the old HSBC account to this new account. The Co-op account provides internet banking and is free which is a big advantage over HSBC where we don’t have internet banking and HSBC also charge us just for holding the account. Although Co-op Bank no longer has any branches open in Cornwall, they have an arrangement with Post Office Counters so that customer transactions can be made in any convenient post office.

Now that the bank balance has been transferred, we will send the Charity Commission the Vesting Deed. This is the legal document that transfers all the assets from the ‘old’ unincorporated RGSC into the new RGSC CIO. Once this has been accepted by the Charity Commission, the two ‘versions’ of RGSC are then officially merged and the ‘old’ charity will cease to exist. The new charity number and CIO constitution will then appear on our website.

HSBC will arrange for standing orders to be transferred to the new Co-op account, so don’t be alarmed if you see this change in your banking information. Please remember to use the new bank details – below for all future payments.

New bank details for all future payments:

Account name: Royal Geological Society of Cornwall

Bank: Co-operative Bank

Sort Code: 08-92-99

Account number: 67294781

The final step is to appoint the current members of the Council as CIO trustees. At the moment the CIO has five trustees; Frances Wall (current RGSC President) and Hilary Mitchell (current Council member) plus three independent trustees (Gareth Parry, Stephanie Clemens, Kathryn Moore) who were appointed to make sure the transfer was done fairly. The current CIO trustees have the power to appoint new trustees once the ‘old’ RGSC has been merged with the CIO and no longer exists as a separate charity. The current Council members who will join the CIO are Loveday Jenkin (Vice President), Linda Beskeen (Secretary), Nick Farrell (Treasurer), Beatrice Kerno (Membership Secretary), Caradoc Peters (Council Member).

On behalf of all of us, I would like to thank Hilary Mitchell for all her sterling work and attention to detail to steward through an important change to the governance of the Society that will stand us in good stead for the future. Counterculture solicitors have been guiding us safely through the process.

Frances Wall, President RGSC