Dear BCA Council
Being a BCA Secretary with a modernising agenda has not been easy. When I came into the role last summer, I did so with great enthusiasm and optimism for what lay ahead, and with a Council of volunteers keen to see the BCA change and better serve British Caving.
The BCA was bogged down with excessive sub-committees (to which matters were being frequently deferred) many of which were severely understaffed by the volunteers they required. Change, of any kind, therefore happened at snail pace and the BCA had fallen years behind. It has become a million miles from what a national caving body would look like if set up from scratch to represent the UK caving community as it exists today.
A group specifically focussed on bringing about a new vision for the BCA is already at least a year behind schedule due to suffering a chronic lack of participation.
Despite this, I have been so inspired by many of our Council who have been supportive of modernisation and change when individuals come forward offering to try to deliver this. I include in this our excellent Treasurer who has supported me from within the BCA Executive team.
There have been challenges over the past several months, the major one being the ongoing disputes with the former webmaster, IT Working Group Convenor and current Web Services Officer, David Cooke, which led to the agenda items at the October and January Council meetings.
The situation that led up to, and that occurred at the January meeting had a profound effect. You all know the story as it was told in detail in my report to the meeting. We had no choice but to dismiss David from his ITWG role for withholding access to critical BCA systems, and in doing so refusing to comply with the wishes of our members and of BCA Council.
Did I want to dismiss someone who has served in BCA since it started? Obviously not. I felt shit for weeks after. As much as I profoundly disagree with David?s way of working and his vision for BCA?s future, and as much as I dispute some of the things he has accused Gary and I of, and the way he has treated us, it is still upsetting to see any aspect of caving turn so personal and sour.
Equally though, I knew when I took on this role that tough decisions were going to be needed if we were going to enact member?s wishes, and turn the BCA from the dinosaur it was (and in many ways still is) into something modern and sustainable.
So onward we went from the January meeting, with instruction from Council that they didn?t want to hear any more about the disagreements David and Gary/I have over BCA?s IT, and a proposal for Gary to present ideas for the future to Council. I really hoped that would be the end of the story and the unpleasantness and we could move on with some positivity.
Sadly, things have continued to worsen since January, with accusations in the last few weeks from David that I am abusing my position and confirmation that he will be pursuing a formal complaint.
The Welsh Government issue highlighted to me how quickly some people on Council can turn against you. The BCA Executive made a decision in unprecedented circumstances on how to conduct an email vote on this matter following cancellation of the April meeting. Given that this represented a high cost proposal, with tight deadlines (i.e. not much time for BCA Council to consult back with their councils/bodies) and outside the remit of our constitution, we chose to require a majority of the entire council rather than just those who replied. This was intended to safeguard the decision and provide counter-argument when it is challenged later by our constitutional pedants. While some people were moderated in their questioning of the decision (which is fine), the language in the criticism was extremely upsetting.
Saturday was the deadline for agenda items for the AGM in June (which is likely to be rescheduled for later in the year). Naturally, I was expecting a few proposals that I would find a little unpalatable, but I was perfectly prepared to make some compromises to my own ideologies to ensure everyone felt engaged. I was keen to try to build bridges with southern cavers, who I know do not (assuming their Regional Council is anything to go by) support the recent changes.
I certainly did not expect to receive EIGHT proposals from the Council of Southern Caving Clubs and SIX proposals from David Cooke.
You will see these proposals when they are published. The CSCC ones are particularly troubling and go way beyond being ?a little unpalatable?.
In combination, the CSCC propose creating FIVE new voting Council positions including two new Standing Committees. Where are the volunteers for these going to come from when we struggle to fill the existing roles? For most of the last year, we have had vacant Council positions. I have given up hours advertising and trying to find people to fill these positions. Increasing the number of positions is hardly in line with my wish to reduce bureaucracy, nor does it reflect the reducing volunteer pool that the BCA has experienced over the last several years.
The BCA, unlike some of our sibling organisations, is almost entirely volunteer run. If more sub-committees and increased bureaucracy is what is wanted, we are going to need to explore the possibility of more paid employees which will mean higher membership costs.
The proposals aim to displace Jane Allen from her current P&I Officer position and reinstate a Standing Committee (a childish attempt to use this AGM to reverse a decision taken at the last AGM). This is totally outrageous, because for the first time in years, the BCA has an extremely active P&I Officer who is getting things done thanks to being freed from the unnecessary bureaucracy of a Standing Committee. There seems to be an aspiration to put a stop to this and return to having an overly bureaucratic and understaffed Committee that gets nothing done.
The proposals also include formation an IT Standing Committee, to which Gary, our Webmaster, would have to report rather than being able to get on with his job as he has been. Development of a website via a Committee would take decades. Filibustering progress with unnecessary Committees is the exact reason the BCA is years behind where it should be in so many areas.
Cumulatively, the CSCC proposals are an attempt to reverse outcomes of the last AGM and return the BCA to where it was years ago. Everything that has come on in leaps and bounds since the last AGM would once again become hampered by excessive beaurocracy.
Furthermore, I have absolutely no doubt that these proposals are a retaliation for the changes that have been made over the last year which the CSCC have not supported, and an attempt to drive me, Gary, Jane and other modernisers out of the BCA to prevent further ?damage?.
We now move towards an AGM probably in Autumn, with >14 proposal from the CSCC/David plus others. Many of these proposals aim to undo the progress that has been made in the last year. As Secretary I would be expected to attend this AGM, which will be in the CSCC?s home region. This, along with the continuing attacks from David Cooke and his pending formal complaint, and the insults I have received over my handling of the Welsh Government vote is simply too much, and although I am a very strong person, even my mental health has limits. No voluntary role is worth this level of stress.
I accept that these are just proposals, and they may not pass at the meeting or in the resulting membership ballot. However, my dismay of seeing them put forward in the first place at a time I thought there was a light at the end of the tunnel is crushing. The knowledge that as Secretary I would have to attend that AGM, fills me with total dread.
Therefore, I will be standing down as Secretary immediately prior to the AGM assuming it can be scheduled for Autumn (I will not continue beyond Autumn regardless of whether we have an AGM then). I will continue essential Secretarial duties until then, but I will not be attending the AGM or any further meetings before then. I simply cannot stomach the thought.
The revised agenda notification will contain advertisement for the position of Secretary.
Sadly, what southern cavers want from the BCA, and what northern cavers want from the BCA have become so severely different that it will take a better diplomat than me to deal with this. We have a situation where a northern AGM has changed something, and a southern AGM the following year is trying to change it back. This ping-pong is clearly not a sustainable situation.
My continuation in the BCA is impossible, but that doesn?t mean I am against the BCA as an organisation. Having a national body remains critical. Without one, caving will struggle to have a say on national access matters at Government level. There would be no central pot of cash to distribute out to the various regions for conservation, access, training and anchoring initiatives. There would be no national Public Liability scheme, no caver-arranged travel insurance scheme, nobody to administer the national awards (CIC, LCMLA), nobody to fund research into areas such as radon, nobody to issue guidance on important matters such as safeguarding etc. A quick glance over the last few newsletters will help anyone understand the good a national body can achieve.
It seems a logical conclusion that my successor should be considerably more impartial about the future direction of the BCA, making them better able to bring together our divided regions without their own agenda.
I really appreciate all the support and encouragement so many people have given me in this role. The BCA has some amazing volunteers, and I have been so impressed by the work and enthusiasm of some of our regional council and constituent body reps, officers and appointees. However, please do not try to change my mind, as I have given this considerable thought. I think the recent Coronavirus situation has also helped me realise that life is too short to put up with this.
I will happily work to ensure a smooth handover to the next Secretary.
Before the AGM, I will continue working with Gary to get the new website test version out for review. I think you will be pleased because it looks great, and I do not want the several months that Gary has invested into this be wasted. Other than this, his work moving forward will be caretaking of the existing membership systems only up until my departure, when he will step away from that role. There seems little point in him putting forward proposals for any new systems now that the future of BCA?s IT Infrastructure and management is once again uncertain (i.e. the potential future formation of an IT Standing Committee if CSCC?s proposal is accepted). Gary has no desire to run a Standing Committee should one be created; it is just too much bureaucracy.
Gary will happily continue management of the new website after my departure and on a voluntary basis if asked to do so; but not as part of a complex sub-committee and not if his hands are going to be tied. He is a professional web developer so the BCA would be unwise not to accept that offer. The website has been written to modern coding standards, so that any professional or semi-professional web-developer will be able to take it on, so if Gary left completely (or his continuation at managing the website was rejected) then it would not be difficult for someone else to pick this up.
Most critically, the new website it has a very intuitive back-end admin section which will allow even the most non-computer savvy person to update key website text, advertise meetings, post events and news items, upload associated documents and photos, and edit the diary, without any difficulties whatsoever (much simpler than the old website).
I am looking forward to having more time to go caving, more time to focus on my own clubs, and less time fighting a losing battle and worrying about what stress/abuse/unwelcome news the next email is going to bring; Overall I will be a much happier person and able to enjoy caving again.
Kind regards
Matt Ewles
BCA Secretary
6th April 2020
