Attempt by our Committee to change the Club rules without notifying the members

[NickC]

Nick, I've isolated the question above in case you missed it in my last post - any chance of a reply?

Yep sorry missed that, probably got posted in the middle of a load of other rubbish posts which I don't bother reading. Easily answered by quote below copied from a recent discussion with one of the Committee members.

...
I require the opportunity to clear my name. I have been falsely accused of bringing the Club into disrepute.

• No supporting evidence has been produced to backup this accusation.
• No genuine opportunity to defend myself has been provided - this accusation was not made until after the so called ‘hearing’, before that other different accusations had been made. The ‘hearing’ was not held at an appropriate location nor was it arranged at a date and time convenient to both parties.
• No ‘Fair Representation’ has been allowed to members.
• Ordinary members have not been allowed a vote on the issue.

As you well know this situation is nothing more than three members of our Committee abusing their positions for the purposes of a vindictive personal vendetta.

I will not tolerate the ongoing situation whereby the members have been told that I have brought the Club into disrepute when I have not. I have been accused of something I have not done, I require the opportunity to defend myself!
That’s not unreasonable is it?

 

[l'escargot]

Yep sorry missed that, probably got posted in the middle of a load of other rubbish posts which I don't bother reading. Easily answered by quote below copied from a recent discussion with one of the Committee members.

That's your aim but In what way will your posts on here help you to achieve that? Quite honestly I think you are pissing in the wind on here - the club aren't going to use YBW as a mediation medium...

 

[VicS]

quote below copied from a recent discussion with one of the Committee members.

...

I require the opportunity to clear my name. I have been falsely accused of bringing the Club into disrepute.

No supporting evidence has been produced to backup this accusation.
No genuine opportunity to defend myself has been provided - this accusation was not made until after the so called ‘hearing’, before that other different accusations had been made. The ‘hearing’ was not held at an appropriate location nor was it arranged at a date and time convenient to both parties.
No ‘Fair Representation’ has been allowed to members.
Ordinary members have not been allowed a vote on the issue.

As you well know this situation is nothing more than three members of our Committee abusing their positions for the purposes of a vindictive personal vendetta.

I will not tolerate the ongoing situation whereby the members have been told that I have brought the Club into disrepute when I have not. I have been accused of something I have not done, I require the opportunity to defend myself!
That’s not unreasonable is it?

So what was the response to this

• I fully sympathise with you. I feel you have been treated incredibly badly and I will do everything within my power to resolve this issue, to get you a full apology from the Committee and to get you reinstated as a member.
  
• Hard luck. I am in complete agreement with the Committee and fully support the action they have taken. In my opinion you have made your bed and can now lie in it.
  
• Leave me out of this. I am not getting involved, As far as I am concerned this conversation never took place.

Or something else ?

 

[Birdseye]

Boredom maybe?

 

[Otter]

Yes

 

[Poecheng]

Boredom maybe?

Impossible. This thread is like a 24hr news program with new exciting facts constantly being revealed and fresh opinions and expert comment adding significantly to the debate. Not.:sleeping:

 

[Floyd Raser]

So what was the response to this

• I fully sympathise with you. I feel you have been treated incredibly badly and I will do everything within my power to resolve this issue, to get you a full apology from the Committee and to get you reinstated as a member.
  
• Hard luck. I am in complete agreement with the Committee and fully support the action they have taken. In my opinion you have made your bed and can now lie in it.
  
• Leave me out of this. I am not getting involved, As far as I am concerned this conversation never took place.

Or something else ?

Vic,
You could also ask for a definition of the word "discussion" as it could just be Nick typing up his recollection of a verbal exchange, an email/letter or completely made up. Like his "quotes" in post #823 on page 83 where he offers to tell us he has had support from some members. Members who he can't persuade to back him up though?

 

[NickC]

That's your aim but In what way will your posts on here help you to achieve that? Quite honestly I think you are pissing in the wind on here - the club aren't going to use YBW as a mediation medium...

Maybe not directly but...
previous to this thread most of the club members were unaware what has gone on, they had not been informed by the Committee that anyone had been expelled.

As I was banned from their Facebook group had no way of contacting the general membership beyond close friends. It was done during the middle of the winter when no one was about at the Club, so no opportunity for members to discuss the matter.

This thread has generated enough discussion that members are now talking about our Committee's behaviour. I have even be contacted by an official from another local Club who suggested he was going to contact them to establish why they thought it acceptable to ignore their own rules and the RYA guidelines. Not heard from him since so don't know how that turned out, guess he probably didn't get a reply.

You never know, embarrass them enough by exposing their behaviour and pressure from other Clubs in the vicinity might be enough to force them to abide by the Rules.

 

[FullCircle]

Maybe not directly but...
previous to this thread most of the club members were unaware what has gone on, they had not been informed by the Committee that anyone had been expelled.

As I was banned from their Facebook group had no way of contacting the general membership beyond close friends. It was done during the middle of the winter when no one was about at the Club, so no opportunity for members to discuss the matter.

This thread has generated enough discussion that members are now talking about our Committee's behaviour. I have even be contacted by an official from another local Club who suggested he was going to contact them to establish why they thought it acceptable to ignore their own rules and the RYA guidelines. Not heard from him since so don't know how that turned out, guess he probably didn't get a reply.

You never know, embarrass them enough by exposing their behaviour and pressure from other Clubs in the vicinity might be enough to force them to abide by the Rules.

You mean they are sitting in the bar guffawing at your hopeless attempts to engage them on your terms. You are achieving nothing positive excpet for becoming the second most derided Keyboard Warrior in history. Go look up Cyclotouriste for the other one.

 

[[159032]]

Careful. Steveeasy will have a duck-fit.

 

[Floyd Raser]

But they may have wondered why the club had just become a happier place to be.

 

[Floyd Raser]

Nor have we. Add him to the list of people you've bleated to, who then disappear into the ether. Presuming they ever existed in the first place.

 

[davidej]

Like a number of others, I have been gripped by this thread for months but have refrained from posting.

However, I have to ask what Floyd Raser's agenda is, other than being gratuitously offensive.

 

[NickC]

Some radical ideas there:

Not all as radical as they might sound with a little local knowledge.

- NickC for commodore

As members know I had previously offered my services as Commodore before our former Commodore stepped down. My offer was not taken up and members were told that our former Commodore would be handing over to the current incumbent.

- no changes for ten years (sorry, but no changes to what for ten years: the new committee or the rules?)

My guess is that means _no_ changes to the Rules, which are perfectly adequate as they stand, and no radical changes to the Club.

Those that have taken over our Club are largely new members who have only joined since 2010 but with the involvement of a couple of longer-term Committee members. From what I hear they are trying to make some unpopular changes to the Club and how it is run. As new members they seem to have little or no respect for the Club's traditions.

- scuppering all yachts on moorings (that does sound a bit extreme to me: very glad mine is a mile away)

Again there is history behind this comment:

A while back (about four years now) I was asked by the landowner to see if the Club would be interested in taking on the moorings (there is space for ten times the current number of moorings). I discussed this with various other long-term members and Committee members. There was little appetite for this as it was felt it would lead to a change in the membership of the Club which was not in keeping with its traditional aims.

There are also those within the Club who believe the trot is 'jinxed' in some way: when a previous mooring was added to the trot it ended-up breaking because the boatyard that laid it using much thinner chain than had been paid for. Similar situation to our issue with the moorings this time around whereby the boatyard supplied some old second-hand chain (much thinner) rather than the brand new chain (thicker) as had been paid for.

- I like the notion of grumbling silently

I think that comment was intended to relate to the Club 'Post Reformation'.

In the case of the situation behind this thread as the Committee have refused to reply to any related correspondence at all it is accepted that normal rules don't apply and this justifies having to use alternative means to get the case heard!

 

[NickC]

to engage them on your terms.

By 'on your terms' do you mean in line with accepted legal practice and according to the RYA guidelines?

 

[Resolution]

Nick
That's about the most informative (and sensible) post you have made this month.
Now, in the interests of keeping this thread as an active embarrassment to your targets in this [unnamed] club, we need some spicy new facts about their mismanagement. We've had the Rules, we've had the mooring chains, and of course we started with the impossible outboard; what dirt can you dish on the dinghy sailing which must be the core of the club activities? Come on, your audience is awaiting!

 

[Floyd Raser]

Like a number of others, I have been gripped by this thread for months but have refrained from posting.

However, I have to ask what Floyd Raser's agenda is, other than being gratuitously offensive.

Gratuitously? A bit of an exageration don't you think? Subtly offensive maybe but if you've been around for that long you should have worked out the OP has dropped the standards here. Did you miss the bit where he called Floyd Raser an idiot?
My agenda is simple: I am trying to put forward the notion that Nick C may be misrepresenting the truth. Like a number of others you say? Yes, like a number of others you say nothing then when you do, it adds nothing.

 

[Otter]

Or does it?

 

[Floyd Raser]

The is a regular reference to the RYA guidlelines.
They are just that guidlelines and NOT rules. Any national body of any pastime or sport worth it's salt will have guidlelines but they are there mainly for people who may wish to start a club but may not have all the information to do so. They will take on more meaning depending on the size of the club. When you get to mega sized clubs who charge more to join and probably employ full time staff, the stakes are a lot higher and probably involve the legal profession.
In the case of this club where the membership fee is £41, then £41 is the maximum financial penalty to be incured and only then if you get chucked out just after renewal.

The RYA want bums on seats. The club pays the RYA something like £140 a year (I think, I looked it up once but someone correct the figure if wrong). The RYA are never going to take any action against the club IMO for that reason.

I notice the renewal date for club membership is April time. Could that be the time when all this could be cleared up? If members are reading this as we suspect, could we take it that if they all rejoin and keep the club afloat (Ouch!) then Nick should be quiet. But if they all decide not to renew, then Nick has been right all along. Could go either way. :nonchalance:

 

[Otter]

Or neither.