Nearly a year ago I wrote to the Chair of former Charity, NORTHUMBRIAN FISHING HERITAGE TRUST * on Saturday, November 30, 2024 18:05 about my membership of NEMT.
Dear Peter,
Please excuse the formality and take a look down to the forwarded email of the 13th November from Mr Renwick and note that it has not been answered. It is now well over two weeks since it was sent and I can confirm that I have not received a registered delivery since I received his email of that date. It is also likely that he does know my address in Amble as it was known to Martin Wilson over 5 years ago when he wrote to me when I was the treasurer of NFHT.
From what I can gather the decision to remove me from the membership of NEMT was taken at, what appears to be a secret meeting of a very select few on the 30th April and it occurs to me that Mr Wilson’s membership was taken away by a similar process five years ago. I am led to believe that apart from Mr Renwick himself, there was Mr Lund, the NEMT treasurer Dr Sue Griffiths and possibly Mr Barnard.
I say possibly Mr Barnard because I was not informed of their decision until the 7th July or seven weeks after the meeting and but by that time I had been told by Dave Parker on the day of the failed relaunch of the Henry Frederick Swan that Mr Barnard and NEMT had parted company. The relaunch failed because of the misalignment of the slipway rails about halfway between the shed and river at low water. It had caused trouble for years and the fix was for someone to lever the bogie onto the lower stretch of that rail with the aid of a six foot scaffolding pole.
It is very easy and rather satisfying and I have done it a couple of times over the years but it needs three working together because the winchman cannot accurately gauge where the bogie is on the slipway once it has left the shed and it needs someone to stand in the middle of the shed/slipway to communicate with the winchman and the member keeping the bogie on track. I have taken the trouble got through this in detail to because Mr Renwick said of the Launch Day Event in his Summer Newsletter:-
This was going to be early April but unfortunately very strong winds and a big swell stopped us from launching from the NEMT boatshed.
It was not very windy and there was certainly no swell but far more reaching were his lies about the website nemaritimetrust.co.uk:-
Headline News – Due to unforeseen circumstances our Website is currently still offline. We apologise if you have been affected by this or for any inconvenience caused.
Two lies – 1. it was neither his nor NEMT’s and 2. it was not offline. It had been working sufficiently well over the couple of months since it has been with its new provider long enough to attract the interest of a couple of hundred souls who shared our interest in preserving old fishing boats such as the Favourite.
In the last few days the post views passed 50,000, which I find rather pleasing, especially as I have been told that 60% of them are from outside the UK.
I digress, on the morning of the failed attempt to launch the HFS I was wondering whether it was worth bothering to explain some of this to Dave when our conversation was interrupted by Mr Renwick asking to have a word with me and I simply told him to put his request in writing but he made very obvious that he was not pleased with my request so I made my apologies to Dave and left to go and get the Shields Ferry. Mr Renwick’s version is somewhat different:-
As you know I offered to talk to you sometime, but you refused. You also stated in passing “that I would know why”
While I understand your reticence about this, I certainly don’t know why.
Except to say that with past experience, email communications can be dangerous in cases like this and difficult to control. That is why my offer to discuss face to face was made in the best way possible manner.
It was especially dangerous for the likes of Messrs Renwick and Barnard but not for those that seek the truth and statements made in writing about what was said at meetings become libel rather than slander and here I will take the opportunity to take you back a year to the claim made by Mr Renwick, 6-Jan-23, for not releasing a copy of the minutes of the AGM held in November 2022:-
In reference to you request for the November minutes.
There is currently a concern about the accuracy of the transcript. . . .
Further to your slanderous accusations.
Please supply the evidence you use to form these beliefs.
Two days later Mr Barnard also falsely accused me of slander and it looks like Sue and Alex were given the stark choice of believing Messrs Renwick and Barnard or myself:-
Subject: Slanderous Accusations
Dear Sir, I am a trustee of NEMT and as such am one of the people against whom you are making the grounds less, mindless accusations.
Fifteen months later and still no let up from Mr Barnard who had responded on the 17th March 2024 to my email to you of the day before under the title of Consider Urgent:-
I note that you are not a member of NEMT but are a director of nfht whom, I assume you speak for.
I am an ellected member of NEMT and was ellected by the membership because they wished me to take that position. It’s called democracy.
The reason you have not seen the minutes is because you are not a member, just thought I would clear that question up for you
This time he was no doubt referring to the NEMT AGM of the 9th of March in his email of 17th March. I did not respond to his email but wrote to Mr Renwick saying:-
First: I want to dispel the rumour going around that Peter Weightman as one of NFHT, had anything to do with the alterations made by me to the NEMT website. In fact he asked me to remove the most contentious of them and I was in the process of doing that when it appears the provider, TSOHOST was told I was not a member of NEMT and I was excluded from nemaritimetrust.co.uk and was not able to complete Peter’s request.
More to the point I add in my email of the 19th:-
Secondly: in his email dated 17-Mar-24, Mr Barnard says that I am not a member of NEMT which both, you and I, know to be untrue.
To force the second point home about being a member of NEMT, I attached/copied him the image of two standing orders, one for the CKS and one for NEMT in my email but before I close I’m rather curious to know why he wishes me to acknowledge his email of 7th July, “Micheal, You will have received a recorded delivery letter regarding the immediate deletion of your NEMT membership. Please acknowledge receipt of this email.” and 13th November, please see below.
I have never received any recorded mail from Mr Renwick!
Perhaps the attendees of the meeting of April 30th can tell me why?
Keep safe
Cheers Mick
* NFHT no longer exists. It has been replaced by Charity numbered: 1210068, the Northumbria Fishing Heritage.