With regard to a Company Limited by Guarantee, what is the actual legal requirement for the register of members? I know that a register must be kept at the registered office; but is a signed membership form for each member a requirement, or could the membership be confirmed in another way (e.g. recorded in the minutes of a meeting where all members were present)?

We are an Infrastructure Organisation, a Company limited by guarantee, and a registered Charity. We have a system of membership to our organisation; - It works by organisations filling out a membership form which is signed by a representative of the organisation. The board approve or reject the application at their next meeting.

The form does not include any guarantee by the applicant that they will contribute in any way to the liabilities of the company if it were to fold up. Every year we have an annual meeting and we allow representatives of those organisations those who we consider to be members to vote at this meeting.

My question is about the legal status of this "membership". Please could you explain the difference between being a "member_of_our__organisation" (for operational purposes) and being a "member_of_the_company" for legal purposes? Which type of member would have the right to vote at the AGM, and if we have got it wrong, how could we arrange things so that member organisations can vote at the AGM?