From: Alec Renwick alec.renwick@nemaritimetrust.org.uk
Sent: 15 March 2024 12:49
To: Peter W; Branson, Richard; Paul Nicholson; Mick Dawson
Cc: Kevin Lund kevin.lund@nemaritimetrust.org.uk; Barnard, Keith; Dr Griffiths, Sue
Subject: Consider Urgent
He starts his self-promotion by broadcasting fraudulent misinformation about two of its long time serving of its members, Peter Weightman and Mick Dawson:-
Mr Weightman
It is apparent that you, presumably acting for (NFHT), have sent an unauthorised personal letter to NEMT members which contravenes data protection laws and your previous position as Secretary of this Trust.
I shall also remind you that data protection laws state that unauthorised use of personal data is an offence which can carry very high fines. Hypocrisy! it was not Peter Weightman but Alec Renwick who associated his supporters, Messrs Lund and Barnard with Peter, Paul, Richard, Mick Dawson and the Treasurer of NEMT.
In this case any member can ask for all data and messages he has regarding them, which must be supplied within 28 days. Peter Weightman responded soundly about 7 hours after receiving the false accusations made by Mr Renwick by raising four points:-
1 I would be grateful if you could distinguish between me, as a person, and the Northumbrian Fishing Heritage Trust. I was a founder of NEMT, for the larger part of its existence I was Chairman, I contributed a great amount of energy and made personal sacrifices, I passionately want to see a revival of it, and I will take those measures as are sound and lawful to encourage its return to its objectives – especially the maritime heritage objectives – and take steps to promote a return to good ethical standards, whilst endeavouring to avoid reputational damage to NEMT.
2 If I choose to communicate with my friends and colleagues, whose details I have in my file, and if I do so in a private and confidential manner – for the purpose of returning NEMT to its former path – then I am free to do so without seeking the consent of you or the board members.
3 If an NEMT member other than myself has been undertaking action to which you take exception, I suggest you take up that matter with him directly, you can also ask if he was undertaking those actions in his capacity as a member of NEMT or in a different capacity.
4 I note that you are conflating internal NEMT issues with another trust, i.e. the Northumbrian Fishing Heritage Trust. The two trusts are complementary, not competitors, and the NFHT was given charity accreditation with the active support of NEMT. The two trusts worked in fruitful co-operation for many years however there is no benefit accruing to the common cause of local maritime heritage by following a route of confrontation; a course of reconciliation should be the object of both trusts.
I also notice that Mick Dawson (NFHT) has conspired to scam our website with similar unauthorised data, blocking any input from NEMT.
An attempt to remove his access from our website about two years ago has obviously been circumvented, these actions must be removed immediately.
Collectively serious moves like this or any other planned obstructive practices should stop immediately.
With regards
Alec Renwick – NEMT Chairperson.
I had advised Peter at, 18:33 on March 15th, that Mr Renwick had been untruthful:-
Hi Peter,
It looks as if though Mr Renwick has lost the plot. Please remind him that I have owned the domain name nemaritimetrust.co.uk since we first set up the trust and that he must have been lying to the provider Tsohost, to convince them to remove its editorship from me, some time this morning.*
Please also remind him, if you take time to respond to his false accusations, that it not the sort of conduct one expects from the Chairman of a Trust.
All the best,
Mick
* 1. When Mr Renwick gained control of nemaritimetrust.co.uk by misinforming one of TSOHosts’ Agents is not known. I did not discover that I had been excluded from my own site until March 15th 2024.
2. A clue to what he may have told the Agent is revealed in the last paragraphs of his email to Peter:
I also notice that Mick Dawson (NFHT) has conspired to scam our website with similar unauthorised data, blocking any input from NEMT.
An attempt to remove his access from our website about two years ago has obviously been circumvented, these actions must be removed immediately.
I had given him almost total control of nemaritimetrust.co.uk because I had moved away from South Shields and was no longer an almost daily visitor to either the workshop or the slipway shed and thought that as NEMT’s secretary he would be in a much better position to reliably report what was happening on the site. I soon discovered that he had rewarded my trust in him by deleting much of what went on during the time that the Trust’s main business was in restoring fishing vessels.
It was when I discovered what he was doing that I, as the administrator of nemaritimetrust.co.uk, reduced his power to make changes to the site to zero. In retrospect I should have completely removed him altogether because it was not until I moved the site away from the provider, TSOHost, that I could remove him from nemaritimetrust.co.uk and was able to recover much of its lost history.
3. This note had only been copied to alec.renwick@nemaritimetrust.org.uk and two members of NFHT, yet Mr K Barnard appears to have been summonsed to add to the amount of fraudulent misinformation, and a further attack on Peter and myself, a couple of hours later.
Peter, reference your point 3 in the latest attack on the ellected board of NEMT.
Are you implying that a member of NEMT is responsible for this disgraceful personalised and aggressive attack.
I believe the person in question is in fact a member of NFHT board and has not been a member of NEMT for several years.
As you are no longer a member of the board of NEMT you will not be aware that NEMT is going from strength to strength.
Once more I find your attitude towards NEMT and it’s board together with your statement of how far you are willing to go to attain your own ambitions unacceptable.
Peter’s point 3 was more in the way of of a suggestion than a ‘disgraceful personalised and aggressive attack’:- If an NEMT member other than myself has been undertaking action to which you take exception, I suggest you take up that matter with him directly, you can also ask if he was undertaking those actions in his capacity as a member of NEMT or in a different capacity.
NEMT normally would have elected a new Chair at an AGM had the previous one stood down or passed away but this did not happen when the Chair, J Dudman died in 2020, which was understandable considering the circumstances and the notice of the AGM for 2021 fails to note that there would be any election for the new Chair and it appears that Mr Renwick assumed the Chairmanship because there were no objections.
The minutes of of the AGM held in 2022 appear to confirm Mr Renwick as the Chair of NEMT and that everything is in order but a year later I acquire 2 sets of minutes for the 2023 AGM, showing that everything was not in order.
Mick Dawson
20 March 2026