Austrian Alpine Club (UK) Ltd

My Credo

My emailed attempt to resolve the issue internally


From: AAC (mel.aac@blue-roan.org)
Sent: 03 April 2023 @ 13:10
To: Diana Rayner (dianarayner@hotmail.com)
Subject: The AAC(UK)'s Future

Dear Diana

I hold you in the highest regard and fully support your chairmanship.

  1. In a private email to Chairman Mike in early 2017 I questioned his having incorporated our Club on the 11th of September 2015 behind the backs of the members in contravention of both our Constitution and the legal requirements laid down by Companies House. He angrily denied the evidence and refused to listen.
  2. This made me start investigating everything else the Club did, which was easy, since before I finally retired, I was a self-employed (personally VAT-registered) Management Consultant. It immediately became apparent that we were evading the legal requirement have our accounts audited annually. I drew this to the attention of Chairman Mike in late 2017, but he hotly denied my claim and refused to challenge the evidence. Had he thought my evidence even possibly untrue he would surely not have missed such a heaven-sent opportunity to ridicule me for being wrong. His failure to do so suggests that he must have been already well-aware of the audit evasion.
  3. I deemed the best course of action would be to join the Board in order to take up these issues with the Directors privately, so I was elected to the Board at the 7th October 2017 AGM. At my first (and only) Board meeting on the 24th March 2018, the Directors had presumably been pre-briefed my Mike, since they unanimously and somewhat crossly rounded on me for holding unacceptable views, forcing my resignation.
  4. The Board thereby scored an ‘own-goal’, since my next course of action was to analyse everything the Club did and to web-publish the evidence as an unsolicited management survey report (in late-2019). It was edited and strengthened on numerous occasions since. My attempts in 2020, 2021 and 2022 to persuade selected Directors to open it and read it were a waste of time, falling on deaf ears, since they had presumably been persuaded never to open any website of mine and to avoid any communication with me.
  5. Mike stood no chance of refuting my solid evidence, so he set out to destroy my reputation in the eyes of the members, hoping to drive me out of the Club. He published a whole string of lies about my proposed resolutions made at the 2019 AGM, where he refused to allow me to challenge them, so the members believed them.
  6. The meet planning team were persuaded to downgrade all official meets I had already organised for the Club but which had yet to take place, to become merely MENOCs, (even though some of them were already fully booked), and no explanation was forthcoming from anyone, however hard I sought a reason. When my later meet proposals were emailed to the Office, as requested, Cat confirmed by email that she had forwarded them to the relevant meet planning official. Since no such official would fail to open and read emails from our own Office, they cannot have inadvertently ended up in their junk email folder. However, they were never even acknowledged and the proposed events were successfully prevented, presumably because Mike did not want me to have any further involvement with the Club, supporting his requirement to drive me out. This might be why my Spring Newsletter has not arrived, To show their gratitude, the Board rewarded him with Life Membership.

On the one hand, I totally forgive the Club in general and Mike in particular for all damage done to me personally, since I have always refused to bear personal grudges as a matter of firm principle. On the other hand, it is not for me to offer forgiveness on behalf of the membership as a whole for the damage done to the Club.


THE CONSTRUCTIVE WAY AHEAD

The ball is in the Board’s court. I would be delighted to meet the Board of Directors for a full, free, frank and friendly discussion about these issues, aimed at defining the optimum way ahead, but only if it is carried out face-to-face in person and not via Zoom, in the presence of no-one but me and the Directors, and with all Directors attending having read the entire contents of the management survey report currently at www.austrian-alpine-club.co.uk in advance, which would save us all a lot of time at the meeting.

To prove my own keen long-term affection for the Club, I have been producing an online version of each Newsletter each quarter even though they never see the light of day. I started doing so when I was our Club Webmaster (2005 – 2011), when they were incorporated into our club website, and I have been producing them ever since. They are much easier to read than the pdf versions since each article is in one column on its own page and the scrolling is easier. They should ideally be read on a laptop or tablet.

With warm personal regards to you personally,

Mel Owen


Diana Rayner's Response

From: Diana Rayner (dianarayner@hotmail.com)
Sent: 04 April 2023 @ 16:06
To: Mel Owen (mel.aac@blue-roan.org)
Subject: The AAC(UK)'s Future

Dear Mel,

Thank you for being my supporter. The role of Chairman can be a lonely one, and your kind words are good to read. But in fact, I also have an excellent team of volunteers to work with.

That's why I am writing to assure you that we are conducting our affairs legally. In any circumstance where we feel it is necessary, we seek advice from experts.

The Board, the Officers and the other volunteers share not only a love for the mountains and Austria, but also a desire to work for the Club with integrity, and to do our very best for the members. If I did not feel sure of this, I would not be able to remain as Chairman.

You mention that your spring Newsletter has not arrived. It was published at the start of March (edition 237). If you have renewed for 2023 but haven't received that copy, please let me know and I'll ask the Office to send you a spare. The next is due in early June.

I hope you are enjoying a bit of sunny weather, as we are. And I hope Mary is well.

With kind regards,

Diana


The Obvious Conclusions and the Only Way Ahead

Why do we “seek advice from experts” when all we need is an understanding of the English Language. The HMRC website tells us all we need to know, it is very precisely expressed, and it is easily understandable.

Once again, no attempt whatsoever has been made to disprove the thoroughly well documented evidence. It has simply been rejected out of hand without any attempt to suggest where and how it might be wrong.

Diana had obviously carefully read the contents of the above email, since she picked out newsletter-non-delivery for comment.

Since our Board of Directors are quite convinced that no laws have been broken, no tax has been evaded, and no audit rules have been ignored, I cannot possibly do any harm to the Club if I submit this evidence to HMRC, since obviously, they will reject it and give the Club the ‘all clear’. This must obviously be the only possible outcome, since the only two other outcomes, (either the Board are totally incompetent or the Directors are trying to hide lawlessness) are obviously impossible.


My next email to Diana Rayner

From: AAC (mel.aac@blue-roan.org)
Sent: 19 June @ 2023 @ 14:34
To: Diana Rayner (dianarayner@hotmail.com)
Subject: Potential £1,000.00 donation to the Hut Fund

Dear Diana,

I promise to donate ONE THOUSAND POUNDS to the AAC(UK) Hut Fund, if but only if -----
... you forward this email to all members of our Board of Directors,
and if each of them opens http://austrian-alpine-club.co.uk and studies the linked web pages covering our audit evasion and unlawful incorporation, and then positively assures me by individual email to mel.aac@blue-roan.org that they have read and understood the whole of these two web pages and are personally convinced of the following:

  1. The Club has not been illegally evading the auditing of our accounts,
  2. The Club did not incorporate unlawfully,

What has the Board to lose by doing so? The Hut Fund will certainly not gain £1,000.00 from me if they take no action!

I would be delighted to enjoy a full, free, frank, friendly, and constructive face-to-face discussion about these issues with the Board if invited to do so.

Mel Owen


Diana Rayner's Response

From: Diana Rayner (dianarayner@hotmail.com)
Sent: 25 June 2023 @ 08:45
To: Mel Owen (mel.aac@blue-roan.org)
Subject: The AAC(UK)'s Future

Dear Mel,

I'm so sorry you are still worried about this! I really don't want you to feel that the AAC(UK) is being run carelessly, because it isn't.

The Board is a group of ordinary members, all of whom do their best for the Club (as you did when you were a volunteer) and all of whom are responsible individuals who only want the Club to succeed by being operated legally and fairly.

I am currently in Austria, organising a meet. The weather's lovely and eight members are arriving at the local station this afternoon. Looking forward to getting boots on and up the mountains tomorrow!

With kind regards,

Diana


My next email to Diana

From: AAC (mel.aac@blue-roan.org)
Sent: 19 June 2023 14:34
To: Diana Rayner (dianarayner@hotmail.com)
Subject: Potential £1,000.00 donation to the Hut Fund

Dear Diana,

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by inviting your fellow Directors’ opinions.

What follows is a very careful review of your most recent email to me.

Yours sincerely,

Mel Owen


“I'm so sorry you are still worried about this!“

You are mistaken, I am not in the slightest bit worried about it, I am quite laid-back about the Club’s management failures.

“I really don't want you to feel that the AAC(UK) is being run carelessly, because it isn't.”

My feelings are irrelevant. The facts prove beyond any doubt whatsoever that the Club is guilty of breaking the law, firstly by incorporation and secondly by audit evasion. I have not stated any opinions, I have merely revealed facts, facts which cannot be challenged by anyone.

“The Board is a group of ordinary members, all of whom do their best for the Club (as you did when you were a volunteer) and all of whom are responsible individuals who only want the Club to succeed by being operated legally and fairly.”

Good! Then the evidence proving the Club’s unlawful incorporation and audit evasion should be placed before the Directors for their own opinions. If all directors agree with you, the Hut Fund will swiftly gain £1,000.00. If you refuse to alert the Directors, it can only mean that you know that I am right. I must be right, or I would be losing £1,000.00.

“On your second point, at the time of transition to the new website the format of the digital newsletter was carefully considered in light of a review of internal processes and a website click analysis. The PDF was chosen for various reasons, including its easy access from all sorts of mobile devices, and our wish to be closely aligned with the ÖAV.”

You are either guessing or flannelling or have been misinformed. The PDF version of the Newsletter has existed for decades. This is because the input to modern printing presses is digital in PDF format. It was left unchanged since having always existed and being always required anyway, it required no effort to publish. Alignment with the ÖAV has no relevance. You are not putting the best interests of the reader first. My version of our latest newsletter is easily readable on a smartphone held horizontally, whereas the PDF version isn’t easily readable on a smartphone at all. Try both and you will see.


My final email to Diana

From: AAC (mel.aac@blue-roan.org)
Sent: 27/08/2024 @ 15:00
To: Diana Rayner (dianarayner@hotmail.com)
Subject: Potential £1,000.00 donation to the Hut Fund

Dear Diana,

I will learn a lot from discovering in due course whether this email ever reaches you and if so whether you respond to it or not.

Recent emails I have sent to the AAC Office and to Peter Finch have been declined by their intended recipients, undoubtedly on instructions made behind my back by Mike Garrett.

Mike Garrett has been unable to challenge any of the truths I have revealed about the lawlessness he enforced on the Club, documented in www.austrian-alpine-club.co.uk , so he has fallen back on trying to destroy me in the eyes of members with a raft of lies told about me behind my back. hoping that this will drive me out of the Club. It won’t work! I am digging my heels in. Retired Senior Military Officers stand up to bullying and never retreat from it.

If you key ‘Austrian Alpine Club UK’ into the Bing search engine you will discover that my AAC website is listed 3rd, 5th and 6th in the listed results. It will only be a matter of time before the law catches up on the revelations meticulously documented in www.austrian-alpine-club.co.uk, which is why Mike is so intent on destroying me.

Your best bet to escape conviction yourself is to ignore Mike and request all Directors to open and read www.austrian-alpine-club.co.uk. In the unlikelihood that they collectively prove that the Club has done nothing illegal, I promise to make a £1,000 donation to the Hut Fund. What have you possibly got to lose?

Yours sincerely,

Mel Owen




I have now given up, since it was onviously a complete waste of time. To prove that you have read this webpage, please be able to quote the name 'Hamlet'.

The underlying cause of the Board's refusal to open and read this website is that Mike Garrett has very successfully ordered them not to do so. He doesn't want them to become aware of his mismanagement record.


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