Ladies and Gents,
Having had a “ you are permanently banned from this site” message from the last ACC site(and not sure what I had done to upset people), I am delighted to find that under the new format I seem to have served my sentence and apparently been rehabilitated!!
I find this thread fascinating from a process point of view( and excuse me if I am covering old ground or teaching people to suck eggs – this is not my intent). Process issues should be non- emotive so here goes.
Extant Air Cadet rules and regulation documentation defines the roles and responsibilities of Civilian Committees. In essence, in financial terms, funding to support Air Cadet activities comes in two major streams public and non-public. Unless I have missed a trick the Civ Com are responsible for supporting the non –public side. They do this by raising subscriptions from cadets and through a programme of fund raising events. So far so good.
In terms of accommodation, HQAC working with and in support of Defence Estates (or whatever the current title is), and through the RFCAs provides new build accommodation, supports a maintenance programme, pays rents for non- MOD sites and pays heating and lighting bills. New build accommodation is provided against a scale with priorities being set both internally within the Air Cadets and externally through negotiation with the other cadet forces, usually the Army, for joint use accommodation.
It would appear from the information in the public domain that in this case the Civ Com of 863 Thurston Squadron ATC decided that, in their view, the current accommodation, for whatever reason, was inadequate. I assume that they made a case through the WgExO (AdO as was) for consideration during the annual review process and would guess that they were not successful. It would seem that as a result they formed the The Salmon Trust ( A company limited by guarantee) – sometimes known as a charitable trading company (Charity number 1128851
Company number 6807092), in order to pursue their aim of providing, in their view, more appropriate accommodation.
Further, it would appear that the Charities Commission considered that the aims and objectives of the Salmon Trust met the criteria for registration. It would be interesting to know if anyone at the Charities Commission contacted HQAC in order to clarify the role of the Civ Com and the responsibilities for the provision of accommodation. However, from the registration point onwards the Trustees of the Salmon Trust had rights and responsibilities under Charities Law.
The documents concerning the salmon Trust can be found on the Charities Commission website:
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityWithoutPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1128851&SubsidiaryNumber=0
I think that they make interesting reading (but then I am a sad man)
Purposes and Aims.
Our charity’s purpose as set out in the objects contained in the company’s memorandum of
association are to :
Help, encourage and support the work of the Air Training Corps (my underlining)and other organisations involved in the development of young people in Thurston Village and throughout West Suffolk. To work with young people to achieve their full physical, intellectual, social and
spiritual potential.
Objectives.
(a) The establishment of a community centre and to maintain or manage or cooperate with any appropriate authority in the maintenance and management of such a centre.
(b) The provision of recreational and leisure time activities provided in the interest of
social welfare, designed to improve their conditions of life.
© Providing support and activities which develop their skills, capacities and capabilities
to enable them to participate in society as mature and responsible individuals.
Summary of activities and achievements.
The trustees have identified a need within the Thurston 863 Air Training Corps for additional premises so that they are able to expand their recruitment and undertake more training for the development of the young cadets. It is apparent that for the squadron to thrive and extend the range of activities available that further space is required. The Trustees have continued raising funds and organising Architectural plans and Planning permission to build additional facilities to further the trusts objectives.
I have highlighted the element in bold for 3 reasons:
(1) The Salmon Trust are not building a new Sqn HQ but a community centre with all the complexities generated through sharing with other non-cadet organisations.
(2) I would guess that the Civ Com identified the “need” for larger premises, had it rejected by HQAC and then formed the Salmon Trust to pursue the same aim. The “need” was therefore not identified by the Trustees of an existing Charity - the charity was formed to pursue the accommodation “need” not deemed a high enough priority by the ACO.
(3) While the aims and objectives of the charity talks of working with other organisations none are mentioned by name
POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST?
From publically available documentation it would appear that there may be a number of members of the 263 Sqn Civ Com who also serve on the Salmon Trust Committee. Indeed the report from 2009-2010 indicates that
“The trustees have been drawn from the Thurston 863 Air Training Corps parents Committee.”
That being the case, the further statement that the substantial part of the monies donated to the Salmon Trust have come from the Civ Com would have all my alarm bells ringing very loudly.
In essence we seem to have a 863 Civ Com set up to support the non-publically funded side of the ATC donating money raised to support non –public expenditure to a charity that has been set up to provide facilities that are funded for the ATC from the public purse - the decision to transfer money being made by some of the same people that will be receiving it. I am sure that the Charities Commission will have considered all these aspects in their deliberations – I, for one, would love to see that report.
Given the way in which key individuals in this saga have made great play about their legal rights and responsibilities I am sure that any minutes of meetings of the Civ Com will record that those members who were dual hated with the Salmon Trust declared an interest and took no part in any discussion or vote concerning the transfer of funds!!!
In Conclusion:
• I have no idea how well or badly this was handled by the COC. Unfortunately these events too often disintegrate into an: I said, they said , now we’re all upset debate.
• From publically available information the Salmon Trust do not appear to be meeting their stated aim to “Help, encourage and support the work of the Air Training Corps (unless presumably as defined by them).
• There may well have been undeclared conflicts of interest.
• There is certainly an opportunity to review current regs to redefine the relationships between the different elements of the RAF Air Cadets.
• Too many people have lost sight of the fact that the RAF Air Cadets exist to provide opportunities for young people – far too often it is those same young people who become the real casualties of adult egos.
