Some IoW members attended the AGM in Llandudno and
although they sensed some unease within the hierarchy there did not appear to
be too much amiss within the organisation. Plans were laid and groups of
members volunteered to carry out tasks such as looking into uniforms etc. We
were part of one such group, and tasked to report back to HQ in time for the
next AGM. Then, like a bolt from the blue, just two months later we hear that
the Management Committee has been suspended for alleged irregularities and an
Interim Management Group formed and put into place, albeit headed at that time
by John Holland, the Chairman of the Management Committee, so we felt that
perhaps all was under control. We waited
patiently for notification of an EGM but none came; surely the membership
should have had the opportunity to have an input and were entitled to an
explanation of what was going on!
A few months went by and John Holland, a well
respected and well known personality within the membership was gone too – who
then are the governors that are left? Mainly a group of middle-management
uniformed personnel, the RVO’s (Vol. Lieutenant Commanders). There also seems
to be a witch-hunt on to get certain senior officers out of post. We are after
all a disciplined, uniformed organisation with a rank structure and therefore a
chain of command! Something appears wrong with a structure that permits this to
occur – the tail is wagging the dog! The RVO’s should never have been put into
such an impossible position and that is
a major design fault of the present system which needs rectifying. Reading the minutes
of IMG meetings it is apparent that “management” considers that a senior
officer taking the initiative, when nothing was being done at higher levels,
i.e. to get the Training Manual promulgated is wrong. We believe he was doing
his job. Maybe it was the same with other situations?
The MVS was formed by ex-RNXS personnel who strongly
believed that there were still tasks that had been covered by the RNXS which a
voluntary organisation could continue therefore the MVS was formed on similar
lines to the RNXS, with a rank/rate structure and uniform that would be
recognised within the maritime organisations it hoped to serve. Our links with
the MCA and HMCG as instanced by “Napoli”
grounding have proved that the strategy worked. It certainly works here on the
island. We wouldn’t be where we are now if we had been a sloppy outfit in tee
shirts, jeans and baseball caps! Most members joined the MVS because they liked
what they saw, what it had to offer; the fact that it has an organised rank
structure and is a disciplined, smartly turned out organisation and from this
it can offer a trained cadre of personnel to work in conjunction with other
agencies.
We note that the IMG is supposed to have circulated a
document “The Way Ahead” in late summer 2007 – but you stated that only 8
members replied – The IW unit did not
receive any such document! If we had we most certainly would have
replied. Surely by getting such a low return it must have been obvious that
something was amiss. How many other units/members did not receive the document?
During late August ’07 the IW Unit was involved with both Poole and Portsmouth units and the
RVO at two major events, which included social time together, yet no mention
was made of this document.
Have the 8 members of the FSG consulted any members inside
or outside their own units as to what they would like or if in fact they want
any change at all? They certainly have not consulted any of the IW members who
do not agree with many of their proposals.
Looking at the list of names they appear to be
regular contributors to the Forum, voicing very controversial, often destructive
views and very critical of the management. The Forum is an undisciplined medium
of communication and could easily become detrimental to the MVS, unless strict
codes of conduct are put in place and adhered to. If people do not like the MVS as it is then why did
they join? If an organisation is not to your liking should you
not go and join [one] that suits you, rather than try to wreck what
others are satisfied with.
The current structure of the MVS is not beyond saving,
although we do agree that it needs some tweaking, but it does not require such
radical changes as are being proposed. It has provision for and desperately
needs to have a uniformed Captain
at the helm, a Board of Trustees and
a Management Committee who are not
uniformed members of
the MVS. The IW Unit membership here does not want to have an organisation
that operates like a political party, trade union or a yacht club, with an
Operational Chairman, Secretary this and Secretary that: it does not suit a
disciplined, uniformed organisation and we strongly object to being addressed
as Shipmate. We are totally committed to the general principles of the current
basic structure with some changes but remaining with the same uniform. On the
basis of what the MVS is now and since the IW Operations Branch Seminar in
November ’07 our membership has increased by 30%.
We do not believe that any changes should be made by a postal ballot without there
first being an AGM where views can be thoroughly aired.
David Dobson HoU, Isle of Wight