Update 17: “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” Part II – The double-cross

Oxford English Dictionary:

double-cross deceive or betray (a person with whom one is supposedly cooperating).

In Part 1 of this “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” series of posts we evidenced the several Briars-led committees’ deliberate actions in misleading the membership into believing that the club could not operate — supposedly due to insurance requirements — without the continuing employment of the two managers, at a cost of over £5000/month, as chronicled here, Update16: “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” Part I – The insurance connection

This follow-up update was originally intended to provide an insight into, and explanation of, their extreme, irrational, oftentimes illegal activities in response to perfectly reasonable and legitimate queries posed by members, and fellow directors, which resulted in the illegal convening of disciplinary hearings and subsequent expulsion of two long standing members, the resignation of two directors within weeks of their election to post and the illegal disenfranchisement and subsequent expulsion of another director.

You’ll probably be surprised to learn that the “double-cross” reference in the title of this update is not in respect of deceit perpetrated on the membership by the Briars-led committees, but in respect of deceit perpetrated on us, the Outcasts, by the current James Dand-led committee.

The Double-cross

Having provided invaluable support and resources to the new committee in the run-up to the 9 January 2023 EGM at which they were elected — narrowly defeating the Briars-led group of discredited former directors — we reasonably expected that our illegal expulsions would be swiftly revoked. Having acknowledged and accepted that our expulsions had been illegal and that we’d done absolutely nothing wrong, they’d led us to believe that our return to the club would be expedited should they become elected.

Indeed, within days of their election victory over the Briars-led group the current committee wrote to us confirming what they’d led us to believe:

Andy, Neil and Katrin
Please bear with us a few days as we have stacks to sort out but just to let you know we have unanimously agreed to offer you an apology and a warm invitation to rejoin the Club. Tim [Garratt] will be writing to you shortly. ”

Shaun Walsh ( the then new committee treasurer) to us, The Outcasts
(12 January 2023)

We responded thus

How very pertinent that on this very day, two years ago, illegal disciplinary hearings were convened at which Neil and I were convicted of fabricated allegations by the Gang of Four corrupt former directors — Briars, Payne, O’Connor and Hargreaves — in order to prevent our automatic appointment as directors and which resulted in our expulsion. We look forward to receiving your communication.”

The Outcasts to the new committee
(12 January 2023)

As you will have gathered by now from the title of this update, 11 months later neither the promised “offer of an apology” nor “warm invitation to rejoin the club” has been forthcoming. We remain illegally expelled and excluded from the club.

Why, you might ask yourselves, would the newly appointed directors renege on their promised offer of an apology and a warm invitation to rejoin the club. Several reasons spring to mind.

Firstly, it now appears clear that this committee never had any intention of holding the Briars-led former directors to account for their damaging and illegal actions — whilst both in and out of office — despite the abundance of unchallenged, incontrovertible evidence of their wrongdoing.

A clue to their intent can be found in their first message to the membership following their election victory, as per the below extract:

…As a club, we have been through a lot in recent times, but we only want to focus on the future. We see little merit in looking back on the difficulties we have had …”

First message from the new NSRC committee to members
(14 January 2023)

With that single statement the new committee informed the membership of their desire to completely wipe from history, and completely forget, the appalling catalogue of damage inflicted on us and the club by the several Briars-led committees.

This position is, of course, diametrically contrary to our documented and long understood intention to ensure that those corrupt former directors are held to account for those damaging actions.

Secondly, and the principal, more sinister reason for the new committee reneging on their promise appears consequential to the below further statement made in that first message to members:

…I do have to say though that we will also be issuing an apology on behalf of the club to all members and former members who feel that they have been improperly or unfairly treated… “

First message from the new NSRC committee to members
(14 January 2023)

That same afternoon, as we understand it, the defeated, discredited former chairman and initiator of this 3 years long saga, Gawain Briars, wrote to the new committee expressing alarm at the prospect of them apologising to us and of them revoking the [illegal] expulsions he’d personally orchestrated.

In typical Briars style, his diatribe was characterised by misrepresentation, mock indignation and downright lies of which two of the most glaring examples being:

…Secondly, two former members [Andrew Hood & Neil Boston] were expelled from the club, following full and proper investigations into their conduct…
…Further, both those ex members (and another [Katrin Schwarz] who left of her own accord), have their names attached to an extremely vexatious and unbalanced web site, the link to which I have recently received… “

Discredited former chairman Gawain Briars to the new NSRC committee
(14 January 2023)

As lies go, these are two whoppers. Briars appears to have conveniently forgotten that:

Contrary to his misportrayal that the disciplinary procedures against Andrew Hood & Neil Boston had been conducted properly, on 6 May 2021 his own legal representative admitted the illegality of the disciplinary hearings, as chronicled here, Andrew Hood and Neil Boston.
Contrary to his misportrayal that Katrin Schwarz left the club of her own accord, Briars actually orchestrated her expulsion, as chronicled here, Update 04: Former Director Katrin Schwarz expelled…how depressingly predictable.

I’m reminded of that well-worn stock joke, and paraphrase accordingly

Question: How do you know when a discredited former NSRC chairman is lying?.

Answer: You can see his lips move.

Briars concluded his email by delivering a barely veiled threat to reignite the club’s internal ‘civil war’ which he’d lost at the EGM only five days earlier — the membership having rejected his attempt to regain the levers of power he, and his committee, had so recklessly relinquished by their en masse resignation which left the company on an illegal footing, as chronicled here, Update 12: Good riddance to bad rubbish Part I – The Directors resign en masse

As we understand it, Briars’ barely veiled threat was immediately followed up by his submission of a formal notice containing a threat to call yet another EGM at which he would table a motion of no confidence in the newly elected committee.

Consequentially, just a few days later, we received an email from the committee informing us of a delay to implementation of their promise to offer us “an apology and a warm invitation to rejoin the Club.”, as per the below extract.

…Briars has challenged us on re-admitting anyone who was disciplined without reviewing the notes of the disciplinary
…My apologies but this does mean it will take a bit longer to invite you back to the club...”

The new NSRC committee to us, the Outcasts (Andrew Hood, Neil Boston & Katrin Schwarz)
(18 January 2023)

On the face of it, the basis of Briars’ challenge — that the new committee hadn’t reviewed the documentation setting out the grounds for our expulsions — appears wholly reasonable. However, the information contained within this website provides sufficient incontrovertible evidence for the new committee to have arrived at a satisfactorily considered decision. Which they had.

After all, the site went live over two years ago, on 24 November 2021, and not once has the content been formally challenged as to its veracity — including the communications evidencing the club’s legal representative’s admission of the illegality of Andrew Hood’s and Neil Boston’s disciplinary hearings — not even by Briars who, at the committee meeting of 8 December 2021, confidently proclaimed that defamation action could proceed with the club’s insurer’s approval as chronicled here, Update 09: Erased from history…directors continue their vindictive, petty and cowardly abuse of power

Even had they wanted to review the disciplinary documentation the new committee couldn’t have done so, as on resigning his directorship — thereby reverting to being an ordinary member — Briars demonstrated that just as he was comfortable with acting illegally in office he was equally comfortable acting illegally as an ordinary member, by stealing the disciplinary documentation owned by the club.

In doing so Briars not only breached data protection legislation but also prevented the committee accessing the disciplinary documentation themselves, thereby rendering the club also in breach of data protection legislation and preventing the club fulfilling its statutory obligations.

Though the new committee were fully aware in January 2023 that Briars had stolen the disciplinary documentation no formal request for its return was issued by them until April 2023. Despite being informed of the various criminal offences relating to his actions Briars would go on to illegally withhold the stolen information for a further two months.

The consequneces of Briars’ further illegal activity, and its mismanagement by this new committee, are of huge significance and will be the subject of a, soon to be published, further update.

Despite the above, not only did the new committee capitulate to his threat, they went so much further to appease Briars by doing his dirty work for him.

Just two weeks after Briars issued his threat, the new committee, on 2 February 2023, informed us of the imposition of conditions on our rejoining the club, none of which had been imposed on any other member. Their original promise, to offer an apology and a warm invitation to rejoin the club, was now contingent on our acceptance of these conditions, the principal of which being the removal of this website from public view.

This website, since its initial publication, has been a constant thorn in Briars’ side and has clearly exercised him throughout the intervening period. After all, who would be comfortable with their wrongdoing and illegal activity being publicly exposed in such a fashion.

Given that several principal members of the new committee had, prior to their election to office, fully supported the website and acknowledged the part it had played in their election success, to now require its removal from public view further evidences their betrayal of us.

That said, we now believe that the new Garratt/Dand-led committee’s underlying attitude towards us has always been one of selfish indifference to our plight and can be summed up by the statement below, made by the current treasurer following the Briars-instigated illegal disciplinary proceedings which led to our expulsions.

…You are locked in confrontation with them [The Briars-led ‘Gang of Four’ committee] I don’t really care ; so long as I can play squash and the club is a good place for the time I spend there. “

Russell Foster (then ordinary member now Treasurer) to Andrew Hood
(30 April 2021)

Correspondingly, Russell Foster’s fellow directors barely lifted a finger to challenge Briars over our illegitimate expulsions.

Having, for two years, stood by in passive acceptance of the appalling catalogue of damage inflicted by the several Briars-led committees against us and the club, they took action only when they eventually recognised that the club’s demise was imminent — despite this website’s early indication that Briars was deliberately running the club into the ground — and they were about to lose their enjoyment of its facilities.

That this Dand-led committee is not only comfortable with the perpetuation of our illegitimate expulsions — implemented by Briars and his cohort of lapdog fellow directors — whilst refusing to take action against the perpetrators of so much wrongdoing further evidences their collective, selfish indifference to our plight as exemplified by the above quoted statement and actions.