The following is a response statement to Rachael Towler’s petition, dated October 2020, to overthrow the BNTVA board of Trustees. The Trustees were advised to make this statement public by our solicitor. 

RT: VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE FOR TRUSTEES 

The British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (Charity Number 1173575) 
 
We, the undersigned members of The British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (BNTVA) have composed this letter to express our dissatisfaction with the following trustees (Mrs C McDade, Mr J McDade, Mr A Jones, Mr W Perriman, Mr D Taunt, Mrs S Grigg and Mr J Lax) 

BNTVA RESPONSE: The author of this petition, Rachael Towler, has never been a member or part of the associate membership of the BNTVA. Ms Towler paid £25, the annual BNTVA UK individual membership rate, on behalf of her father, on 28th November 2019. It was initially agreed that this would cover a one-year subscription; this was extended at no extra cost by Ceri McDade (Chair) in the Autumn of 2020 to 31st March 2021. 

There is no such person as Mrs S Grigg, rather Miss M Grigg. 

Of the 116 people who have signed this petition, 35 are anonymous, 81 have given their name. Of the 81, 57 are not and have never been members of the BNTVA. Only 24 visible names on this petition are associate members. One of these associate members has sadly since passed away. Before his death, this veteran kindly requested for his funeral collection to be donated to the BNTVA, which it was, and has been gratefully received by the Charity. 

RT: We understand the severity of this decision and did not arrive at it hastily. 

Over the past several years, the BNTVA has functioned well together, as a cohesive group. We have always been a group that felt more like family. We have been proud of the work they do, working collaboratively, and felt like our input made a difference. 

Throughout last 6 months since Mrs C McDade took over as Chairman, we have had concerns regarding her competence, professionalism, and leadership specifically regarding trust, integrity, collaboration, decision making, vision, and her lack of respect for other staff and members. 

BNTVA RESPONSE: Currently, the BNTVA has no staff, and the majority of trustees work on a full-time basis as volunteers, carrying out both the governance and daily operational work of the Charity. The trustees appoint a Chair, Vice-chair, Treasurer and Secretary from the trustee board. There are currently 10 trustees, of which two are from the prior existing group, four joined in April and four joined from July onwards. 

Ceri became Chair by a unanimous decision on 11 June, after Alan Owen had resigned from the Charity on 8 June, 2020. When Rachael Towler submitted the attached petition in October 2020, Ceri had been Chair for four months, not six, as stated. Since June, the BNTVA has become outward-looking, building relationships with a number of welfare and military charities, including the Nuclear Community Charity Fund (NCCF). Ceri has instigated and developed collaborations, including a partnership with the Silver Line Charity/Age UK, to deliver two Telephone Friendship Groups for veterans, which the BNTVA is also looking to provide for wives and widows. This is dependent upon fundraising, which Ceri will carry out, after having set up two fundraising departments previously in a large London housing association and a charity. 

The BNTVA has changed the format of its magazine to become more disability aware, and issued two magazines and a Christmas newsletter since August 2020 (with a further Spring 2021 magazine awaiting despatch). The trustees have also updated the website and are rebuilding the BNTVA shop, with a new array of products. 

Ceri has a successful background of working in health, welfare, social care and fundraising in the charity and public sector for nearly 30 years, and has a personal understanding of the BNTVA’s cause as the daughter of a nuclear test veteran. Additionally, she has developed positive relationships with a number of healthcare providers concerning elderly veterans, and brought issues which weren’t previously known about regarding gaps in provision in welfare and research to the Office of Veterans’ Affairs.  Ceri has made strides in gaining interest within relevant establishments concerning nuclear veterans and descendants, has formed a positive relationship with Brunel University’s Centre for the Health Effects of Radiological and Chemical Agents (CHRC) since commencing as Chair, three royal medical colleges, and the NHS in the four nations. Ceri and Wesley have developed a collaborative relationship with an award-winning film producer who works with the Imperial War Museum, a number of multi-disciplinary academics and military museums. 

The trustees, under Ceri’s Chairpersonship, work excellently together as a team, and are continuing to lay many hours of groundwork to move the Charity forward in an inclusive manner. The BNTVA is focused around a 2021-2024 strategy, to work towards a fully beneficiary-centred and forward-thinking Charity, respected and pro-active in the charity and military sector. 

RT: Under her control, the BNTVA has changed from a caring, trusting environment to a toxic environment for both trustees, members, and previous board members. There have been attacks on members using social media, derogatory comments made to members, threats and a racial post made on Facebook referencing ISIS. 

BNTVA RESPONSE: The current environment within the Charity is not toxic as Ms Towler maintains, and in fact, before Mrs McDade and the majority of the trustees became trustees, there was a culture of complaints and grievances within the trustee group. In February 2020, before eight of the new trustees joined the charity, one trustee took out two complaints against two trustees. Despite the fact that the trustees apologised for no real reason, the complainant pursued the grievances, then resigned with three other trustees. Subsequently, one of the remaining trustees assumed the position of BNTVA Chair, forcing one trustee to resign for no valid reason and allow the others to return.  In June 2020, a similar situation arose and the same trustees resigned again; the trustee who had assumed control previously attempted to force trustees to resign once again to allow the others to return. This time, to move the Charity forward, the request was declined. The toxic environment left with those trustees. 

Ms Towler does not know who the members are as she has provided no evidence of the claims she has made regarding social media, derogatory comments and threats. Concerning the ‘racial’ post, this was purposefully misconstrued and used by ex-trustees later on 9/11 as a personal attack on the Chair.   

RT: We feel she has a lack of attention to, preparation for, or appropriate prioritizing of, the requirements and interests of BNTVA, as well as a failure to recognize and respect the expertise of the trustee board and the input from members. 

BNTVA RESPONSE: The trustees, under Mrs McDade’s chairmanship, have consciously kept to the constitutional objects of the Charity in all planning and work carried out by the BNTVA. These objects were agreed by the Charity Commission in 2017. The current objects of the BNTVA are: 

(1) To relieve the needs of the British Nuclear Family, formed of veterans of the British Nuclear Testing Programme, their families and descendants, extending to any person who may have encountered potential clastogenic exposure of radiological or chemical agents by providing financial assistance and support by way of grants gifts or other ways that the trustees see fit. 

(2) To conduct or promote research into the causes and effects and treatment of such clastogenic exposure and to disseminate the results of such research. 

(3) To advance education of the public by gathering and preserving the heritage of the experiences of the members of the British Nuclear Community. 

Ceri does recognise and respect the expertise of the trustee board, sharing ideas and healthy discussion in all matters with the board of trustees. The trustees are the only members of the BNTVA, as per the BNTVA Constitution 2017: 

16. Membership of the CIO 

(1) The members of the CIO shall be its charity trustees for the time being. The only persons eligible to be members of the CIO are its charity trustees. Membership of the CIO cannot be transferred to anyone else. 

(2) Any member and charity trustee who ceases to be a charity trustee automatically ceases to be a member of the CIO. 

The current board of trustees works well together in the interests of the BNTVA, veterans, wives, widows, descendants and interested stakeholders. 

RT: We feel that there is an inconsistent approach in application of policy and protocol and has an ongoing and uncorrected lack of respect toward members and trustees, ignoring telephone calls, emails, and personal communications. The telephone line is unanswered and the text a friend service has been abolished. Under their control of the Association, they have deleted questions from members and threatened legal action against previous trustees.

BNTVA RESPONSE: What Ms Towler is unaware of is that the former trustees 

• failed to complete an adequate handover, 
• stole data from the organisation, 
• erased data, 
• withheld membership data, 
• failed to disclose some usernames and passwords, 
• failed to return equipment, and even erased returned drives.   

When the current board of Trustees came into being in June 2020, the lack of policies and protocols were astonishing, even lacking an adults’ safeguarding policy when the BNTVA’s majority of beneficiaries are older adults. Over the past months, Ceri, John Lax and Wesley have concentrated on previously lacking governance and produced the following policies, as these policies had not existed before June: 

• adults’ safeguarding, 
• finance, 
• fundraising, donations & sponsorship, 
• reserves, 
• equality & diversity, 
• conflicts of interest, 
• health and safety, 
• expenses, 
• collections development, 
• anti-fraud, bribery & corruption. 

The trustees are unclear as to Ms Towler’s allegations concerning failures in communication, and the supposed abolition of the text a friend service, as this is untrue. This sentence is utterly false, as we have daily contact with veterans, wives, widows and descendants seven days a week by phone, email and messenger, despite accusations to the contrary. 

As Ms Towler has been informed and is aware, if defamatory statements are made on the BNTVA Facebook wall, the BNTVA leads discussion to messenger, email or over the telephone, as is our duty as trustees under due diligence set out by the Charity Commission of England and Wales, our regulator. The trustees are aware of Charity Commission guidance concerning reputational damage, have been in close contact with the Charity Commission about this petition and these issues, and abide by their requests to protect the reputation of the Charity under a revised BNTVA social media policy. We accept healthy feedback, and often appeal for opinions of the associate membership, as requested in Campaign magazines. 

We are perplexed at Ms Towler’s statement concerning legal threats to ex trustees, as Mr Owen primarily threatened Ceri with legal action on 23 June 2020 and on 4 August 2020 by email. It was only after then that, after notifying the Charity Commission, that trustees felt the need to fully safeguard the Charity from this behaviour. 

RT: Even when input is sought, there is a failure to follow through or a total disregard for the ideas of many; when communication occurs, it is too often delayed and incomplete. Her decisions seem to be primarily made for her own benefit rather than for the benefit of the Association and its members. There is an overall feeling that the Association has lost its focus and is no longer campaigning for Recognition for the members. 

BNTVA RESPONSE: Ms Towler has again provided no evidence of her claims. Ms Towler fails to realise that the objects of organisation were changed by the previous trustees in 2017, under the Chairmanship of Alan Owen, and Vice-chair Sandie Hern. Mr Owen changed the BNTVA from a campaigning charity seeking recognition, to a welfare and research-based Charitable Incorporated Organisation. This significant alteration included a change in status of the Charity’s membership as per clause 16 of the BNTVA Constitution 2017 above. The trustees became the members, and the membership that Ms Towler refers to, became the associate members. This change significantly altered how the ‘membership’ interacts with the Charity. It should be noted Ms Towler is not a member or associate member, and has no say in the BNTVA Charity. 

RT: We need a different, more solid leadership. The reputation of the BNTVA has been brought into disrepute by the actions of these trustees with their social media posts, argumentative nature and treatment of members and other trustees. We are insisting in a change of leadership. 

BNTVA RESPONSE: Ex trustees and certain individuals, including Rachael Towler, have brought the BNTVA into disrepute via social media. Current trustees have been bullied and harassed on Facebook since 4 August, the day after Mr Owen’s sister Laura posted an email on the unofficial BNTVA Facebook group sent from Ceri to Mr Owen, which has perpetuated misunderstanding and trouble on social media pages and groups ever since.  The trustees have been in a position of attempting to minimise disruption, remove noxious comments and bring discussion to a more private one-to-one setting to promote understanding and sensitively deal with any issues raised. The very nature of this petition reflects the actions of bringing the BNTVA into disrepute. 

RT: We are unanimous in our support of this vote. 

BNTVA RESPONSE: Ms Towler has not provided any evidence of who ‘we’ are, and we assume she is acting alone, whilst attempting to undermine and damage the BNTVA Charity 1173575.