Statement of Katrin Schwarz (Nov 2021)

For those who don’t know me I am Dr Katrin Schwarz and I am a German citizen. As such I am not a native English speaker and would ask that you to take that into account when reading this statement.

As you may know, from reading the Committee Meeting minutes, since 24 February 2021 I have been excluded and disenfranchised from my entitlement to take part in the management and administration of the club as an elected Director. What you may not know is how and why this happened and of events thereafter.

Background

I was elected as a Director of NSRC by the membership at the AGM on 13 January 2021. I put myself forward as over the last months of 2020 I became increasingly concerned how the Briars-led committee, of only four directors at the time, was imposing restricted opening hours on the membership at will, contrary to the Articles of Association requiring approval by the members to do so.

Logically, at the first committee meeting on 20 January 2021, I volunteered to work in the newly established ‘opening times’ sub‐group. The purpose of the sub-group was to consider and to determine the return‐to‐play opening hours. We considered our insurer’s requirements and Covid-19 risk assessment to be key factors in the sub‐group’s work. Indeed, in an email to all directors in mid-January 2021, Nick Hargreaves (general manager) identified these same two factors as being necessary for consideration.

Consequently, I emailed Richard O’Connor (treasurer) asking for a copy of the insurance documents and Nick Hargreaves for a copy of the Covid-19 risk assessment. Richard O’Connor provided me quite quickly with the general policy wording document but, despite several requests, never provided the policy schedule. Without the policy schedule it is impossible to know which clauses of the general policy wording are applicable.

On 15 February 2021 I emailed Nick Hargreaves requesting a copy of the Covid-19 risk assessment. He refused to provide it asking me to forward my request to the main committee. I asked him to clarify to whom I should send such a request as I was unsure. I received no response from him. Instead, I received a message from the chair Gawain Briars just over half an hour after sending my request for clarification to Nick Hargreaves.

Isolation from the management of the club

In that email Gawain Briars (chair) strongly reprimanded me for simply requesting the policy schedule and Covid-19 risk assessment. He stated that my actions “could appear to seek to undermine fellow directors and management and they breach committee governance protocols”. He further suggested that my actions were “subversive” and threatened to report me to the committee if I continued to request information.

I was rather confused by his email. I replied saying that I needed the documents for the sub‐group to report on opening hours. I apologised if I had breached any protocols and asked him to circulate these “committee governance protocols” as I hadn’t been made aware of them.

Having had no response from Gawain Briars, but needing to know in order to proceed ‘correctly’ with the work in the sub-group, I emailed Gawain Briars three days later asking him to outline the “committee governance protocols”. Just over an hour later I received what I considered to be a very rude and inappropriate response from him.

Firstly, he referred to me as “Karen”, rather than by my actual name. I understand that “Karen” can be used as a pejorative term for a woman seeming to be entitled or demanding beyond what is considered normal. He then stated: “It is not for me to teach you the proper manner in which a board member should conduct themselves”. Also: “If you do not know (which would beg the question as to whether or not you are fit and proper to have joined the board) then you should make your own enquiries to educate yourself as a matter of urgency.”

I could not understand why he would respond in such a way. As far as I know, it is perfectly normal and proper for a director to ask for a copy of their company’s insurance documents and risk assessments particularly when the information is necessary to carry out committee work, as in this instance. I further understand that it is my right by the Companies Act 2006 to see such documentation.

The day after receiving Gawain Briars’ email, I sent a formal complaint to Steve Payne (secretary). I expressed my view that Gawain Briars’ email to me was intimidating and bullying. I subsequently asked for an apology and for an independent person to consider my complaint.

Two days later Gawain Briars sent an email to all the directors rejecting my complaint with a blanket denial of the allegations. He called for a vote of confidence in himself and at the same time did not permit any discussion on the substance of my formal complaint beforehand, or any abstentions in the vote itself. I objected to a vote of confidence without independent consideration of the complaint. I could see what was going to happen: Gawain Briars had the general support of the majority of the committee and so I believed that the vote of confidence was intended to avoid an honest engagement with my formal complaint. I felt even more bullied.

At the committee meeting on 24 February 2021 (by Zoom conference call), I refused to participate in the vote of confidence. Two other directors, Kris Turk and Stuart Smith, voted against Gawain Briars, the remaining committee members voted in support. Gawain Briars asked those unsupportive of him to resign which Kris Turk and Stuart Smith did. They then left the call, leaving me alone with Gawain Briars and the remaining committee members who had voted for him and against any investigation of my complaint.

Contrary to the specific circumstances set out in the Articles of Association the committee then attempted to remove me as a director by putting me under severe pressure to resign my position, firstly by Gawain Briars then by Adam Talbot. Gawain Briars asked me again and again that I do so. He suggested that it was irrational for me to refuse to resign. I was not going to be further bullied and I reiterated that I wouldn’t resign.

Following my refusal to resign Gawain Briars immediately instigated a vote to transfer all of the committee’s powers to a new “management committee”, comprising only the directors who voted for him in the confidence vote, by invoking Article 11.1. Of course, all the remaining Directors voted for the motion. I believe this to be an abuse of the Articles. From that point I was frozen out of subsequent “management committee” meetings and the management of the club.

Events since my isolation from the management of the club

• Refusal to provide company documentation

Since my isolation from the day-to-day management of the club on 24 February 2021 I have repeatedly asked for a copy of the insurance policy schedule and the Covid-19 risk assessment, but my requests were denied as it was “felt that currently the information will not be released”. Later, repeated requests for the fire risk assessment were refused as well. I see this as a clear breach of the Companies Act 2006.

• Accusation of having breached “official protocols”

Prior to the re-opening of the club towards the end of the last lockdown on 12 April 2021 I was approached by a member of NSRC who I had played with regularly pre-pandemic. He offered one-to-one coaching and stated that he holds an England Squash Level 1 coaching certificate. Knowing in which vulnerable position I was, I checked the England Squash ‘Back to Squash timeline’ which stated that ‘One-to-one coaching for adults’ was permitted from 12 April 2021.

I further checked with him if the managers of the club, Nick Hargreaves and Kevin Emery, knew that he was a qualified Level 1 coach and if he already had done any coaching at the club. He ensured me that he had sent the mangers his coaching certificate. With all this I was satisfied that our session could go ahead.

However, two days after the one-to-one coaching session I received an email from the general manager Nick Hargreaves questioning my attendance at the club and accusing me of having, in some way, contravened the club’s current requirements for playing squash. I asked him to clearly and in a concise way to set out his grounds.

However, next I received an email from the club’s secretary Steve Payne accusing me of potentially having breached official protocols and threatened me with formal actions. Interestingly, the member I had one-to-one coaching with received an email of a very different tone. While I appeared to be castigated, vilified and threatened, he received sympathy, support and encouragement for his interest in developing his coaching skills.

• Formal complaint against Joerg Thunecke

In May 2021 I contacted the management committee reporting the concerns of a member, who wanted to remain anonymous, in regards to the compliance of the main door exit system with legislation, particularly fire legislation, after being unable to leave the building.

In direct response to my initiating email to the management committee I received an email from Joerg Thunecke (Director) stating in German “Hast Du wirklich nichts Besseres zu tun, dauernd zu stänkern & zu nörgeln?” translating to “Do you really have nothing better to do than to make trouble and to whine all the time?” I consider this a very unprofessional and inappropriate email in tone and content. A formal complaint I raised was rejected on the grounds that Joerg Thunecke’s email was considered a “private” email “as it was written in German”. I felt humiliated by this event.

• ‘Invitations’ to full committee meetings

Having been isolated and excluded from all 13 subsequent management committee meetings, by the actions of the chairman Gawain Briars and the other directors at the 24 February 2021 committee meeting, out of the blue, on 6 September 2021, I was copied in on an email from the secretary Steve Payne with an agenda for a committee meeting to be convened the next day.

After questioning that I must have received this email in error I was informed that the agenda was for a ‘full’ committee meeting not a ‘management committee’ meeting, all 13 from which I had been excluded since 24 February. The Committee stated that I had “never been excluded from a full Committee Meeting”.

Having fabricated a ‘management committee’ on 24 February and transferred to it, by formal resolution the running of “the entire business and affairs of the club up and until the next General Meeting”, to deliberately exclude me, I could not understand why now a full committee meeting was convened and my attendance wanted.It is worth noting that the only reason I could imagine to hold a ‘full’ committee meeting was to comply with the Articles of Association, which require full committee meetings to be held within less than 6 months of each other. However, at this point in time those 6 months had already lapsed. Furthermore, to now convene a full committee meeting and to conduct club business and affairs at it, without another resolution, would be contrary to the Articles of Association and hence a breach of the Companies Act 2006.

I became immediately concerned at the committee’s motives, having been treated so badly for so long, and questioned why my attendance was now requested and why I had been given only one day’s notice when the Articles clearly require at least 14 days’ notice. Despite many subsequent requests the committee repeatedly refused to provide an answer.This simply added to my anxiety as I believed their motive was malevolent – that they were attempting to maneuver me into a position which would compromise me and allow them to attack me further, even discipline and expel me as they had done with others. As a result of my anxiety surrounding their motive for now wishing my attendance at a meeting of directors, their refusal to explain why and that I had been given only one day’s notice, I refused to attend.

As a result of my refusal to attend they set a date for another “full committee” meeting two weeks later, hence suggesting that they were desperate in some way, to have me attend a meeting with all directors. It further transpired that, without letting me know, they had continued to convene their fabricated ‘management committee’ meetings (excluding me) as well on those same two days, further suggesting to me some malevolent motive for wishing me to attend a meeting of directors.

With my formal complaint of 19 February 2021 not being investigated, combined with the, what I perceived as, further isolating, bullying and intimidating behavior of the directors over the last 7 months and their refusal to answer my above-mentioned questions I refused to attend the second announced full committee meeting of 22 September 2021 as well.

I did not want to put myself in a position where I feared that as a group, they would have been able to intimidate and bully me again. On both those occasions my demand to have the real reason for my absence noted in the minutes were ignored, thereby falsely portraying me to the members as being indifferent to my obligations as a director.

Commentary

My time as a director of NSRC has been anything else than pleasant. Although motivated to support the club in difficult times, I never had the chance to engage in the club’s business. I was isolated from the management of the club just over a month after being appointed by what I view as an abuse of the Articles very likely in breach of the Companies Act 2006.

In my opinion, I have been isolated, ignored, bullied and intimidated while trying to fulfill my obligations as a director. I even felt at times threatened as “formal actions‟ against me were brought up. I strongly fear that currently the Briar’s-led committee is in the process of preparing such ‘formal actions’, namely disciplinary actions, against me.

I believe that my experiences are not isolated that the Briars-led committee has breached the Articles of Association (see Andrew Hood and Neil Boston) and/or the Companies Act 2006 in other instances as well. This puts the club into a difficult position as future litigations are not unreasonable to assume.

Current and next Steps

I have submitted a formal complaint against the NSRC with England Squash on the basis of their ‘Safeguarding Adults Policy and Procedures’. Although ‘significant safeguarding concerns regarding the overall safeguarding responsibilities of NSRC’ have been acknowledged, the complaint was rejected on the bases that I do not define as a vulnerable individual ‘with care and support needs who are unable to protect themselves from abuse and harm’. I was asked to ‘pursue it (my complaint) under the NSRC’s Articles and code of conduct as a club member’.

To my knowledge, there is no published safeguarding policy at NSRC nor a named safeguarding officer. Asking me to address my complaint against NSRC with NSRC is asking me to turn back to the same people who caused all of my distress. I have tried this unsuccessfully twice. I am in the process of objecting to this decision of England Squash.

I am considering commencing legal actions in respect of my treatment by the Committee, especially with an apparent threat of disciplinary proceedings being commenced against me.

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