Charity Shop a Business?

What is the Fylde Ex-Service Liaison Committee?

Purpose
The aim and object of the present Liaison Committee is to further the interests of the members of the affiliated organisations of the Committee and of Ex-Servicemen generally. Membership is open to all ex-service organisations in the Fylde area, and there are now about thirty in number. These Associations, which have originated from every wing of the armed forces, are combined together in this Committee to achieve those objectives.

This looks admirable until you start to ask questions.

1. 1 Is it a charitable institution or a business?

1. 2 Who gave this body the authority to ACT for all the legitimate charitable service organisations?

1. 3 Where is this Feslc constitution?

1. 4 What ever happened to the Mayor’s Fund which at the turn of the millennium had about £5k in the coffers for the Mayor to use for Blackpool people who were recruited in Blackpool, served in the war, returned to Blackpool and had fallen on hard times? For some reason the access point to this fund had migrated to the Chair of the Feslc. Try to get a couple of quid out of it and you were blanked. Raise concerns and the threats and intimidation started. See what they did to Steve Flanigan when he tried to educate the membership of his Forces Association to his misgiving.

Strangely, minutes of meetings suddenly became inaccessible. To view old minutes members had to travel from all parts of the country to access them, then only in the Secretary’s private offices and only under the scrutiny of that Secretary. Must have learned is Office management in Moscow! Evidence of this has been published on this web site and on Phil the One on the lead up to the last general Election. All this when every word was supposedly on a computer, had email access and some of which minutes were distributed by electronic messaging.

Now, guess what. Concerned parties are being informed that the paper trail can only be accessed through a Private Office and only with the Official present. Sounds familiar?

So it appears that there is a company being run under the guise of a Charity. It cannot be co-incidence that the company used a name that could so easily be recognised and mistaken for well known and respected charity.

That same body attempted to hi-jack the only registered Forces Charity in Blackpool and usurp its credentials over that of a registered charity. I apologise to Mrs Mullins on behalf of all regular former servicemen and women who have nothing to do with these dubious organisations.

Charities get certain dispensations from council in the way of tax free periods and from landlords with ultra cheap or no rents.

1. 5 Has the shop on Bank Heys Street benefited from these privileges?

There will be a meeting soon of this august body and I wonder who will be allowed to attend. I am informed that the Secretary, Mr Arthur Roe has been told his presence will not be welcome. So much for openness! My service organisation will not attend, the Green Beret Royal Marine Commando Association – we are what it says on the label - because we refuse to affiliate to this dubious body and our allegiances remain at HQ in Deal, even though there is a forum here in Blackpool.

1. 6 As we understand, this is not a charity but is running as a company; so does it abide by the following directive?

A. Accounts

All limited companies, whether trading or not, must keep accounting records and file accounts for each accounting period with the Registrar.

Unless a company is claiming exemption as a medium-sized, small, audit-exempt or dormant company, the accounts will include:

• directors' report signed by a director or the company secretary;
• a balance sheet signed by a director;
• a profit and loss account (or income and expenditure account if the company is not trading for profit);
• an auditors' report signed by the auditor;
• notes to the accounts; and
• group accounts (if appropriate).

Councillor Maneur said in the Gazette article that he had been specifically head hunted by the MoD to promote the Veterans Day, a date in June which offended the Burma Star veterans and those left from Blackpool own regiment 88 Reg RA TA, who experienced the savagery of PoW status in the far East. As a former regular with some experience of the MoD I can now see why procurement is so corruptible, why it cost the exchequer a fortune for aircraft that can’t fly, and for assault rifles that don’t work, and for aircraft carriers that don’t have crews or fighter planes. To rely on self publicists from the Protein Platoon, bogus RM Majors and self appointed Trustees whilst there are strict and rigid rules in company law on obtaining bank accounts, this is only a recipe for corruption, irrespective of what the well meaning, duped public and unwitting accomplices think facts are.

If there is £30k in the Feslc account then it is subject to company tax laws and a whacking great proportion of it belongs to the Exchequer. Just what the donors wished (sic)! How is that money declared? The individual Forces Association have charity status by working under the umbrella of their parent organisations. With the Royal Marines seemingly in the vanguard, is the RM Association completely au fait with what is happen in their name here in Blackpool? Oh sorry, I forgot. Councillor Bell JP is a Trustee of the RMA, businessman extra-ordinary, landlord with a grasp of everything commercial, and not least he who was disciplined by Council Leader Callow over the Kensington Donations? Naturally they know. Therefore, unless they state otherwise and issue an immediate retraction, is culpable for any and all illegal activities done in their name. Not that history proves otherwise. When funds were made available so that the RMs in Blackpool could give their needy a good bash on the anniversary of the founding of the Corps, their representative seem naively indifferent that the event was turned into a political extravaganza for the local Conservative Party. Not one of the under privilege former elite soldiers were invited, nor any of the dozens of pensioner marines living in neglect within the borders of the local association. But the local Tories were there, en masse.

Not that they have done anything illegal otherwise it would have been investigated. Would it? I doubt very much if the tax man is bothered with the hidden contribution given to Mr Blackpool by a large local hotel, in kind by the way of gifts instead of charges, which is muted to be for The Wedding of the Year?

The police will only work on a report even if a veteran lies dead in the road and the emergency services respond, but not the Boys in Blue. They are all on sick leave.