Branches
Branches provide a focal point in regional NSW for members and friends to participate in and contribute to the Society’s work and event program.
Current branches
The Society currently has active branches in the:
The role of branches
The Society has a remit for the whole of the state of New South Wales. In order to achieve this it has established Branches in several major regional centres of the state over the years. Branches of the Society provide local opportunities for residents of the region to participate in events organised by the Branch. Each is run and managed by a local Committee of Fellows and Members of the Society.
Branches can be established in any region where there are sufficient numbers of Members or Fellows willing to host regular meetings. Their establishment is agreed upon by Council after consideration of a business case. Membership of a Branch does not involve any additional application fee or Membership subscription.
A long-standing, active branch at Mittagong/Bowral in the Southern Highlands was established in 1994, while new branches were established in the Hunter Region, based in Newcastle, in 2019, in Western NSW in 2021, and in New England and the North West in August 2024, reactivating the earlier New England branch, based in Armidale, that was active in the 1980s. A Central West Branch based in Orange has been active in the recent past.
Regular meetings are held in each of these locations and are well attended by members and visitors alike.
Branches may frame Rules for the conduct of their own affairs within the framework of the Rules of the Society. Any Branch Rules are subject to the approval of the Society’s Council.
Branches are managed by a Branch Committee which consists of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer and ordinary members of the Committee. One member of the Committee is selected by the Branch to be the Branch’s representative on the Society’s Council.
The Annual General Meetings of Branches are held each year in March (i.e., prior to the Society’s Annual General Meeting in early April) at which a written report of the activities and finances of the Branch is presented and at which office-bearers are elected for the following year. A copy of the written report is forwarded to the Society’s Council before 15 March each year.
