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1. A proposed 'roll-out' at the Harrogate Moat House over the weekend of 7-9 March 2005 was cancelled at late notice and an invoice of £3432.00 (5552.50 euros for those of an enquiring mind) was subsequently raised. Peter Freeman was advised by Sarah Norfolk that, provided the event was rebooked, to the same value subject to availability, prior to 31st December 2005, the amount outstanding would be set against the costs. This was only for a single event and could not be used for a number of separate bookings.
The day before the meeting of General Council, October 21st 2005, the amount outstanding was settled in full. David Burden knew nothing of this (he was after all only Chairman) and you may find it co-incidental the invoice was settled the day before the meeting which was to be chaired by Lord Griffiths and 71 days before the deadline Moat House Hotels gave ACU&S.
2. The sum of £1807.25 has been outstanding to the University of Manchester since early 2004. It remains unpaid to this day.
3. The following is an exact reproduction of the correspondence between Barrie Stuart-King and Aston University, Birmingham regarding a sum of £19,055.88 which was outstanding for at least 9 months. Not all of the correspondence is here but sufficient remains for the reader to piece together the sequence of events
From: Norris P
To: mmb@acus.org.uk
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 3:38 PM
Subject: payment
Hi Barrie
Any news on payment yet?
From: Barrie Stuart-King [mailto:mmb@acus.org.uk]
Sent: 23 June 2005 10:07
To: Norris P
Subject: Re: payment
Hi Pat
Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding but we have just suffered the death of a second immediate family member within the past 10 days and, as a result, I must confess I have not had the time to chase up on this. I will do so tomorrow - we have the first of the two funerals today.
In the meantime, can you please advise reference my e-mail to you dated 17th June as I am chasing payment to you of £12K, not £19K?
Best wishes
Barrie
From: Norris P
Sent: 28 June 2005 14:55
To: 'Barrie Stuart-King'
Subject: RE: payment
Barrie
We have a meeting with Head of Finance tomorrow and need an answer on payment please advise by return settlement is now 3month overdue
Regards
Pat
From: Norris P
Sent: 29 June 2005 12:01
To: Norris P
Subject: RE: payment
Hello Barrie
Ref my email of yesterday do you have any news we can take into our meeting with our Finance Director this afternoon, we are aware Association of Cricket Umpires Scorers Invoices will be on the agenda and need to have answers.
Regards
Pat
When all else fails, try bluff and scarcely concealed threats -
From: "Barrie Stuart-King" mmb@acus.org.uk
To: BrothwDA@aston.ac.uk
Cc: "Norris P" P.Norris@aston.ac.uk
"Peter Freeman" peter.freeman@free-internet.co.uk
Subject: Overdue Account
Date: Tue, 12July 2005 09:15:59 +0100
Organization: ACU&S
ASSOCIATION OF CRICKET UMPIRES & SCORERS
WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Dear Mr. Brothwood
Your e-mail to my colleague, Peter Freeman, Treasurer of the ACU&S, has been forwarded to me for response as I am the ACU&S Officer responsible for this matter.
In responding on behalf of the Association, I must, first, offer my/our unreserved apologies for the inordinate delay suffered by Aston University in our settling of this overdue account and, in particular, for the very considerable - and undeserved - inconvenience that this has caused, not least to your long-suffering colleague Pat Norris who has been most assiduous in pursuing me for settlement. I have complete empathy with your frustration (I would feel the same if our positions were reversed) and agree with you that this is a wholly unacceptable situation. However, in doing so I would stress that this is also an exceptional situation/set of circumstances - acutely embarrassing to both myself and the Association - that has arisen solely as a result of force majeure. I can assure you that this is not the way we normally conduct our affairs!
As I have explained previously to Pat Norris, over the past four months I have been actively engaged in negotiations with a major blue-chip corporate organisation for a substantial - and much needed - six-figure sponsorship deal for the Association that includes the £19,055.88 (I initially submitted a budget for £12,000 - cover 'development forums at Aston University' - which, I have belatedly had to go back to them to increase to £20,000, having overlooked the cancellation charge of almost £7,000) we owe you. The Association urgently needs this funding in place not only it to settle its debts to Aston University, but also - and equally important - to enable ti to service its full range of training programmes and activities over the next 12 months!
The main reason for the delay in signing this Agreement has been my unforeseen unavailability and protracted absences over the past 4-6 weeks for personal family reasons. Without these the sponsorship would have been in place last month. Now that I am back in harness, my opposite number is on holiday until the end of this month with the result that we will not be able to meet up to close the deal until the first week of August.
I recognise and appreciate that the foregoing is my/our problem, not yours, nonetheless these are the blunt facts.
I have taken note of the last paragraph of your e-mail to Peter Freeman in which you advise him of your intention to refer this matter to solicitors last Friday (8th July). Accordingly, please be advised - and inform your solicitors - that the Association is a voluntary, unincorporated, organisation, with very little in the way of assets, no official 'Registered Office' (Camberley is a rented Admin Office) and that, in a legal context, the Association does not exist as a corporate body. For this reason, Service should be made upon me at the following address:
Barrie Stuart-King
Chairman, Marketing & Media Board
Association of Cricket Umpires & Scorers
9, Tudor House
Heath Road
Weybridge
Surrey
KT13 8TZ
(Tel: 07768 026458 mob)
where, as the Officer responsible, I will accept Service on behalf of the Association.
However, I would advise that such action will not expedite settlement/recovery; indeed, it could possibly - probably - delay it further because if our sponsor partner gets to hear that a substantial amount of their sponsorship is to be used to settle a Writ for Recovery of a PAST, i.e. not immediate future, Aston University Development Forum Debt, questions/objections will almost certainly be raised. We will also have 14 days in which to submit a Defence/Application to the Court in response to your claim which, in turn, will result in a date having to be set for a subsequent preliminary Hearing before the Master in Chambers et al; in all a longer period of time than I anticipate it will take me to close the deal with our sponsor.
I would also advise that in asking for the additional £7K, I included an additional sum equivalent to 5% of your total bill both by way of interest charges and to cover the inconvenience we have caused Pat Norris. In the event that I receive from your solicitors Service for the threatened legal proceedings, I shall have to use this sum to cover the Court costs instead.
Finally, I shall be back in my office on Monday 18th July should you feel it would be helpful to discuss this matter personally.
You may have noted that Peter Freeman was copied in on this - but not on his ACU&S email address, thus making it impossible for other ACU&S officers to know what was going on.
A trifle unfortunately (for Aston University but not for BSK) he has been the subject of force majeure for 4-6 weeks (this must relate back to the days when he trained the US Marine Corps and the rest of the US armed services) and now of course his oppo has gone awol.
You may be surprised to learn, as we were, that this blue-chip company was still in the hunt, after all, he had been telling everybody who would listen (and a few who wouldn't) that his would-be sponsors had pulled out in March - before the AGM - after seeing the 'hate-filled emails'. Here we now are on 12th July being told that, in fact, in early August he was still in the hunt - truly we were fortunate indeed to have had the sterling services of such a hunter-gatherer working on our side!
He was certainly correct in saying the Association had little in the way of assets - he had seen to that. He also seems to have learnt quite a lot about the issuance of writs and the processes thereafter - must be something to do with being the senior legal consultant to the ACUS Member Protection Services.
Barrie Stuart-King
To: mmb@acus.org.uk
Cc:
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 4:25 PM
Subject: Overdue Account
Dear Mr. Stuart-King
Thank you for your message of 12/7/05.
I am disappointed to note your comments concerning further delays in making payment. Surely it would have been advisable to have funding in place before entering into a contract for which at the time you were unable to pay for the services provided.
That said under the circumstances and after careful consideration, the University will allow a further period of grace for payment to be made up to Monday 15 August 2005.
By that date I expect to have either received payment or confirmation that your sponsorship deal is complete and you are in a position to make payment.
If I do not receive either the payment or the assurance in writing then solicitors will be instructed.
Regards
David Brothwood
Aston University
Finance & Business Services
Wise advice indeed from Mr. Brothwood and a pity that the members of General Council were unable to think with such clarity - perhaps it comes from being at a University as opposed to having but two O-levels, and one of those in woodwork!
At 11:22 21/07/05, you wrote:
Dear Mr Brothwood
Thank you for the courtesy of your reply and for your generous co-operation. Now that I am fully back in harness I can concentrate on ensuring that our long overdue account with you is settled.
Without going into too much details, we thought we did have the original funding to cover this in place but, unfortunately, for a variety of reasons - but principally because I was not re-elected as Chairman and they did not like the nature of the internal politics that led to this, they withdrew their support. Hence the cancellation charge included in your total also.
Again, I can only apologise although I recognise that this does not mitigate the inconvenience to which you and, particularly your courteously ever-patient and long-suffering colleague, Pat Norris, have been subjected as a result.
It will NOT happen again I can assure you! I have absolutely no intention of going through a repetition of such acute personal embarrassment!
Regards
Barrie Stuart-King
9 Tudor House
Heath Road
Weybridge
Surrey KT13 8TZ
(Mobile: 07768 026458)
The original bill was for some £12,000+, the remaining £7,000 was for late payment charges, cancellation charges, etc. The payments were made in two tranches: the first, for the original sum, was made on 21st October and the second in January 2006. More than two thirds of the total bill was directly attributable to Stuart-King's over-weaning ambition and incompetence.
From: "Barrie Stuart-King" barrie.stuartking@tesco.net
To: "D.A. Brothwood"
Subject: Overdue Account
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 15:22:25 -0000
Dear Mr Brothwood
First, may I first apologise for the apparent discourtesy in not having responded earlier to your e-mail dated 7 November. None was intended I assure you.
Second, the reason for the delay is that about a month ago - for a variety of reasons - I resigned as an officer of the ACU&S and, consequently, am no longer a member of either its Executive Board, or its ultimate governing body, General Council. As a result, I no longer hold any official role or responsibilities in the day-to-day activities, organisation, or running of the Association and my official Association email address, mmb@acus.org.uk, therefore no longer relates to me. Your email dated 7 November sent to me at that address was forwarded to my personal email address asking how it should be dealt with.
Since my colleague, Chris Rawson (the Assistant Treasurer Accounts)), has also subsequently resigned from office, you need to direct all future emails, correspondence, queries etc, to Peter Freeman, the Treasurer on treasurer@acus.org.uk.
I very much regret that I, personally, cannot be of any further or future assistance to you.
Regards
Barrie Stuart-King
And there we have it: not me guv; like to be able to help you and all that but … We particularly liked the bit at the end regretting that he could not be of further help to Mr. Brothwood! It would appear from the foregoing that he might be argued he had been of NO assistance and one might suppose that, once they had their money, Aston University might be delighted he would not be of future assistance to them.
All in all, those three exercises cost ACU&S the small matter of £24,295.13 along with untold amounts of bad faith. We were told time and again this was all covered by sponsorship. Look in the Annual Report, can you see any reference to it? No, neither could we.