Although I attended the inaugural meeting of the BNTVA in 1983; for a variety of reasons, I had never felt committed enough to become a fully paid-up member of the association until Shelly contacted me, twenty or thirty years later, to ask if my elder son would consider becoming a patron of the Fallout Group. As it happened, he had married an American girl and had settled in the USA, so didn't feel he could contribute as much as he might have hoped had he still been living in the UK and he regretfully declined. Paradoxically, however, it re-connected me with the association and I was invited to a couple of BNTVA functions when Derek Heaps MBE was chairman;. but it's only for the past year or so (thanks to Facebook and the need to self-isolate) that I've started to take an active interest in the association.
In the meantime, it didn't take me long to realise that much had changed since 1983; and, in particular, it was becoming apparent that some quite serious differences were developing between trustees of the BNTVA. Although, in that respect, I have to admit that I wasn't sufficiently familiar with those who might be involved to be able to form an opinion; let alone decide which side of the fence to occupy. Conveniently, however, sometime last year (I wasn't interested enough to remember exactly when), my attention was caught by a short series of melodramatic Facebook posts made by ladies closely associated with Alan Owen which suggested that he had been compelled to resign as chairman of the BNTVA because of ''something'' which the trustee who replaced him had said to him.
Since then, it has been obvious that many members have 'taken sides' in the debate; and in this respect, it's also obvious that Alan enjoys considerable support. So, whilst I have never had anything but a cordial relationship with him, I have to say that it seems almost incontrovertible that he must have been spending an inordinate amount of time preparing for the introduction of his LABRATS organisation; which begs the question of whether, or not, he could be accused of being disloyal to the BNTVA whist still holding office in the association.
For my part, some might say, I'm not entitled to an opinion because I'm not a member of the association; but, as Groucho Marx said (something like) ''I'm not sure I want to a member of any association which would accept me as a member.'' So I will depart quietly. Bye.
In the meantime, it didn't take me long to realise that much had changed since 1983; and, in particular, it was becoming apparent that some quite serious differences were developing between trustees of the BNTVA. Although, in that respect, I have to admit that I wasn't sufficiently familiar with those who might be involved to be able to form an opinion; let alone decide which side of the fence to occupy. Conveniently, however, sometime last year (I wasn't interested enough to remember exactly when), my attention was caught by a short series of melodramatic Facebook posts made by ladies closely associated with Alan Owen which suggested that he had been compelled to resign as chairman of the BNTVA because of ''something'' which the trustee who replaced him had said to him.
Since then, it has been obvious that many members have 'taken sides' in the debate; and in this respect, it's also obvious that Alan enjoys considerable support. So, whilst I have never had anything but a cordial relationship with him, I have to say that it seems almost incontrovertible that he must have been spending an inordinate amount of time preparing for the introduction of his LABRATS organisation; which begs the question of whether, or not, he could be accused of being disloyal to the BNTVA whist still holding office in the association.
For my part, some might say, I'm not entitled to an opinion because I'm not a member of the association; but, as Groucho Marx said (something like) ''I'm not sure I want to a member of any association which would accept me as a member.'' So I will depart quietly. Bye.
