Member Key Points
Night fishing is not allowed for the first season of membership on Horton Kirby or Sutton at Hone lakes but is allowed at Brooklands Lakes. All gates to be relocked after entering or leaving our enclosed waters. You must not pass the net dip bins without first dipping all nets when entering Sutton at Hone and Horton Kirby Lakes. When fishing for carp or pike, an unhooking mat must be used and fully enclosed in a bin bag.
Work Parties
It is a club rule that all new senior members of the club attend a work party during their second season of membership. New members are notified of their work party date during the year. If a member cannot make the date that has been allocated they should notify the office and attend any of the other work parties. Work parties are only held on a Saturday and are usually at Brooklands Lakes but you will be notified if they are elsewhere. If a member cannot attend any of the work parties then a £30.00 non-attendance fee becomes due. Failure to pay the fee will result in club membership not being offered to that member for the following season. See rule 5C
Unhooking Mats
You can either purchase one of our specially made mats at a reasonable price or you have to totally enclose your own unhooking mat in a plastic sack. At least one new bag to be used each time you fish but I reiterate that your own mat must be fully enclosed in the sack.
3rd Rod Supplement
Under Byelaw B Rule 12 a third rod can be used on our waters from the 1st November. If you wish to use a third rod, this will incur a supplementary payment of £30. This supplement must be paid when renewing your membership.
Fishing Barrows
All barrows left in the compound at Sutton must have the member’s name and membership number on them. Any barrows found without names and numbers or found in areas away from the official compound will, in most cases, be disposed of.
Bait Boats
Members are reminded that these boats are not allowed on our waters at Sutton at Hone and Horton Kirby but they are allowed at Brooklands with the permission of the bailiff.
Society Rules
1. Name
The Society shall be known as “DARTFORD AND DISTRICT ANGLING AND PRESERVATION SOCIETY” with headquarters at “Lake House”, Walnut Tree Avenue, Wilmington, Dartford, or other suitable quarters in the town of Dartford approved by the members.
2. Objects
(a) The objects of the Society shall be the preservation of fish and angling amenities in society waters and other waters in the district; to co-operate with local authorities and riparian owners against river pollution; the encouragement of fair and sportsmanlike angling; and the observance of the statutory close season.
(b) All expenditure relevant to the upkeep of DDAPS venues, properties or in the addition of assets, must be made in writing or are applied for in an agreed format and must have the Honorary Treasurer’s endorsement. The Honorary Treasurer may at his discretion delay any application.
3. Trustees
(a) There shall not be less than two nor more than eight Trustees of the Society save that a corporate body may be the sole Trustee. The trustees shall be T.Carman, D. Bennett, A. Williams, D. Payne, B.W. Simmons. Subsequent appointment of Trustees shall be by the committee.
(b) Trustees shall hold office until death or resignation or until removed from Office by resolution of the Committee.
© All property of the Society (except cash, which shall be under the control of the Honorary Treasurer including leases and fishing leases) shall be vested in the Trustees to be dealt with by them as the Committee shall from time to time, by resolution, direct
(d) The Trustees shall be indemnified out of the Assets of the Society against any risk or expense incurred by them in the pursuance of their office.
4. Membership
(a) The Society shall consist of the following classes of members, viz;-
(i) Ordinary Member – Gentleman
(ii) Ordinary Member – Lady
(iii) Ordinary Member – Junior
(iv) Ordinary Member – Old Age Pensioner
(v) Life Member
(vi) Honorary Member
(vii) Rivers Only Member
(viii) Pre-junior
(ix) Companion
(b) The total combined members of classes (i), (ii) and (iii) shall not exceed 2,200.00.
© A junior member is a young person who has not reached his or her 16th birthday on or before 1st June in the current year. Junior Membership will pertain until renewal of Membership for the following season becomes due.
(d) Concessionary rate for Senior Citizens shall be available to members reaching the state retirement age provided that they have been a full member for at least 5 years.
(e) Companion Membership (daylight hours only) open to any member over the age of 18 on a one per member basis. An annual Sub, but no joining fee, shall be payable. They must be accompanied at all times and may not fish unless in the possession of a Guest Ticket or Day Ticket as applicable. Membership at Committee discretion and will carry no voting rights.
(f) Pre-Junior Membership (daylight hours only) open to direct relatives who have not achieved their 12th birthday on or before 1st June in the current year. An annual Sub, but no joining fee, shall be payable. They must be accompanied at all times by the Parent or Guardian and will have no voting rights. Upon reaching the age of 12 they may apply for Junior Membership (existing junior members who have paid a joining fee will not be required to pay another).
5. Ordinary Membership
(a) Every candidate for Ordinary Membership shall be proposed and seconded by two members of the Society who as well as the candidate, shall sign the application form. Admission to Ordinary Membership shall be by election of the Committee who may refuse an application without stating a reason. The Committee shall give preferential consideration to local residents and to the immediate family of members.
(b) Every candidate elected to Ordinary Membership shall be notified of his election by the Secretary and upon paying the entrance fee and the first annual subscription (which shall be paid within two weeks of the said notification or the election shall become void) he shall be a member of the Society and shall be deemed to have agreed to be bound by the Rules and Byelaws of the society.
© All new Senior Male Members are expected to attend a mandatory work party on one of the Society’s waters when called upon. Failure to attend will carry a fine of £20.00. Non payment of this fine will result in expulsion from the Society. This rule will not apply to Registered Disabled or medically unfit persons who produce the relevant documentation.
(d) Twelve guest tickets per day shall be available from Monday to Friday inclusive (excluding Bank Holidays) from 15th June each season for members guests to fish the Society’s private waters. Guests must be accompanied at all times and are permitted to fish from dawn until dusk. Adult £10.00, Junior £4.00. Tickets may not be purchased by Junior Members. Tickets are available from the Society Office.
(e) The Committee may at its discretion allow a member who becomes disabled, membership at the concessionary rate. They may also issue a non-fishing pass to a person accompanying a disabled member if that member must be accompanied.
6. Honorary and Life Membership
Life Members and Honorary Members for such period as the meeting may determine may be elected at any General meeting of the Society by a majority of the members present and voting.
7. Subscriptions
(a) The annual subscription forms will be despatched by the Society Manger by the second week in February. It is then the responsibility of each member who has not received their renewal forms by 28th February to notify the office without delay in order that a duplicate set of forms may be sent.
(b) The annual subscription shall become payable on or before 1st May in each year.
© Any member whose subscription is not received by 1st May in any year will be deemed to have resigned their membership
(d) Membership renewals will only be accepted by cheque or postal order. CASH WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
(e) Failure to send a stamped addressed envelope with membership renewals will result in a £5.00 levy being imposed to cover administration costs.
Please note:
Members wishing to fish Brooklands Lake from 1st April must have renewed their membership before 1st April or be subject to a day ticket charge. Should it be decided not to have a close season on any of our other lakes in any year, members should have renewed their membership before 1st April in order to fish from this date.
8. Expulsion or Suspension
(a) The committee shall have the power to expel from the Society, or to suspend from membership for such period as shall seem proper to them, any member whose conduct may seem to them to be injurious to the interests of the Society or its objects, or to is members or angling, or for the non-observance of these Rules or of Byelaws made under these Rules. Before expulsion or suspension of a member, the Committee shall enquire into his conduct and he shall be given a reasonable opportunity to defend or justify himself, either in writing or by appearing before the Committee as he shall elect, and the Committee’s power to expel or suspend shall be on a majority of those present at the enquiry.
(b) An expelled member shall forfeit all rights and privileges of membership and a suspended member shall forfeit all rights and privileges of membership during his period of suspension, but both expelled and suspended members shall remain liable for any debts or dues to the Society which become payable or were incurred before the day of suspension or expulsion.
9. Management
The management of the Society shall be vested in the Committee (except as otherwise provided for in these rules).
10. Officers
A President, Vice Presidents, Chairman, Vice Chairman, Honorary Treasurer and Honorary Secretary shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting after being proposed, seconded and indicating their consent and shall be ex-officio members of the Committee. No member shall be eligible for election as an Officer until he has served at least three consecutive years as a member of the Committee immediately prior to his election as an Officer. A member who has previously served three continuous years on the committee need only serve a further two years before becoming eligible for election as an Officer. Nominations of candidates for election as Officers shall be submitted to the Hon. Sec. at the Society Office no later than 1st August in each year. The list of candidates will be circulated to all members with the notice of the Annual General Meeting.
11. Committee
(a) The Committee shall consist of the Officers and not more than eighteen members of the society elected at an Annual General Meeting. The Committee may at their discretion, invite any persons whether members or not, to attend any Committee meeting.
(b) At the Annual General Meeting in each year, six members of the Society shall be elected to the Committee to serve for a period of three years. Retiring members of the Committee shall be legible for re-election. Nomination of candidates for election to the Committee shall be submitted to the Hon. Sec. at the Society Office not later than 1st August in each year. Each candidate shall be proposed and seconded by a member of the Society and shall indicate their willingness to serve if elected. The list of candidates shall be circulated to all members with the notice of the Annual General Meeting. Every member present at the Meeting shall be entitled to vote for as many candidates as there are vacancies to be filled and in the case of two or more candidates receiving an equal number of votes, the Chairman of the Meeting shall have a second or casting vote.
© Any elected member of the Committee who fails to attend three consecutive monthly meetings of the Committee shall cesae to be a member of the Committee unless he has notified the Hon. Sec. of the reasons for his absences and the explanations are acceptable to the Committee.
(d) The Committee shall have power to fill any casual vacancy on the Committee and any member so appointed shall retire at the next Annual General Meeting but shall be eligible for re-election. Members so elected are afforded equal voting rights to elected Committee members.
(e) The Committees shall meet not less frequently than once in each month to examine the accounts and to arrange the affairs for the society and minutes shall be taken of every meeting. At any meeing of the Committee five members shall form a quorum.
(f) The Committee shall authorise no payment in excess of £500 for any purpose other than payment for rents, for services rendered, or goods supplied in the normal course of Society business without the consent of the members at a General Meeting.
(g) The Officers may, at their discretion conduct negotiations or confidential business on behalf of the Society, but no final decision may be taken without the consent and approval of the Committee.
12. Making and Amendment of Rules and Byelaws
12A Alterations to Rules
These rules may be revoked, added to or altered by a majority comprising two thirds or more of the members present and entitled to vote at any General Meeting of the Society of which notice has been duly given under Rules 13, 14 and 15 specifying the intention to propose the revocation, addition to or alteration, together with full particulars of the same.
12B
(a) The Byelaws set out in the appendix to these Rules and any Byelaws made under paragraph (b) of this Rule shall be binding upon the members until repealed by the Committee or by a resolution of a General Meeting subject to any amendment made under paragraph (b) of this Rule.
(b) The Committee shall from time to time make, amend or repeal such Byelaws as they deem expedient (provided that they shall not be inconsistent with these Rules) to take effect unless set aside at a General Meeting.
13. Annual General Meeting
The AGM of the Society shall be held in the month of October in each year to receive and consider the audited accounts and balance sheet prepared by the Hon. Treasurer; to consider a report of the past year’s work of the Committee; to appoint the Officer and Auditors to fill vacancies on the Committee and to decide on any resolutions submitted by the Committee, or under Rule 16.
14. Special General Meeting
A Special General Meeting may be held at any time that the Committee shall determine, and the Committee shall call a Special General Meeting upon the requisition in writing of any 25 members for the purpose stated in the requisition, and upon receipt of such requisition, unless they consider it to be frivolous, the Committee shall call the Meeting within 40 days of the receipt by the Hon. Sec. of the requisition.
15. Notices of General Meetings and Resolutions
(a) Notice of the date, time and place of every General Meeting shall be sent to every member at his last known address at least 14 days before the date of the meeting, and such notice shall include a copy of the resolutions to be moved at the meeting.
(b) Notice of any resolution to be moved at the AGM shall be submitted in writing to the Hon. Sec. not later than 1st August in any year and shall be signed by the proposer and seconder. Notice of any resolution to be moved at a Special General Meeting shall be included in the requisition for the meeting submitted under Rule 14 and shall be signed by the proposer and seconder.
© Accidental omission to give notice to or the non-receipt by any member under paragraph (a) of the Rule shall not invalidate any of the proceedings of the meeting.
16. Proceedings at General Meetings
(a) Twelve members shall form a quorum at any General Meeting.
(b) At every General Meeting the Chairman or in his absence the Vice Chairman, or in the absence of both, another Officer present will take the Chair. In the absence of all Society Officers a Committee member elected by the members present shall take the Chair. The Chairman and all members present shall be entitled to vote and in the event of an equality of votes the Chairman shall have a second or casting vote.
© Except as otherwise provided in the Rules, a majority of the members present and voting, shall carry any resolution or motion.
17. Continuation
The Society shall not be dissolved so long as 12 members are willing to continue it.
18. Interpretation
(a) The Committee shall be the sole authority for the interpretation of the Society Rules and Byelaws and the decision of the Committee upon any question of interpretation or on any other matter affecting the Society not provided by these Rules and Byelaws shall be final and binding upon the members.
(b) In the Society Rules and Byelaws, where the context permits, word importing the masculine shall include the feminine and words importing the singular shall include the plural and vice versa.
19. Borrowing Powers
(a) If at any time the Society in General Meeting passes a resolution authorising the Committee to borrow money the Committee may borrow for the purposes of the Society the amount of money, either at one time or from time to time, and at a rate of interest in the form and manner and upon the security specified in the resolution.
(b) The Trustees must at the discretion of the Committee make any dispositions of the Society’s property or any part of it and enter into any agreements in relation to the Society’s property as the Committee thinks proper for giving security for any loans and interest.
© Every Member of the Society, whether voting on the resolution or not, and anyone becoming a Member of the Society after the passing of the resolution is deemed to have assented to the resolution as if they had voted in favour of it.
Appendix
Byelaws made under Rule 12
A. The Society shall observe the Close Season from 1st April – 31st May (both dates inclusive) on our waters at Sutton at Hone, Horton Kirby, River Medway and River Beult and in all cases where a statutory Close Seasons applies, then it shall be observed unless stated by the Committee.
B. Members shall at all times observe the practice of fair and sportsmanlike angling. Netting, hand lines, set lines, snaring, spearing, gaffing, intentional foul hooking, gorge tackle, lead fly leaders or purpose made lead leaders are prohibited. Only two rods may be used, spaced not more than six feet apart, before 1st November when the use of three rods is permitted to the end of the seasons provided that they do not intrude upon another angler whose decision is final. Three rods can be used throughout the season on Brooklands Lake but not on Baldwins Lake where the two rod rule applies. The use of more than one hook on each rod is prohibited, except for livebaiting where a single treble may be used and a snap tackle or lure which ifor this purpose be considered a single hook. The addition or alteration to any hook, which is considered detrimental to fish life will be considered such a breach of this rule. The use of keepnets in Society Lakes in all but bona fide matches is prohibited. After 1st October, the retention of up to six livebaits is permitted in a large bucket of no less than three gallons, fitted with an aeration pump. No fish over 6” (150mm) in length shall be used as live bait. Keepnets when used shall not be less than 10 feet in length with rings of not less than eighteen inches in diameter. All nets used on Society waters must be of Knotless Construction. Landing nets are to be assembled at all times whilst fishing and are to be within landing net distance of the angler and water. No rod may be left unattended with the terminal tackle in the water. Members fishing night matches on Society waters must be in possession of two keep nets to avoid possible fish stress. The use of all baits dyed with the colouring agents Chrysoidine, Auromine and Rhodamine are banned on all Society waters. When carp or pike fishing, anglers must have a landing net minimum size 26” arms.
C. Any Member found to be removing or introducing fish, from or into Society waters, or moving fish from one lake to another (except for the purpose of live baiting within that complex, or with written Committee and Environment Agency Authority) shall be expelled from the Society.
D. New members in their first year of membership are not allowed to night fish or to be on the waters after dark at our Sutton at Hone and Horton Kirby complexes. Pre-Junior and Junior Members, accompanied or not, are not allowed on the waters after dark in any capacity. After the first season of membership, Adult members are allowed to night fish on all Society waters. At Brooklands, night fishing is banned in the Homebase Bay from the S Anson to a point 40 metres before the start of the Competition Bank.
E Members shall at all times use the proper routes of access to Society water and shall not trespass on adjoining land or damage fences, crops or any other property. No transport beyond the car parks provided is permitted. All gates must be kept closed. The gates at Sutton and Horton Kirby shall be kept locked by means of padlocks and keys, and keys provided to members at cost to the members. Members are warned not to cause annoyance or obstruction in the vicinity of any waters which may lead to complaint from the Police or local resident.
F. The leaving of litter, particularly of monofil line and polythene scrap, is strictly forbidden. Members are required to cooperate by keeping their swim clear of litter at all times.
G. The following activities are prohibited on, or around, Society waters:
Bank fires, camping, peanuts, carrying or use of weapons, presence of dogs, boating, cycling on banks or footpaths, use of portable radios or televisions unless used with headphones or an earpiece, use of bright torches and camping lanterns (i.e. Tilley, Gaz and Hurricane Lamps). A small hand torch is permitted providing annoyance is not caused to other anglers. The removal, cutting or pollarding of trees, shrubs and water plants is strictly prohibited by members. Use of braided lines except for spod rods, marker rods and pike fishing.
H. Access to all Society waters, other than Brooklands, is strictly reserved to members ONLY and any member accompanied on Society waters by a non-member shall be deemed to be in breach of this Byelaw.
I. Members shall at all times have their current membership card and photo card on their person while on Society waters, and shall show the same to the Bailiff or any other member on request. When fishing Society full members only waters it is the responsibility of every senior member to ascertain that the anglers on either side of him are in fact bona fide members of the society by producing his membership card and requesting to see those of his immediate neighbours.
J. Day Membership shall be available at Brooklands subject to the conditions printed on the receipt, on payment of the appropriate fee to the Society Bailiff.
K. A Member may not loan or transfer his card to any person. Loss of membership card must be reported immediately to the Society Office.
L. Members must not leave their swim for more than 45 minutes without first removing their tackle from that swim.
M. Unhooking mats are compulsory when fishing for carp or pike and must be fully enclosed in a clean plastic sack unless an approved DDAP mat is being used.
N. Purpose made bivvies may be used on Club waters provided that they are green and do not obstruct the pathways or other anglers.
P. On Rover style matches, competitors must be occupying their chosen swim by the start time on the fixture list, or the steward’s signal. Upon commencement of the match, competitors may not move and fish in or from another swim for the duration of the competition unless retiring from the match.
Q. That Dartford, Sutton at Hone and Horton Kirby lakes be closed for one day per year for th Dartford Open Match.
R. On entering our Sutton at Hone and Horton Kirby complexes, members must not pass the net dips without dipping all their nets. Failure to observe this rule will result in expulsion from the Society.
S. Brookalnds Lakes: Leger style fishing is strictly forbidden in the A2 lake except for the eastern shore adjacent to the public footpath whilst any boating activities are being carried out from the TS Anson.
T. Any member deemed to be noticeably under the influence of drink and/or any other substances whilst on Society waters will be banned.
U. The use of all permanently fixed terminal tackle is prohibited on Society waters.
V. All members will be issued with a parking permit, which is to be placed in the window screen of the member’s car while parked on Society waters. Each permit will have the member’s membership number stamped on it.
