Re: Meeting with Sports Minister to discuss rowing safety (UK)

demestosbleach@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
David Biddulph wrote:

<c.anton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

http://cms.thames-rrc.org/council-information/meetings/2006-minutes/

seems pretty comprehensive and miles better than what we can do in the
West Midlands.

That gives a comprehensive coverage of meetings of the TRRC itself, but I
think the question arose from when you said:
"I know for instance that the TRRC has an active page devoted to ARA
matters." after questions about minutes of ARA Council meetings.


Yes, David has read my mind, and I also echo the other sentements in
his message, but also do feel that it shouldn't be down to one
over-worked div rep to publish these when they could be placed on the
ARA website...


But the ARA website, just like the ex-parrot, AKA "Regatta", & its less than robust successor, "Rowing & Regatta", has a policy of not reporting what, however relevant, it would prefer the membership not to know about. Whereas things do get written in the documents received by Div Reps in advance of Council meetings on which keeping rowing's common folk in the dark reduces the chance of anyone asking awkward questions.

One such would be an interesting statement in the report of the Water Safety Subcommittee to the Executive on 16 May, & to Council on 13 June. It mentions a meeting between Di Ellis, Gary Harris & the Council for Oxford University Rowing (COUR). It says that COUR's response to Harris's letter to the South Manchester Coroner was that it was "an 'excellent' document". Let me remind readers this was the letter in which he told Mr. Pollard he was going to ignore his Rule 43 instructions, & in which he generated a totally fictional scenario - entirely in conflict with the Coroner's findings - to blame everyone involved in OU lightweight rowing, & most especially the victim himself, for the death of Leo Blockley. A low-class work of fiction at best.

I would also remind readers that the Coroner's verdict made clear that Leo had not caused his own death. He attributed much of the blame to the lack of buoyancy in the boat, whereas Harris, without qualification in hydrostatics or much else that he spouted about, has denied that this was so or that buoyancy could or would have affected the outcome.

Said WSC report also repeats the claim that Harris was summoned to attend the Blockley inquest as an "expert witness", & regrets that he was not called to give evidence. That claim was a complete lie. Harris was summoned to Manchester & kept there all week to be cross-examined in specific connection with his exchanges with the Spanish club's coach Axel Mueller. Regrettably, but conveniently for Harris, Mueller preferred to stay outside UK jurisdiction.

As yet the ARA, although already into maximimum spin mode in Council to belittle the relevance & potential impact of the forthcoming Inquiry into rowing safety (just ordered by the Minister for Sport), has not reported on that Inquiry, nor even on the parliamentary Adjournment Debate:
http://tinyurl.com/j93t5
which led directly to it. And, of course, it has made no reference whatsoever to the meeting last week between the Minister, his civil servant & Jane & Stephen Blockley.

In short, the ARA runs its information service in the same manner as does a totalitarian state. It has publicly blamed both Leo Blockley & Sikander Farooq for causing their own deaths. It has neither retracted nor apologised for those false & deeply wounding reports. And it reports nothing which might be read as critical, except where it also includes a scarcely coherent ripost, as in the case of the Coroners' Rule 43 letters

Now to the question I raised a few days back: who proposed the nauseating vote of thanks given to Harris at the preceding Council meeting for his dealings with the Coroners, & whether the same person had been legally advising Harris &/or the ARA on the decision to ride roughshod over such trivia as the deaths of members & the well-considered advice of Coroners.

Would that person be Brian Hawden, of Peterborough City RC, & appointed to Council for his legal expertise? I trust that this report in the Law Gazette:
http://tinyurl.com/zpbug
(scroll to the bottom of that page)
does not refer to the same person.

Cheers -
Carl

--
Carl Douglas Racing Shells -
Fine Small-Boats/AeRoWing low-drag Riggers/Advanced Accessories
Write: The Boathouse, Timsway, Chertsey Lane, Staines TW18 3JY, UK
Email: carl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tel: +44(0)1784-456344 Fax: -466550
URLs: www.carldouglas.co.uk (boats) & www.aerowing.co.uk (riggers)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: About the Water Safety Review
    ... the ARA & the DCMS - all have ... received copies of the final report of this review into rowing safety. ... Executive/WSC keep the report from Council if it was asked for? ...
    (rec.sport.rowing)
  • Re: About the Water Safety Review
    ... the ARA & the DCMS - all have ... received copies of the final report of this review into rowing safety. ... Executive/WSC keep the report from Council if it was asked for? ...
    (rec.sport.rowing)
  • for kirill: Human Rights Council Reports Widespread Abuses
    ... Human Rights Council Reports Widespread Abuses ... The report challenges the results of the annual report prepared by St. ... a prominent member of the pro-Kremlin ...
    (soc.culture.russian)
  • Re: Stasi Britain - Eight-year-olds recruited as council snoopers
    ... on their neighbours and report petty offences such as littering, ... Champions who work with the council. ... and Wales to ask if they had recruited environmental volunteers. ...
    (uk.politics.misc)
  • AL: 2005 Council Meeting Agenda (First Draft)
    ... Memo for all EC, Council and Committee Members ... Inserted below is the first draft of the council agenda. ... President, Astronomical League ... F. National Office Report ...
    (sci.astro)