Susan Gowans, a Town Estate Feoffee from October 2005 to October 2009

My name is Susan Gowans and I was the only other female Feoffee on the Town Estate when Pat Cumbers was Townwarden from October 2007 to October 2009.

For a number of years, with help, I had tried to build up our local food businesses and I managed to bring the East Midlands Food Festival to Melton Mowbray and I was happy to see such an important event taken forward by others who, like me, wanted to promote top quality local foods.

I thought that my election to the Town Estate in October 2005 would help the Town by my supporting and developing new ideas and events, building on the very successful Country Fair and the Victorian Christmas Fayre which we had started.  I could have used my expertise to help the charity and the townspeople. 

But I was not properly accepted on the Town Estate, my ideas were discouraged and I was made to feel unwelcome from the time I was elected.  I had been involved in the voluntary sector for decades, had instigated many events and raised thousands of pounds for charity but had never before been a trustee (feoffee). Unfortunately for me, my first experience as a trustee was with the Town Estate. When I was elected to the Board I received no paperwork, no guidance, no induction to help me become an effective trustee and for the four years I was a feoffee no training at all was offered to feoffees (trustees). 

The Charity Commission assured me I was entitled, as a trustee, to have access to all information relating to the Trust/Town Estate business. However, on several occasions my requests for information were flatly refused. When I attempted to enter the Park Lane office I was told by the Bailiff (Manager) Andrew Cooper that John Southerington had left strict instructions that I was not to be allowed into the office or given any information.
I had organised fairs for a number of years and they had been treated as charitable by the Town Estate. But after I became a feoffee, some feoffees began to allege that our Fairs were commercial but the Charity Commission confirmed that the non profit voluntary events which we organised were not commercial. 

Our Fairs have all been a mix of traditional, historical, educational - including free workshops for children, local craft, promoting local food and tourism, helping to regenerate the town centre and helping some charities to raise funds. Entrance was always free for the Country Fairs and the Victorian Christmas Fayres.  The committee and helpers were all unpaid volunteers.

Following the 2006 Country Fair a file was returned to me by a member of the Town Estate. ( As the 2007 Country Fair was cancelled due to the contract dispute, that file remained unopened until the end of  December 2007)

After the October 2006 Annual Town Meeting, as chairman/organiser of the Melton Mowbray Victorian Christmas Fayre, I asked for a meeting with the new Senior Townwarden, John Southerington to discuss the terms for the Victorian Christmas Fayre due to be held 3rd  December 2006. A date was set for 17th October and I took along an offer in writing to purchase stalls at the usual figure of £10 for charitable events – we had recently paid that price for the 2006 Country Fair.

This was the 10th fair which we had organised using Town Estate stalls and we had always previously said what we could afford and that had always been accepted. It had always been £10 per stall except in 2004 when we had surplus monies and had offered to pay the commercial rate on a proportion of the stalls.

The meeting was attended by John Southerington, Richard Sage (Junior Townwarden), Andrew Cooper (Bailiff) and Mick French (Deputy Bailiff).

The atmosphere was very peculiar and highly charged and there was some very unpleasant language used. I had written a letter, addressed to Mr. Southerington, Mr. Sage and Mr. Cooper which contained various points and requests. I put an envelope containing a copy of the letter in the middle of the table and I then commenced going through the points.

When I mentioned ‘thronging in the streets’ in connection with the Police Clauses Act of 1847  John Southerington laughed and said ‘F---ing in the streets!’ and then ‘F---ing in the streets – ha ha !.’  The others looked somewhat embarrassed but nobody commented. In fact the others spoke very little at the meeting.

I explained that the considerable extra costs for 2006 was why we would only be able to pay £10.00 per stall and not the increased charges we had paid, at my suggestion, in 2004.

I noticed that John still hadn’t opened the Town Estate copy of my letter so I walked round the table, picked up the envelope, removed the letter, pointed out the £10.00 and placed the letter and envelope in front of John. I mentioned £10.00 at least once more.

I waited and initially there was no response but then John Southerington said ‘It’s pay-back time!!’

I was unsure what he was referring to but I said ‘We organise these things on a voluntary basis and don’t expect to make a profit.’

John Southerington then said, ‘I’m going to make sure that you don’t !’ He then added, ‘The price of stalls will depend on how you vote in November’. I asked what the subject was and he said ‘You will find out’. He meant the November feoffees meeting. There was a peculiar atmosphere including the foul language and I felt very uncomfortable.

But I had mentioned the £10.00 in writing and verbally at least twice. Nobody had disagreed or suggested a different price apart from John’s comments which I could not really take seriously and I had left my written price offer with them.

At the November 2006 Board meeting, as a feoffee/trustee of the Town Estate I voted against John Southerington’s proposal because I disagreed in principle with the proposal.

We received no counter offer of a different stall price and on the morning of the Christmas Fayre on Dec 3rd the Town Estate workforce turned out and erected the stalls .

This was a confirmation of the acceptance of the offer of £10 per stall that I had made to the Town Estate on October 17th.

I was therefore horrified to receive an invoice on the 13th December 2006 for an extortionate £ 2796 instead of the £980 contracted price for the hire of 98 covered stalls as the two uncovered stalls were usually provided free.  £24 per stall was being demanded along with £150 to use the Market Place, £50 to use the podium and even £100 for “use of the licence”. We later learned the Town Estate could not charge for “use of the licence”. We had previously used the Market Place on 8 occasions without being charged for it or for the podium.  I understand that these charges had never before been levied.

That was when I began to realise that John Southerington’s comments at the 17 October meeting had been serious and I was being heavily punished for voting against him at the November Town Estate Board meeting. The contract price of £980 had nearly tripled to an extortionate £2796. 

I was certainly unwelcome as a Town Estate feoffee.

The next day, 14 December 2006, Andrew Cooper and I both attended a Town Centre Partnership meeting at which I handed out copies of my letter dated 17 October 2006. The Partnership had been acting as an umbrella organisation over what was going on in the Town. I also told Partnership members about the remarks which had been made by John Southerington at that meeting including that the stall price would depend on how I voted.

Andrew Cooper did not deny that he had seen the letter at the meeting of 17 October nor did he deny that the words about my voting intentions had been spoken although he was certainly embarrassed when he said ‘Well, you know what John’s like’.

That non-denial and Andrew Cooper’s words were witnessed by several independent people. In fact there was a certain amount of commiseration with Andrew Cooper, one person stating that they did not believe he was the person to be blamed!

On behalf of the Committee I refused to pay any more than the contracted amount.  I pointed out on several occasions that we had a valid contract to pay £10 per stall but if they were going to insist on £2796, I suggested that the Town Estate take the Victorian Fayre to court to let the Court decide, reminding them that if they were to take us to Court they must sue the Victorian Fayre Committee and not me on a personal basis.

We gave them a Building Society cheque for £1000, which included £20 for the uncovered stalls which were usually provided free but they refused to bank the cheque or to return it to us when requested.

In March 2007 there was a Board of feoffees meeting with an agenda item,  “Mrs. Gowans’ position as feoffee”. The Board decided to report my “behaviour and position” to the Charity Commission without being specific about what I was actually “charged” with. The “evidence” against me included untrue statements.

From a Commission letter dated 17 April 2007, it appeared the complaint about me had included the invoice, conflict of interests and “action” by me. The Commission stated they were all matters in which the Commission would not become involved. 

I was bullied until I withdrew the expression “kangaroo court” about that meeting although I still believe that was a true description.  
Despite all the evidence, in June 2007 the  Town  Estate, started a County Court Claim against me personally rather than against the Victorian Fayre Committee.

The Claim Form was addressed to me at a non-existent address  despite the Town Estate having my correct address and Andrew Cooper having attended a meeting at my house. Purely by chance I received the notification of the claim.

If I had not received the claim form, the case could have proceeded without my knowledge and judgment could have been made against me resulting in a judgement order being entered onto the ‘Register of County Court Judgments’. This could have totally inconvenienced me had I needed to borrow money.

The claim was made against me on a personal basis although the Town Estate records included ample evidence that there had been a constituted committee for the Victorian Fayre since December 2001. In fact a previous Senior Townwarden had helped formulate the Victorian Fayre constitution.

In July 2007, I filed a Defence to the Claim refuting the “evidence” against me. I continued attending Feoffees meetings but it was not easy - I was clearly unwelcome and unwanted.

In late December 2007 I opened the file which had been returned to me in June 2006 by a member of the Town Estate and discovered a pornographic photograph of him. That photograph sickened me and I felt threatened by the word CAUTION written in large letters at the front of his skimpy underpants.

At the January 2008 Board meeting, the matter caused amusement to the majority of feoffees who, apparently did not see such conduct to be a matter for concern. There was sniggering and joking reference to flashers and men in dirty Macs.

During my four years as a trustee there was no training for feoffees and that included any which covered equalities or prevention of sexual harassment.
Despite all feoffees being aware of this unpleasantness the vast majority of feoffees offered me no sympathy, apparently unconcerned about my feelings and apparently not recognising that there was a problem within the charity.

25 January 2008 - I submitted a Statement to the Court regarding the claim, and it was accompanied by my signed “Statement of Truth”

In the County Court in February the Judge,  having read the file,  deferred the case to Leicester, stating it was necessary to establish the correct defendant. He could see the committee and I were saying it was the committee whereas the Town Estate was insisting it was just me.

The committee prepared and signed the statement, reaffirming that the Committee, and not just me as an individual, were responsible for the contract. The Town Estate chose to make no comment about our statement.

In May 2008 the case was heard in Leicester County Court before Judge Elsey who said the following to the Town Estate :

• ‘Why did you not bring the cheque for £1000 which they had paid you as it’s important evidence ?’ ( It was still retained by the Town Estate solicitor Howard Partridge but luckily we had a photocopy which  included our treasurer’s name)

   

• ‘From Day 1, it was obviously a corporate matter. You knew Mrs Gowans was acting on behalf of a committee and despite Mrs Gowans being named in the Claim as the defendant, the defendant must be the Victorian Fayre Committee – the officers of that Committee are all in agreement to that’.

   

• ‘There was clearly a contract for £10 per stall and how could you think otherwise? There was an offer, verbal and in writing for £10 per stall, you did not communicate a different price, and when the stalls were erected by the Town Estate, that was acceptance of the offer’.

   

• ‘Why should they not have stalls for £10, they were doing the event for the benefit of Melton Mowbray’.

   

• ‘The behaviour of the Town Estate has been unconscionable – I do not understand how you could have behaved like that’.

   

• ‘You could request permission to appeal but I do not believe there is another Judge in the country who would disagree with me’.

   

The judge had reached his decision using exactly the same evidence as had been available to all feoffees for many months. At any time the feoffees could have taken independent legal advice and could have issued a corrected invoice. But they chose not to.

The Town Estate also chose not to appeal against the verdict and have refused to admit (including to some feoffees) how much pursuing the case had cost the charity in legal fees, and officer time. The harm to the charity has been immeasurable as was the distress caused to me and the rest of the committee.

We had been completely and thoroughly vindicated but instead of an apology from the Town Estate, chairman Ken Saunders told the Leicester Mercury,

‘The judgement in favour of the Victorian Christmas Fayre was  made on a technicality concerning contract law.’

Senior Townwarden Pat Cumbers twice asked chairman Ken Saunders  in writing (copied to all feoffees ) what those words meant but received no reply.

30 June 2008 At the Board of feoffees meeting chairman Ken Saunders stated:

‘We do not accept the verdict of the Court Mrs. Gowans. We all  think you rolled the Town Estate over.

We are all going to tell people that nice Mrs. Gowans isn’t as nice as people think she is.

The Committee and I had told the truth, not one part of our evidence had been disputed by the Town Estate and the judge declared the case to be very clear-cut.

At the June 2008 feoffees’ meeting, none of those feoffees apologised for the stress they had caused to me and others by the dishonest court case but the majority decided at the meeting, which became a kangaroo-type of court, that they would report me again to the Charity Commission for having had a conflict of interest when I attended the Town Estate meeting in October 2006.

Those feoffees had decided to report me although they know well that I have always organised all these popular charitable events, with the help of other unpaid volunteers, for the good of Melton Mowbray and not for personal gain.

I could see they were still, in June 2008,  trying to drive me off the Board but I could not understand why they were treating me so.

In October 2008 the Charity Commission confirmed that I had not benefitted personally from the incident re the 2006 Victorian Christmas Fayre,  no further action would be taken.

Much later I was able to see, following a Freedom of Information request, some of what had been reported to the Commission by the Town Estate when the Town Estate had asked the Commission in June 2008, to consider whether I was a fit person to remain a  trustee of the Town  Estate. The Town Estate had  implied that I was a dishonest person who cared nothing for the Town Estate which was totally untrue.

When I read the complaint I felt sickened – there was misleading conjecture and misinformation but what was really shocking were the deliberate untruths, told secretly to the Commission giving me no opportunity to refute them.

The untruths told by the Town Estate related to the Victorian Christmas fayre contract.

The judge at the May 2008 court hearing had read the substantial amount of evidence produced by the Victorian Fayre committee and by the Town Estate and had castigated the Town Estate for their behaviour and for the fact they seemed unable to understand that a valid contract had been in place. The judge stated he did not believe there was another judge in the country who would disagree with his decision.

But the majority of feoffees decided to ignore the verdict and to carry on “bashing” me whilst hoping to get me removed from the Board.

Apparently the ‘Town Estate’ had been hoping that the untrue allegations would persuade the Commission to remove me from the Board of feoffees.

The deliberate untruths were as follows:

The Town Estate told the following deliberate untruth in the letter to the Charity Commission: ‘In submitting evidence to the Court the judge requested clarification as to whether Mrs Gowans was the defendant or whether she was acting on behalf of others. Until that time the Town Estate believed that it was dealing with Mrs Gowans individually but in her declaration to the Court Mrs. Gowans demonstrated to the satisfaction of the judge that she was representing the defendants and not the sole defendant herself.’

That statement was a deliberate untruth. The Town Estate had pursued me personally and relentlessly to pay the extortionate price for the contract which had nearly tripled after I voted “the wrong way” i.e. against a proposal made by John Southerington. The majority of feoffees, including chairman Ken Saunders had known for a number of years prior to the Court Case, that I acted on behalf of the Victorian Fayre Committee but they dishonestly chose to pretend otherwise and insisted that I was personally responsible. The County Court Claim was made against me personally: 13.12.03 - I wrote to Ivor Ruddle and Ken Saunders, signing as Chairman 20.5.06 – I wrote to Senior Townwarden Ken Saunders, and signed as Chairman 17.10.06 – I wrote to Messrs Southerington and Sage mentioning the committee. 3.2.07 – I wrote to John Southerington mentioning the Melton Mowbray Victorian Fayre Committee 18.2.07 – I wrote to Town Estate solicitor H Partridge stating the Victorian Fayre had a constituted committee and payment had always been made from the Building Society Account on behalf of the Committee. I signed as organiser/chairman 25.2.07 – I wrote to Mr. Partridge stating that any attempt to recover more than £1000 from the Victorian Christmas Fayre Committee would be contested, signing as Organiser/Chair. 6.3.07–I showed the Board of feoffees the Building Society passbook in the name of the Melton Mowbray Victorian Christmas Fayre. 11.3.07 – I wrote to Mr. Partridge, twice mentioning the Victorian Christmas Fayre Committee, signing as Organiser/Chair 14.3.07 – I wrote to Mr. Southerington, signing organiser/chair 26.3.07 – Pat Cumbers emailed John Southerington, signing as secretary 6.6.07 – letter from Pat Cumbers to solicitor H Partridge, reminding him that the stalls were hired by the Victorian Christmas Fayre committee and that any legal proceedings must not be against Mrs. Gowans as an individual. 2.4.07 - Feoffee Peter Roffey wanted it minuted that at the previous meeting, his comments about me had not been about me personally but about the Chairman of the Victorian Christmas Fayre Committee. July 2007 – my Defence to the Claim (copied to the Town Estate) included evidence that it was not my personal responsibility 11.10.07 At a feoffees meeting there was a written motion, seconded by Mr. Saunders in which Mrs. Cumbers and I were described as “officers of the Victorian Christmas Fayre Committee”. 25.1.08 – my Statement to the Court . attached to which was a Statement of Truth, included evidence that the contract was not my personal responsibility but was the Victorian Fayre Committee’s responsibility. Having read the court papers including my statement, at the February hearing the judge deferred the case, stating that the correct defendant must be identified. We were so pleased to hear that and provided the necessary statement. The Town Estate did not challenge our evidence. At the final hearing in May 2008, before a different judge, that judge expressed disbelief at the unconscionable way the Town Estate had behaved, stating that it was clear from Day 1 that I was acting as a representative of the Victorian Fayre and I should not have been sued as an individual. The Victorian Fayre committee could not understand why the Town Estate had “hounded” me when they clearly knew I was not personally responsible. The above deliberate untruth by ‘the Town Estate’ is just as difficult to understand – sounding so plausible but actually so untrue.

 

The Town Estate told the following deliberate untruth in the letter to the Charity Commission: “Mrs Gowans has argued at meetings of the trustees that the Victorian Christmas Fayre is a charity event and that as such the Town Estate should be charitable in the charges raised for services rendered. The Town Estate considered the Fayre to be a commercial event although it is recognised that a number of charities that serve people living in the area of benefit of the trust do participate in the fayre and raise funds for their charitable purposes. However the fayre itself is commercial and Mrs Gowans placed a significant mark up on the charge made to stall holders against the price she paid the Town Estate.”

That statement was also untrue.  I had never described the Victorian Fayre as a "charity event" because, apart from being untrue, I believe it would also have been illegal, to imply we were a charity. Our events were non profit making and never commercial. When I first started organising events, we could not have succeeded in establishing our top quality charitable events without the support of the Town Estate. The then Junior Townwarden, the late Ivor Ruddle, helped us produce our constitution in 2001 and before I became a feoffee, the Town Estate also helped us with two donations of £500 and £150 . The donations were not comparable to the donations given to feoffee Derek Whitehouse for his Melton Day/Show when he was feoffee/Junior Townwarden, (donations of many thousands of pounds over 9 years) but nevertheless we were extremely grateful. It was only after I was elected as a Town Estate feoffee in October 2005 that some on the Board began to describe our fairs as commercial which was demonstrably untrue. The Victorian Fayre Committee was a constituted body , set up for charitable purposes with objectives of benefit to the community of Melton Mowbray and its residents, the constitution ensuring it was non profit making. Entrance to the events was always free and open to everybody. There was much involvement of the local community, especially children and much emphasis on local crafts and local high quality food. The stalls were hired in at one price and let out at a higher price. The difference between the two prices, along with any sponsorship and donations, was used to cover statutory charges and other costs such as entertainment, health & safety, barriers, first aid, lost children, printing, advertising, road closures etc. This was not unlike the Town Estate charity – hiring out stalls and using the profit for charitable purposes. The Fayre organiser and committee were all unpaid volunteers. The annual accounts were provided automatically to Melton Borough Council and were freely available to anybody else.

 

The Town Estate told the following deliberate untruth in the letter to the Charity Commission: In seeking to obtain a preferential stall hire charge (£10) which was (a) significantly lower than she had previously paid for similar services, Mrs Gowans was also endeavouring to mitigate a possible shortfall to the account for the Fayre. She sought to safeguard her personal financial liability at the expense of the Town Estate.” “Mrs Gowans failed to act with due probity as a trustee of the Town Estate when she sought preferential treatment in establishing a stall hire fee that she knew to be significantly favourable to her compared to charges previously raised by the Town Estate.”

Those statements were also deliberate untruths. It was untrue that I tried to obtain a preferential stall hire charge (£10) or that I sought “preferential treatment” at the meeting in October 2006. We expected to pay £10 which was the usual price for our charitable events. The price of the stalls for our fairs was always agreed prior to the event, I  would offer what we could afford and our offer was always accepted. It was invariably £10 but the 2004 Victorian Christmas Fayre was an exception – we paid a higher price at our request as we were expecting to make a profit which was forbidden by our constitution. Below is detailed the stall price paid for the Victorian Christmas Fayre: December 2001 £10.00 per stall December 2002 £10.00 per stall December 2003 £10.00 per stall December 2004 ______________ For December 2004 we offered  £10.00 per stall for 60 stalls and the remainder at £17.00 The Town Estate made an error in their invoice but as we had sufficient funds we were happy to pay as follows :-                                                                  39 x £10.00   £   390.00       60 x £17.00,  £ 1020.00            Total        £ 1410.00 (an average of £14.24 per stall). December 2005 (The 2005 Victorian Fayre was organised by a commercial undertaking) December 2006 We offered £10 per stall at the meeting on 17 October 2006   We also organised the annual charitable Country Fair and the price for those stalls was also £10 each as confirmed on 7 March 2005 by letter written by the then Senior Townwarden Ken Saunders - The price paid for the 2006 Country Fair stalls (When Mr. Ken Saunders was still Senior Townwarden) was £10 per stall  The cheque for those £10 stalls was paid in July 2006 – just weeks prior to the meeting on 17 October 2006.

 

I had joined the Town Estate in October 2005 with such high hopes. I had a wealth of experience of business, of staging events and of fund raising and I loved the Town Estate. Over the years I had helped, with other volunteers, to provide income for many and to strengthen the food base in the area. I have been happy to follow my vision for the fairs which I have done without receiving any personal gain.

I believed I would be able to make a valuable contribution to the charity and the town but I was treated badly - verbally abused, barred from the office, excluded from information, subjected to kangaroo courts, had pornography "planted" on me and there was the ill advised dishonest County Court claim against me personally for money which was not owed, all were part of the effort to drive me from the Board.

The majority of feoffees, who apparently believe the charity is "theirs", decided they did not want me and that it was therefore acceptable to drive me off, and when I would not be driven off they apparently decided to persuade the Charity Commission to remove me.

To persuade the Commission that I was " not a fit person to remain a trustee of the Melton Mowbray Town Estate" , their "evidence" included deliberate untruths. Those untruths had been told without conscience and without concern for the possible grave consequences that there would have been for me and for the hurt and upset that would have been caused to me.

All this demonstrates a need for change at the Town Estate. Those feoffees who were involved in telling those deliberate untruths should not be allowed to be trustees of any charity because clearly they are dishonest and are untrustworthy.

Susan Gowans February 2010