AUGUST 2000
BNTVA NEWSLETTER
I have chosen to write to you all in the form of a newsletter and to bring all members up to date as to the current happenings within your Association. West Midlands Branch You will no doubt have received a letter from Mr Brian Chaimberlain concerning a meeting to be held at Tamworth on 2nd September 2000. I have decided to forward a copy of this newsletter and the enclosures to all members of the BNTVA in order to quell any misunderstandings and to set out the Association's position once and for all. Firstly I would confirm that the meeting which Mr Chaimberlain proposes to hold is not sanctioned by the BNTVA. It is yet another attempt at damaging the Association's reputation and causing division amongst the membership. The motives appear to be the continued campaign against Mrs Sheila Gray by several members and ex-members of the Association. st
I enclose a copy of my reply to Mr Chaimberlain dated 31 July 2000 setting out the position. This matter is simple. th
On 15 April 2000 at the AGM held in Blackpool the then Executive Committee stood down in the usual way and then stood for re-election. Mr McGinley, after initially being re-elected as Chairman, stood down when the Association re-elected Mrs Gray to the position of Secretary. Mr McGinley did not have to do this. He chose to do so, and chose to leave the meeting, accompanied by a number of members, including Bill Kittsen, the former treasurer. These men then took no further part in the meeting. Those remaining at the AGM (still a significant number of members) accepted Mr McGinley's resignation and elected a new '-..,..- Executive Committee. You are all aware of those people who now make,-up the Committee from the minutes of the AGM which were sent to you shortly after. The Association's Solicitor has confirmed that the Executive Committee which has now been elected is proper and fully in accordance with the Association's constitution. I enclose a copy of the constitution for those of you who would wish to satisfy yourselves of the position. The simple fact is that the current Executive Committee was elected by the members of the Association at the AGM. The election was perfectly proper. The members accepted Mr McGinley standing down and elected Peter Fletcher and John Lowe as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively. Under the terms of the Constitution the Executive Committee remain in place until the next AGM, when they will step down. The members at the AGM can then chose to elect a new Committee or to re-elect some or all of the existing Committee. I must make it clear that there is no mechanism in the Constitution for electing a new Committee at any other meeting other than an AGM. For this reason the meeting proposed by Mr Chaimberlain is pointless. When Brian Chaimberlain wrote to Sheila Gray requesting that a special meeting be called S_heila responded by asking for details of those matters which would be raised at the meeting. Mr Chaimberlain's reply was to confirm that he wished to attempt in some way to circumvent the elections at the AGM and to elect his own Committee. Because this could not, under the terms of the Constitution, be achieved the Association does not think that it is a prudent and sensible use of the Association's precious funds to incur the expense of a meeting where the desired outcome cannot be that a new Committee is elected. To do so would, as has happened so many times in the past, cost the Association a great deal of money just to appease a small minority of '--' members. This is not what the Association stands for. Accordingly the Executive Committee does not propose to waste any further time or money dealing with this meeting, or any other such attempts to tarnish the reputation of the Association. Those who are not satisfied with the job being done by the current Executive Committee will have an opportunity to vote for it's replacement at the next AGM. I am pleased to be able to advise that I have received confirmation of the date for the next AGM. This will take place in Blackpool, at the Horseshoe th Showbar as usual on 28 April 2001. Until then we will continue to carry out the duties for which we were elected. I now have an opportunity to shed some light on the Association's financial situation and to enlighten you all as to the position regarding many of your former Executive Committee. Court Proceedings against Bill Kittsen After the AGM in April the new treasurer, Ken Roberts, was left to do his job without any accounts or bank books. The previous treasurer, Bill Kittsen, did not forward these to Ken. Accordingly the Association (via it's Solicitor) wrote to Bill Kittsen requesting that the books be returned, together with all other Association property which he held. Further time was given to return these items, however Mr Kittsen refused and finally a Court Summons was issued against him. These Court proceedings are the ones referred to in the recent letter that some people have received from Mr Kittsen. To clear up any confusion which that letter may have caused, the BNTVA is suing Mr Kittsen for the return of property. I have been advised by the Association's Solicitor that the Association cannot bring Court proceedings in it's own name. As such one of the Executive Committee must sue in a representative capacity. I am advised that it is normal for this to be the Secretary, hence the fact that Sheila Gray's name appears on the proceedings. Sheila does not, however, sue in her own right, but as a representative of the Association and with the full authority of the Executive Committee.
Following the issue of these proceedings Bill Kittsen returned some, but not all of the property belonging to the Association and it is for this reason that the matter is still ongoing.
The Association's Financial Situation After the AGM the Association was left with £167.00 in its account. This is all the money that we had. Thanks to the generosity of many of you, including the Executive Committee {who have claimed no expenses at all so far, despite attending meetings and dealing with the running of the Association) we are in a slightly better position currently than we were then. It is, however, important that we continue to exercise care and prudence so that the objects of the Association can be achieved. Once the former treasurer returned the accounts to us (in June 2000) a thorough review was undertaken. This revealed a number of matters requiring further investigation, particularly regarding the expenditure of the former Chairman and former Treasurer of the Association. I have set out, on the back of the constitution the amounts of money paid to these individuals and the basis of these payments. Of particular concern are the large sums of money paid out in fuel. There is no apparent reason for this. It is worthy of note that for the past 2 years the Association has been running at a loss. Each year we have had a deficit of approximately £ 2000.00. We were sailing very close to the wind, and yet the monies claimed by Mr McGinley and Mr Kittsen increased. There were also a number of curious patments which cannot possibly be justified as proper expenditure of the 1 Association. In particular a cheque was written on 16 April 2000 (after this years AGM) for£ 237.00 for repairs to Mr Kittsen's car. There has also been a lot of the BNTVA's money spent on accomodation for Mr Kittsen's family who have accompanied him on a number of occasions to Association events. I am also able to comment on the Association's expenditure over recent years in connection with the Strasbourg case. It should be borne in mind that the neither the Association, nor any of it's individual members other than the three who were a party to the case stood to gain anything from it. Despite this the Association spent over£ 7500.00 in legal costs, and further monies in trave 1 expenses to those involved. '-----' The present Executive Committee do not believe that the Association's money should be spent in the way that it has in the past. We believe that it is more appropriate to concentrate on the aims of the Association set out in paragraph 2 of the constitution. This applies to all members and their widows, not just a select few.
Plea for Funds Now comes the plea for money! In order for the Association to continue it is vital that subscriptions are paid. I would ask that those of you that may have overlooked this please forward your subscription to the Treasurer, Ken Roberts as soon as possible. Current subscription rates are£10 for a full member and£2.50 for an associate member. If, for whatever reason, you are unable to afford your subscription then any small donation that you are able to make would help. Some Good News! Dundee University Medical School are shortly to begin a pilot study of veterans from the Grapple test. This will take the form of blood and saliva tests and is due to start in September 2000. This Clinical Assessment Programme is the continuation of the Research Study undertaken over the past two years. It is funded by the New Zealand Government (hence the reason that for the moment it is limited to Grapple veterans). You are welcome, should you wish, to put your name forward to take part, although the first group, of approximately 30 veterans, will be selected on medical criteria by a panel of researchers at Dundee. If you wish to be considered please forward your name and details to Sue Rabbitt-Roff at Dundee University Medical School. 484 Perth Road, Dundee, DD2 1 LR. "-../
Membership Details Have we got your membership details correct? If not, please write to us with your correct details and we will update our membership lists.
...and finally... I would like to thank you all for your continued help and support. The association could not continue without the dedication of so many of you. Our Chairman, Peter Fletcher MBE is unfortunately in a poor state of health but he sends his heartfelt thanks and best wishes to you all. Let us all ensure that we are pulling in the same direction, and pulling together. That way I am sure that we will eventually reach our goal! With best wishes, John Lowe Vice-Chairman