Reproduced with permission
Dear BCA Council
Apologies for the long email, however there are important matters I need to bring to the attention of Council. I would appreciate it if you could take the time to read this in full.
Firstly, I would like to update you all on the progress that I have made in the last few months regarding upgrading the website and related services.
New Website:
The new public facing website is now broadly complete and below is the temporary URL (link) to allow you to preview it. There are of course some bits of content to update although Matt has re-written and updated a lot of it already, and a few functionalities that have not yet been fully enabled.
https://british-caving.org.uk/new
Please remember that this site is just a beta (test) version and there are bound to be some bugs and some text amendments. Once Council have had look and made comments the next stage would be to make the site available to members and the public with the option to switch and always use the new site until its final launch if this is what Council wish.
To complement the public part of the website there is a back-end administration system for use by Council members which allows updating of the site as required. This admin area has a simple and user-friendly interface which requires no programming understanding whatsoever. Individual page content can be edited as well as bespoke areas for adding news, training, events, meetings and associated documents and newsletters. This area is not quite ready for general use but please see the separate attached document which is a preview of this admin area with screenshots and an explanation of the various functions. Matt has used this admin area successfully to update and upload a significant amount of the current content on the new website, and he is entirely on board with me saying that he isn?t always the most technically gifted at these kinds of things, so that should be testament to its simplicity.
Membership systems:
In addition to the above, extensive development has also taken place on a new, modern, unified membership system. This system brings together the current very fragmented way that members are organised, and membership renewals are made. It incorporates the following?
A new, user friendly members area (to replace what is now BCA Online) designed and branded to match the new public site.
Centralised members database allowing all member data to be live and in one place meaning that what Council members see is the same data as what the membership secretary sees, and updates are instantly reflected. There will never again be multiple (potentially different) versions of the membership lists floating around.
A mass mailing system to allow emails to be sent to all or selected parts of the membership (e.g. just individuals, or just groups etc) with inbuilt measures to ensure no single officer can abuse it, and that any recipient who requests removal from the mailing list is automatically dealt with to meet GDPR requirements.
Online voting (which is required now following all AGMs).
DIM and CIM renewals. This automates much of the process and will eradicate the need for clubs to send spreadsheets by email.
Direct Debit integration for those wanting to use this.
Options for auto-renewal of membership.
Most of the initial development on the above is complete although more testing is required. I tried to focus on autonomy and ease of use wherever possible to minimise the workload on our volunteers. Work is on hold indefinitely for reasons covered below.
A full and comprehensive technical manual would also be published to aid the continued maintenance by a future person in my role.
New To Caving:
Following the agreed purchase of the New To Caving website, it has now been fully transferred to BCA and is currently running on BCA?s server. I did not originally create the website and making changes to it in its previous form would have been awkward. With that in mind, I have re-built and updated the code, however the front-end design is almost identical. The advertising has been removed (but may return in due course via a BCA-agreement with sponsors) and the copyright details updated to BCA.
Further discussion will be needed as to its future with perhaps a new logo and some other alterations, however I cannot stress enough how important it is to have this site running and kept maintained. Having a quick and easy reference point for potential new cavers is incredibly important for the future of British Caving and we must build on the excellent work that Tim and Jane Allen have done in getting this ?brand? out there. This must NOT be allowed to go to ruin as TryCaving did.
Other important matters:
It is with a very heavy heart that I must announce that, despite spending much of a year of my life (literally hundreds of hours over the year) devoted to BCA and making all of the above progress, all work has now stopped. I will not be re-standing for any position at the AGM and no further work will be done on the new site or membership system, so unless someone else wants to continue my work, it will never progress beyond the current test stage. I will continue to maintain the current public site until the AGM as required, at which point I will fully resign. I will not be attending the AGM. This is not a decision I wanted to have to make.
Matt and I got involved with BCA as a team because we work very well together and I?m am truly saddened by recent events which has led to Matt?s departure from his role as Secretary. We both had such excitement and enthusiasm to make change for the better to carry BCA into the future, but this enthusiasm has been drained from both of us by the actions of some.
To say my role has been an uphill battle would be an understatement. I did not get into this to start a fight or play politics; I just wanted to make a difference and use what few skills I have to improve the BCA and British Caving for everyone. However, at every stage I have faced negativity, objections and lies intended to undermine me, and I am not prepared to continue. I have also seen the very profound effect his has had on Matt and no longer wish to be a part of it.
It will not surprise any of you that most of the difficulties have come from David Cooke. I did not want to see him pushed out in the way he was (albeit of his own making) however I had hoped that with his departure we could move on ? it seems not. The 14 proposals that have been put to the AGM by David Cooke and the CSCC have been cleverly designed to destroy all the brilliant work that has been achieved over this last year. Two of them are specifically aimed at removing the positions Jane and I currently hold; what greater attack could be possible on those fighting so hard to make the BCA a modern organisation?
Not satisfied with his own submission of proposals I find it disgusting that David Cooke and Alan Butcher have also manipulated the CSCC into doing the dirty work too. They are, for some reason, determined to keep the BCA in 2005. David Cooke has been manipulative, obstructive, possessive and a bully; a well-rehearsed (and frequently successful) routine designed to see-off anyone who threatens his BCA empire. He has done it to others who have come before me.
Even if these proposals are rejected by members (I hope they are) the damage is already done. The total failure of an entire caving region to recognise the good work and forward progress of the last year signals that this fight will never end. This was what brought Matt to the end of his tether.
With David Cooke, directly and via the CSCC continuing to call the shots, nothing will ever change, and I believe it will ultimately bring the BCA to its knees. I now understand what I was told (warned) about prior to taking my role and why so many good people who have tried to help in the past have given up in despair.
I can not put into words how genuinely sad this decision has made me. I am INCREDIBLY proud of the work achieved this year. Several people, not just Matt and Jane, have injected some great new ideas and were making such progress. I am particularly proud of what Matt, Jane, David Rose and I have created with the re-branding of the newsletter to ?British Caving? and I was hoping this was something we could continue to build upon.
Jane has done wonders putting out nothing but positivity and I have seen first-hand how her work has begun changing people?s opinions of the BCA. Social media has never been so alive with talk of British Caving and I have loved working with Jane to achieve this. Her infectious positive attitude has been hugely inspirational to me and we?ve made a great team and the two of us work far better and more productively than any committee could have. It is disgusting that the CSCC are seeking to use this AGM to reverse a decision taken at the last AGM. It is childish, and pathetic. The CSCC should be ashamed, and I sincerely hope that Southern cavers wake up to what damage to caving in the UK is being done under their name.
It seems that no matter how much energy and positivity people attempt to give to the BCA, the naysayers and those who thrive on negativity always seem to prevail. I don?t like to use the term ?old guard? (it implies that those who have been around for a while are all bad, which is far from true) but that?s what it comes down to ? those who want things to remain how they have always been ?back in my day? and refuse to accept change. People need to realise when it is time to move on and listen to the clear wishes of our members and STOP doing everything possible to make life difficult for the sadly small number of passionate new volunteers who do come forward.
I am sorry to Hellie, Rostam, Will, Howard and others who have also fought hard for change too in the last year, but life is just too short to put up with this kind of torment. Hopefully you?re strong enough to continue to fight for change ? and I hope you achieve it.
In the words of one of my best friends ? I just want to go caving.
Gary Douthwaite
28 April 2020