At a meeting with members of the brass band press at their head offices in Barnsley on Monday 13th August, the Executive Committee of the British Federation of Brass Bands issued a statement concerning recent issues which have affected the organisation.

BFBB response

Read by Chairman Robert Morgan MBE, it set out the BFBB’s response to the ongoing grievance procedure of Registry Manager Colin Johnson, the ongoing working situation at the British Brass Band Registry and the removal of Frank Hodges as a trustee of the Executive Committee of the BFBB.

A joint response from Frank Hodges and Colin Johnson has also been given to 4BR, which is stated as the end of this news article.

BFBB statement:

The BFBB Executive Committee statement reads as follows:

In November 2011 a solicitor acting on behalf of the Registry Manager, placed a grievance or grievances with his employer, The British Federation of Brass Bands. From November he has been on sick leave...

Since that time the BFBB accepts that under employment law, has had to respect the confidentiality of its employee.

Despite comments and articles from unknown or unrevealed sources being made in the banding press the BFBB has maintained this confidentiality by not responding to these claims or statements via the media.

The BFBB believes that after all the actions and efforts it has taken concerning the matters, it is now free to make some comments for the benefit of the charity, its members and those bands using the Registry.

It is to the bands that the BFBB now publicly apologises for being unable to do this before, for the reasons just given.

In an effort to keep dialogue open, an internal offer of mediation was made but offers during this process were rejected.

Therefore following grievance procedures a hearing duly took place. This panel consisted of trustees, Mrs Sally Coleman, Mr Ray Sykes and Mr Ian Carter.

The outcome of the hearing was to find no evidence to support the thrust of the grievance. The Registry Manager rejected the panel’s findings and through his solicitor requested mediation through ACAS.

ACAS was duly contacted and meetings were set up for Monday 6th August. However on Friday 3rd August ACAS were informed directly by the Registry Manager that he would not attend the meeting.

Following this the grievance panel informed the Registry Manager that following his refusal of mediation with ACAS, his grievance was now ended.

Turning now to the registry casual staff, the BFBB acknowledges the work done by them during the sickness period of the Registry Manager. Both are usually employed, as required, on a casual labour basis during busy periods of registry transactions.

They obviously do not have to accept any offer of work, but in not doing so they are not “on strike” as they erroneously implied in the message they sent out by means of misuse of the registry database.

Locks at the BFBB office have been changed for two reasons; to comply with insurance requirements and to prevent unauthorised access and removal of items such as band transactions from the office. Some bands’ post was removed from the office recently without authority.

The casual staff have not been locked out as stated in the press and via emails to bands, rather staff have not kept appointments with the temporary Line Manager, to collect new keys and to discuss how best to continue business.

During the last week the Registry office has been staffed by volunteers and we are now going through the process of clearing the backlog of mail.

This has been made more difficult by the Registry Manager altering the terms of the PO Box agreed for the Registry without consultation with the Executive; this is now being overcome.

BFBB sincerely apologises to bands and their hard working secretaries and to contest managements for any inconvenience caused during the past few weeks.

The Registry office will be manned from Wednesday, 10 am to 2 pm each day but bands are asked to be patient while the backlog is sorted and a permanent way forward put in place.

We would now like to make a statement concerning the removal of Mr Frank Hodges as a Trustee on the Executive Committee of the BFBB.

Following the BFBB’s successful application for the new Arts Council National Portfolio Funding Organisations the charity needed to restructure as a Company Limited by Guarantee in order to accept the new funding. This would give the opportunity for the BFBB’s old constitution to be updated and brought into the 21st Century.

The same working party that prepared the successful funding bid was tasked by the Executive to prepare a document to set out the way forward.

This document, called “Towards Incorporation” was completed in September 2011 and circulated to all trustees and staff before a meeting scheduled for 22 October 2011 at which the way forward would be considered and discussed.

Mr Hodges had previously been in disagreement with the rest of the Executive that the name of the charity may change to the English Federation of Brass Bands and that the name change was being forced on BFBB by UKBBA working party.

At the meeting on 22nd October Mr. Johnson and Mr. Hodges presented a document opposing many of the changes recommended in the “Towards Incorporation” document. When Mr. Johnson made a proposal to overturn the “Towards Incorporation” document he was told by the Chairman that a proposal from him as a member of staff, and not a trustee, could not be accepted.

At this stage Mr. Johnson left the meeting followed soon afterwards by Mr. Hodges.

Mr Hodges no longer attended meetings of the trustees, he failed to provide the treasurer with financial information concerning the Registry, and he did not pass on Mr Johnson’s sick notes from his doctor.

Following his absence from meetings over more than six months, his abandonment of his trustee duty to keep in mind the objects of the charity and his failure to provide the financial information that was under his responsibility, on 30th June 2012 the Executive agreed they had lost confidence in Mr. Hodges and a proposition to remove him as a trustee under the terms of our constitution was agreed unanimously by the meeting.

The BFBB deeply regrets the necessity of taking this action.

Finally, we would ask our members to appreciate the delicate nature of these circumstances, and thus our reluctance to discuss them earlier through the public media, but to be assured that the trustees have done their utmost to protect the reputation of the charity. At all times we have continued to act in the interests of the charity.

BFBB Executive Committee
13 August 2012

We note the statement given by the Executive Committee of the BFBB, the contents of which we strenuously refute. We will be seeking further legal adviceFrank Hodges & Colin Johnson

Joint statement response

In a joint statement in response to the BFBB statement, Frank Hodges and Colin Johnson told 4BR:

"We note the statement given by the Executive Committee of the BFBB, the contents of which we strenuously refute. We will be seeking further legal advice."