Just come to my notice in a Marathon Committee letter:

"... the BCU Board has introduced new regulations for the conduct of its
committees that came into effect from 1st May 2003. These new regulations
replace Part A of the Constitution on pages F1 and F2 of the Canoe Racing
Handbook." ie the section constitution

"Under the new regulations, general meetings ie AGMs become "consultative
meetings" and resolutions put before the meeting (apart from the election of
persons to serve on the committee) are treated as recommendations for further
consideration by the committee."

Presumably, the same changes to the constitutions of *all* BCU committees
will have been made.

AFAIK, none of this has been made public, nor been approved by ballot through
any AGM. It is yet another totalitarian diktat.

Worse still - certainly the case in racing (marathon and sprint) - is that
the majority of committee members are full or part-time employees of the
BCU/Sports Council. They are unlikely to accept any democratic decision that
might affect their employment - even if the decision is for the benefit of
the sport. They are unlikely to oppose any command from above that might
hinder their future prospects either in canoeing or in the other sports
organizations... just as we are seeing now with Clown Prince Albert claiming
his right to the BOA crown.

Decisions can be overturned by individuals with no knowledge, experience or
interest in the section or region - or even the sport as a whole.

Decisions can be imposed by unaccountable government quangos - and we, as
members of a so-called members' organization can do nothing about it.

Worse again: we are told that we should elect people we can trust on to the
committees - yet it is the Chairmen of those committees who have already
voted to accept these enforcements or failed to convince others that it is
wrong and anti-democratic. And the other committee members have failed to
defend our democratic rights.

The BCU is a members' organisation, and the Board should accept directions
from the constituent committees - NOT the other way around...

It's your sport. It's your BCU. Give your rights to the tyrants or do
something about it.

Allan Bennett

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