Do you follow the Tweed Foundation?
Have you noticed two recent changes? First, at the turn of the year it became a limited company and second, they have altered the objects to allow the Foundation to extend the range of their activities.
The wheelyboat project on which so much staff time and part of your donations was spent was outside the terms of the trust so to cover their backs they have altered their terms of reference.
What consultation was there? Were you asked what you felt?
No-one is going to argue that if you are disabled for whatever reason and if you want to go fishing it would be nice to have a special boat to help you do just that.
But should the RTC should take money by statutory right then make a six figure annual payment to the Foundation which then spends part of it on a pet project?
Is it reasonable when there are at least five charities devoted to the disabled angler?
Is it reasonable to expand the area of operation of the Foundation when there is so much to do salmon wise? To do it without consultation?
The RTC and the Foundation have staff in common. The RTC has no business organising wheelyboats but staff paid by the RTC are involved. I object.
The assessment is lifted from us every year for specific purposes but I have no say in how my money is spent once it is handed over to the Foundation.
If I want to spend my money on a charity for the disabled that choice ought to be my choice.
Frankly, when there are five organisations already in existence to help the disabled angler, the wheelyboat is such an unpopular and impractical concept on the Tweed and the take up has been so poor I could think of far better ways of making a charitable donation.
I say again, I am not having it that money is taken from me by statutory force and spent by this lot on a charity of the Foundation's choice.
I have not finished. Bill Quarry, the wheelyboat organiser, spoke to our head boatman and said that if he did not co-operate in the use of the boat he might be guilty of discrimination – an offence. He tried to put the squeeze on to force us to use a boat against our wishes.
The fact that we have nowhere to launch the thing and the problems that it causes seemed to have been forgotten. Mr Home, did he contact our boatman over our heads with your knowledge? Did it ever occur to you to ask us first?
Now they are arranging a wheelyboat festival for 30 disabled servicemen in July at Carham. Just dreadful.
Why have they got to announce it with a fanfare? Is it to make themselves look good? Feel good? How much RTC/Foundation staff time are we going to pay for on this jolly?
If you really want to do something nice why don't you quietly organise some proper autumn fishing for a group of people who deserve it?
