Who We Are And How The Association Is Run
The Beckenham Conservative
Association (BCA) is open to anybody who supports the Conservative cause. The
Association is one of 600 plus Conservative Associations which are part of the
National Conservative Party.
BCA works within the constitution
of the Conservative Party but as with all local associations it is run and paid
for by local people.
The Association is run by an
Executive which is comprised of representatives from the six Bromley Borough
Council wards which make up the constituency. These include all the
Conservative councillors who represent Beckenham wards together with other
representatives nominated by the local ward Conservative branches.
The Chairman, Deputy Chairmen,
Treasurer and up to three other officers of the Association are elected at the
Annual General Meeting which is held in the spring of each year. All paid up
members are entitled to attend and vote. The officers are responsible for the
day to day running of the Association and report directly to the Executive,
which meets quarterly. The Executive, with the advice from the officers,
decides the Association’s policy. The Association has a number of honorary
officers who are elected at the AGM on the nomination of the Executive. The
posts are Patron, President and Vice Presidents.
The Association exists to promote
the Conservative cause throughout the Beckenham constituency and to work for
the election of Conservative Party candidates at local, London, national and
European level. We receive no funding from the national party and the money we
spend is raised by members and supporters throughout Beckenham in the form of
membership subscriptions and fundraising events. We pay a quota based on
membership to the National Conservative Party to help the Party with national
campaigns and the maintenance of the national Campaigning HQ.
The money we raise locally
enables us to run the local office (including utilities, rates etc), to pay for
a part-time secretary, to fund information literature and produce election
leaflets. Our twice yearly In Touch (which has a separate edition for
each of the six wards) is distributed by our members to every one of the 45,000
houses in the constituency costs us over £3,000 per issue.
Our major fundraising event is an
annual dinner held at the HSBC Sports Club. We also hold regular
informal events including BBQs and Quiz Nights. Regular opportunities
to influence policy development are available through the Nation’s Dispatch
Box discussion groups. Members discuss a paper on a particular
subject and the conclusions are sent to the Cabinet for their consideration.
The vast majority of fundraising
events are organised at ward level by the local Conservative branches. These,
like the Association events, are both social and political, and the wards also
pay a quota to the Association each year. Details of ward events can be found
both in the forthcoming events page and on the ward page.
The following are the current
officers of the Association:
Chairman:
Cllr Peter Dean
Deputy
Chairman (Membership and Fundraising):
Hannah Gray
Deputy
Chairman (Political):
Cllr Ruth
Bennett
Treasurer:
Alan Collins
Officers:
Cllr Alexa Michael, Cllr Stephen
Wells and Tom Philpott
Patron:
Joy Harris OBE JP
President:
Margaret Howarth
Vice
Presidents:
Malcolm
Hyland, Brian Dowd,Tony Power and Cllr Nicholas Bennett.
The Association employs a secretary,
Jacqui Wellington. Jacqui can be contacted most Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays
between 10 am and 2pm.