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 new 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.
There is also a group of trustees who are responsible for the Association headquarters at 31 Beckenham Road. The headquarters was purchased in 1948 when the Association was formed. The Association occupies the middle floor and the Member of Parliament rents the top floor for her constituency caseworker’s office. The ground floor is occupied by an office of Bromley MIND.
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 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 32,000 houses in the constituency costs us £2400 per issue.
Our major fundraising event is an annual dinner held at the HSBC Sports Club. In addition to the Dinner, four political suppers are organised by the Association. 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 Shadow Cabinet for their consideration. A recent meeting discussed how policing could be improved. Details of forthcoming meetings and other events can be seen by clicking the forthcoming events link.
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:
Tony Power
Deputy Chairman (Membership and Fundraising):
Councillor Peter Dean
Deputy Chairman (Political):
Councillor Alexa Michael
Treasurer: Councillor Peter Dean
Officers: Paul Lynch, Steve Sankey and Val Burgess
Patron: Joy Harris OBE JP
President: Margaret Howarth
Vice Presidents:
Mr Malcolm Hyland, Mr Philip Heslop, Mr Brian Dowd and Councillor Nicholas Bennett.
The Association employs a secretary, Jacqui Wellington. Jacqui can be contacted Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays between 9am and 2pm.