As the retiring Chairman I have read this post with interest and frankly I am concerned and disappointed with some of the views expressed by George, Les and Pete. I would like to make some comments and hopefully correct some of the mis-understandings.
Firstly there has not been any falling out, and there wasn't when Andy stood down. I am self employed and my work means I leave home on Sunday and come on Fridays for around 40 weeks of the year. I teach Project Management to a range of industry sectors so I work all over the UK and sometimes overseas. Lately the structure of my work has changed and now involves travelling after work midweek to another location. Coupled with trying to get and deliver business in this challenging climate I have finally "run out of steam". I had to choose between my work, family and AWGB, one had to go and that was AWGB. Sam, my very able Vice Chairman, had his arm twisted by Reg Hawthorne in 2012 to take the role of secretary and I twisted it again 2 years ago to ask him to stay as my VC. He agreed with the proviso that when I went he went too.
Now let's get on to this democracy business. I have been a member since 2005 and on the committee since 2009 and the only vote we have ever had was in 2012 when we asked the membership whether we should become a Charity and a Company Limited by Guarantee. Anyone who has stood for the committee/Trustee position has been elected unopposed because no-one volunteers! Back in 2011 Adrian indicated his intention to stand down as Treasurer in 2012 and not one single member from the 3500 stepped up! Which is why I stepped in at the 11th hour and took the role. Since then we have appealed for volunteers, and thankfully some of the newer members have stepped up to the plate. If more people volunteered then we may have an election!
We continually ask for ideas about what the membership would like the Trustees to do and I have yet to have a single suggestion in my inbox.
Then we come to the "why didn't I get a vote on who is chairman?" question. The Articles of Association are quite clear - the officers are elected by the Trustees and the Trustees elect the Executive President.
And then we come to free speech. This really is nonsense. I have worked with Paul for many years and I have read many complaints about posts on this forum. Some were justified, some weren't and Paul has to make a judgement call. Sometimes I get involved. Maybe wrong decisions have been made but then we are all human and I defy any contributor to this thread to say, honestly, they have never upset anyone by something they have said or done in the past. I can't!
Any member is free to contact any Trustee about any matter whatsoever.
I would hope any past difficulties could be put behind us and we can move on.
And before I finish I would like to tell you just how much work is involved running this organisation. As Treasurer I kept a record for the first 3 months of my final year in office and it turned out that I spent an average of 1 hour per day on AWGB business. As Chairman, it is a little less but still considerable. Paul must put in a similar amount of time in maintaining the website, setting up the new website, managing the coordination of our data, setting up emails and helping out all of us who get stuck with the IT systems. I've never been a rep but I know they devote swathes of time attending shows and working with the clubs. Membership also takes up a huge amount of time especially at this time of year.
When we became a Charity things changed and the committee became trustees and directors of the Company. Additionally I set up a Trading Company (required by Charity/HMRC rules) and myself and the Treasurer are Directors of that company as well - Paul will take over from me there too. We now have legal responsibilities which we take very seriously.
So in conclusion, I hope you, along with all the other members will give Paul the support he rightly deserves along with Russell his Vice Chairman. Without the efforts of Paul and the other Trustees there wouldn't be an AWGB - if you want things to be different then write to the trustees or better still volunteer to take a role and stand for election when positions become vacant.
Happy Christmas and New Year to you all
Dave
Chairman for a few more days yet!
