Fissionline 66

FISSIONLINE

ISSUE 66

FEB 2023

"I was nuked for being a woman" 'I CAN NEVER WORK AGAIN,' SAYS BNTVA CHIEF

BNTVA rocked by claims of finan harrassment. Founder and Pr

"Stricken nuclear veterans mu

By Alan Rimmer It was a grotesque image: A dopeylooking cartoon gnome, tongue lolling lasciviously, sitting atop a birthday cake his huge, flaccid manhood draped across the layers.

It was described as “Just a laugh,” by the sender.

The recipient, a middle-aged woman and CEO of the British Nuclear Tests Veterans’ Association, didn’t find it particularly amusing.

Ceri Marsh, a mother of two boys, was used to tiresome sexual innuendo.

Like the time an unflattering picture was shared of her at a conference: the photo was taken from the back focused in on her bottom.

Ms Marsh didn’t find the accompanying unflattering caption particularly amusing either.

But it was “just a laugh”, a bit of banter”.

No harm done.

Further offensive images followed, repugnant Salvador Dali-type sketches of naked men, were sent to her.

“Just for a laugh”, of course Then there were the messages, everyday sort of messages, with the difference they were invariably spiked with crude innuendo and sexual references.

Just a laugh. A bit of banter.

Things took a slightly more serious turn when at a conference a colleague suggested in crude terms that they go to bed together.

Ceri objected, but was told not to take things so seriously.

It was “just a laugh, a bit of banter.”

Ceri was being serious, however.

She was being serious that certain members were not being serious about their main task, their only task, and

Pacific in the 1950s, wanted to bring to the Board some serious people, experts in various fields, who could add real gravitas to the charity.

Ceri alleges this brought further acts of intimidation, most of it of a sexual nature, and she eventually made a

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Ceri Marsh that was to look after the interests of Britain’s nuclear veterans.

In fact some seemed to think they were in a social club.

But others were just as appalled as Mrs McDade. Some have now resigned their unpaid positions in disgust.

Things came to a head when Ceri, whose serviceman father fell ill after witnessing nuclear bomb tests in the

complaint to the Charity Commission, which oversees the governance of British charitable organisations.

In a follow up to a Serious Complaint report, she wrote: “I have informed the Commission about four uninvited pornographic sketches sent to my personal messenger on 16 July 2022, which I discovered on 15 January 2023.

Additionally, (Iwas) sent

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ncial mismanagement and sexual resident Ken McGinley blasts:

ust be rolling in their graves."

inappropriate sexual comments and lewd gifs referring to women - and me in particular - on multiple occasions between August and November 2022.

I was also sexually harassed. I wouldn't expect this harassment as CEO or in any other position, and believe that this is wholly due to my gender..."

Ceri also complained to Ed McGrath, BNTVA Chairman, who on viewing the evidence immediately dismissed an individual for sexual harassment.

Mr McGrath, 86, a nuclear veteran subsequently retired from his post, together with other board members.

Those remaining decided to bring in an outside agent to oversee the board’s response to Mrs McDade’s allegations.

The upshot was that Mrs McDade was accused of being a “whistleblower” for going to the Charity Commission.

The Board then accused Ceri of “32 misdemeanours” mainly of a financial nature, and demanded she attend a meeting to answer the charges.

Ceri who vehemently denies all the

charges, was off sick due to stress and anciety at the time, did not attend the meeting.

She was then sacked with immediate

Ken McGinley effect for “gross misconduct.”

The story was given prominent coverage in the Daily Mirror which has been championing the veterans’ cause for 40 years.

Ceri in the past made a complaint about the Daily Mirror for alleged inaccuracies in one of its stories to the

newspaper regulator IPSO. According to the paper the action was subsequently dropped.

Ceri said yesterday: “These allegations are completely untrue. I have been publicly grossly maligned to such an extent that I will never be able to get a job again.”

Mr Ken McGinley, President and founder of the British Nuclear Tests Veterans’ Association has now called for the entire Board of the BVNTVA to resign and allow Ceri to continue her contractual obligations until a new Board can be appointed.

He said: “Ceri is a decent, honest person and it is appalling the way she has been treated. In all my years as chairman of the BNTVA I have never come across anything like this.

Nuclear veterans who died after witnessing bomb tests must be rolling in their graves.

A spokesperson for the BNTVA admitted lewd communications had been sent to Ceri but insisted there was no malicious intent adding. "There was an incident with this cake and the nude man, but we were all just talking together and it was nothing to do with the charity.

“It was just a laugh, a bit of banter.”

Support Ken in his fight to save the BNTVA. Tel: 01505-345612 Fissionline What a shambles: Britain's nuclear veterans brought to their knees by a raft of allegations involving fraud and sexual misconduct.

"They couldn't run a bath," is phrase often used to describe the way the British Nuclear Tests Veterans Association has been run in recent times.

We use the word "run" advisedly because what has been going on in this association since almost the beginning of the millenium is nothing more than a disaster.

The BNTVA was formed simply to achieve justice for the thousands of servicemen who witnessed nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s.

That meant a judicial enquiry into the conduct of the tests which evidence suggested were carried out in haste and with little regard for the men's safety.

And, more importantly, compensation for the men and their children who suffered dreadfully as a result.

Of course it was going to be a hard road and the Government and the Ministry of Defence were never going to give in without a fight.

But what has brought the veterans' cause so low in our opinion is simply money. In the early days donantions by the author Catherine Cookson of £50,000, quickly followed by a similar amount from the Joseph Rowntree Trust, caused no end of distrust and strife within the organisation.

It was eventually frittered away on dubious projects that achieved nothing.

Similarly with turning the association into a charity At a stroke the association was hobbled, and rendered powerless to campaign against the government.

Sure, it got a £5million backhander from the government, but what has it achieved? Most of it seems to have been stashed away in some sort of trust fund with a handful of veterans getting maybe

a stairlift or a wheelchair.

Research? As far as we can make out Brunel University got £1million plus to interview a handful of veterans and their families about their health history. The research conclusions were incomprehensible and proved nothing.

The people that have been presiding over all this, charity trustees and chancer politicians are forever screeching about achieving "recognition."

A few mollifying words in parliament from various prime ministers are greeted with the same reverance as though Moses had just come down from the mountain.

The same with the latest campaign to get a medal for the veterans.

The government with all the insourcience of the early Americans giving out glass beads to the indians has agreed to award a "commemorative" medal to the veterans. It is not a medal for valour or bravery, it's just a piece of metal for being there.

Most genuine nuclear veterasn, who never asked for a medal in the first place, have told the government in no uncertain terms what they can do with their medal.

It is time to stop all this nonsense and put the nuclear veterans back where they belong: standing up to the government, shaking their fists and demnanding justice.

Only one man can lead this fight. He is Ken McGinley, the Nelson Mandela of the movement.

The man who started the whole thing off. The only man with the charisma and the gravitas to carry it off.

He has demanded a fresh start for the BNTVA. All right-thinking veterans and their children should get behind him now or else we fear the movement will be lost forever.

Fissionline is an independent newspaper with no political ties or affiliations. Contact:fissionline@gmail.com Tel 07801184011