CQHQ

More than just a Ham radio blog.
CQHQ
is an informative, cynical and sometimes humorous look at what is happening in the world of amateur radio.

Monday, 28 March 2011

RSGB General Manager - Amateur radio news from the RSGB

RSGB General Manager - Amateur radio news from the RSGB

The Board of the RSGB has today released the following announcement:

Peter Kirby, RSGB General Manager, has left the Society’s employment after the discovery of financial irregularities on his part.

For the time being, RSGB Director Don Beattie, G3BJ, will act as General Manager.

Raising of eyebrows and sharp intake of breath as we at CQHQ await further news.

54 comments:

  1. Hi Steve, oh boy, it looks like corruption is everywhere. 73 Paul

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  2. So that's where the cash from Lambda house went.

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  3. Good lord, whatever next, MPs fiddling their expenses?

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  4. I will reserve judgement until we know the full facts, but whatever the reason this is a sad day for our national society and plays in to the hands of cynics like myself who have long suspected that dark forces were at work at RSGB Incorperated syphoning funds in to personal projects. Fact finding missions, Champagne dinners with MPs, posh hotels, bar bills and paid trips to exotic islands for IOTA spring to mind.

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  5. It had to be the cushiest, daftest, well paid (£50k) job going, but it seems like he's mucked it up. Goodbye Captain Pugwash. I doubt there's any connection, but I too wondered about the sale of Lambda House and why it never seemed to appear in the accounts.

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  6. gone the way of the hobby...down the drain...

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  7. Peter kirby Who?.Useless anyway.And a liar with regards to his misleading statement about the Hull pirate.The RSGB couldnt even get a pirate off the air but took the glory for it anyway.Throw out the rubbish and bring in the new.and i wonder who else in the RSGB is for the high jump?Now you know where your subs went.

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  8. He was a thoroughly unlikeable man. I met him on a few occasions and his whole modus operandi was of someone who had a total disregard for the membership and was only interest in his own personal gain. He was also responsible for many very able RSGB regional managers resigning - this was because of his heavy handed "school teacher" behaviour. The only RSBG volunteers that remained were those unfortunate individuals who had acheived little in their lives and saw their positions as "important".

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  9. >The only RSBG volunteers that remained were those unfortunate individuals who had acheived little in their lives and saw their positions as "important".

    That would include the RSGB's current President then? LOL

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  10. Please note the opinions posted as comments on this blog are not necessarily the opinions of CQHQ or GW7AAV and I reserve the right to remove posts that go too far.

    Complaints should be sent by registered post in triplicate each under separate cover with a donation of at least the cost of a new handheld and I will happily remove any offending comment, no questions asked.

    Oh boy this one is going to run and run.

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  11. I hope the RSGB will make public why he was dismissed

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  12. Financial irregularities...it says in the original press release

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  13. I'm not an RSGB member and I've not been a member of that organisation for many years now.

    I have had cause to be upset by Mr. Kirby's claims of on-air achievements, printed in RadCom, and his failure to retract them when presented with facts in opposition to his claims.

    Given the recent press release by RSGB Ltd I hope that some of the other claims, all be it not financial, against Mr. Kirby will also be reviewed and struck off if found to be incorrect.

    However, I won't hold my breath for this to happen...

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  14. I just hope this will be the fresh start the society needs, get all new people in from the bottom up,
    get rid of all the "dead wood "

    but I fear all the little power brokers at HQ will not allow this to happen.

    I await the changes with anticipation,

    but i fear I will get my 100th birthday telegram/e-mail from the monarch before that takes place (only 42 more years to go ...!! )

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  15. Having had dealings with him I can say he was not easy to deal with. I know of several organisations that refused to deal with the RSGB if 'gorilla Kirby' was involved.

    Best move the RSGB has made in years.

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  16. i left the society many years ago it stuck out a mile what they were up to, doing up lambda house , selling it, selling of the radio museum on ebay, dark going on with certain traders who you could not say a word against, subs continualy going up to fund certain peoples lifestyles, giving away the basic idea of ham radio, you can now get a licence free with any marsbar or two kit kat wrappers, listen to the bands one coment i heard i have just bought a quarter wave antenna do you know where i can buy a quarter wave radio, o'dear, do not line there pockets a complete new society should rise up and i mean new faces ect ect.......

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  17. Anonymous said...
    Peter kirby Who?.Useless anyway.And a liar with regards to his misleading statement about the Hull pirate.The RSGB couldnt even get a pirate off the air but took the glory for it anyway.Throw out the rubbish and bring in the new.and i wonder who else in the RSGB is for the high jump?Now you know where your subs went.

    28 March 2011 18:52

    Before accusing the RSGB GM of being a liar regarding the Hull radio abuse case you should get your facts correct. The RSGB WAS heavily involved in the case... FACT!! Before you post lible and misleading posts get your facts correct. Don't take long for the anti RSGB brigade to come out of the woodwork does it. The RSGB does a great deal of positive work, along with it's thousands of unpaid volunteers ... Regional managers, deputy regional managers, club visits, AROS, intruder watch, IOTA, Exams, external examination verification officers, RSGB registered lead instructors, GB2RS newsreaders, RSGB planning committees, EMC, books, rally representation, contests, RF spectrum delegates, work with Ofcom ... are to name just a few. To insult the RSGB is to also an insult those who give up their valuable free time for Radio Amateurs .. members of the RSGB or not.

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  18. Scratch the shiny surface and look what crawls out from the rotten woodwork beneath.

    While thousands of unpaid volunteers do the work people like Peter Kirby take the credit and big fat pay cheques and still have their fingers in the till. Calling him a liar is the least of his worries.

    A concerned member of RSGB for over 35 years and one of those unpaid volunteers.

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  19. OK it looks NOT GOOD but let us wait and see the true facts NOT conjecture.
    As the "non public optical" rag says "I think we should be told"
    G3OZN Ted Worksop Notts.

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  20. Anonymous said...
    OK it looks NOT GOOD but let us wait and see the true facts NOT conjecture.
    As the "non public optical" rag says "I think we should be told"
    G3OZN Ted Worksop Notts.

    Well said Ted!!

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  21. "Financial irregularities...it says in the original press release"

    this is a very generic term, it could mean anything from helping himself from the stationery cupboard to misusing his personal expenses

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  22. Financial irregularities = £41000.00 on his company credit card over 4 years. Th RSGB will answer any direct questions if you ring a RM or Dave Wilson. I made the call to Dave and got a answer to every question i asked.

    73

    RSGB Member and Volunteer

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  23. Yes it sounds like a good thing they have dispensed with Mr Kirbys services, but before many get on the 'Bash the RSGB bandwagon' as someone else has said lets not forget the hundreds of volunteers who do good honest work for what is, after all, our only National Society (and I am not a volunteer). As sacking is a serious litigious business I am sure the society would need to keep some issues confidential for now, but they will also know peoples anxieties and in time will need to be open and transparent about what has happened - but we need to give them that time....

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  24. I have long thought the General Manager appointment at the RSGB was wrong (This is Amateur Radio not a corporate enterprise) and I have said so to the RSGB via e-mail when they asked for opinion on the society. In any communication with the RSGB I have never recieved a reply (I am not a memeber but that is no criterion). I have found that the Society is incredibly Arrogant in dealling with memebers and non-memebers. They have IMHO a very shady accounting system and and an obscure annual report... hence this mess.( I and a memeber once tried to find Kerby's salary from the annual report with no luck, it should have been there) Don't forget it's not the societies money, it is the member's money (their subs) ... ever been had!!!
    The way this has come out is very limited in information as though they don't want people to to look at private grief. However they owe it to all members and potential members and the wider public since a Crime has been committed to be more open and transparent. A full and frank disclosure is required of what has been going on at the RSGB with other peoples money.
    They must get a proper (and new)Acccountanty Company to audit the whole of the finacial affairs within the RSGB and have them publically disclosed. I think root and branch is the appropiate expression... this can not be laughed off it is a very very serious affair it can not be kept secret as they would like in thier diffident press release. RSGB come clean!!

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  25. What were the RSGB Board doing over the last 4 years - sleeping?

    RSGB Member and Volunteer

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  26. Why was this not detected after the end of the first financial year of abuse? Should this not have been done routinely as part of VAT recovery etc?

    RSGB Member.

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  27. Thats what I said above who did the Audit a necessary requirement of running a business its the Law! Thats why the Auditors should be given the heave ho and a new lot of Straight ones employed.
    Why aren't the Members not going balistic. But when asked they seem to want it covered up. Just shows how easy it is to con people, I think fraud is the new boom industry because the Fraudees don't what the Frauders guts ... funny old world isn't it?

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  28. I shall end my RSGB membership (since 1975) if a full account of the wrongdoing is not published. Why did the auditors not detect anything earlier? Will Kirby be prosecuted? Will our money be recovered? How many salaried officers does it really take? Are more than Kirby guilty? Who was supposed to keep an eye on him?

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  29. Found out that the son-in-law of Kirby works in the same office!!!!!!!!

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  30. Should the accused party have admitted their guilt and the RSGB not press criminal charges, the RSGB management will have shown they are pursuing their own agendas, and not what is best for Amateur Radio.

    RSGB Member and Volunteer

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  31. I'm sure the full facts will come out, once the legal case has been sorted..There's no cover up, its just that while the legal case is pending, the society are being very careful about what they say/print, so as not to defame PK, and put the case against him in jeopardy

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  32. One can but hope that Peter Kirby is prosecuted to the full extent of the law then persecuted for the rest of his life. He deserves it as he is both an absolute bounder and a thoroughly bad egg!

    If I had my way he would be taken outside and shot at dawn.

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  33. I will also be reviewing my RSGB membership if a prosecution is not pursued- assuming he had his hand in the till.
    Spoke to him once (last year) at Llandudno Radio Rally, seemed aloof

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  34. When I knew him, he was a thoroughly decent, honourable man. To have this at the end of his career is terrible for him and his family. Please lets not judge him before it is proven. As many have said, who audited the accounts and why did it take them 4 years to spot something amiss? He had a company credit card for a reason and put many many hours work into the Society over and above the 9-5 required.

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  35. The minutes of the January 2011 RSGB board meeting have been posted on their web site.

    They make interesting and horrifying reading, particularly with regard to the Bletchley Park adventure.

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  36. why are the Police not involved? this is fraud, if not please give a valid reason.ALL clubs and the like are all supposed to present the FACTS ar their AGM otherwise it is pretty obvious there is something wrong.I will contact my Police locally to obtain advice. All these so called DX expoditions can not have been paid for from the Persons known. It is a very Bad case and needs full investigation

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  37. It's alleged that the auditors DID report irregularities, but it was to Kirby they reported. Eventually, the cat got out of the bag, and Kirby got caught.

    It is alleged that the Police have no interest, because the sum of money involved is 'small'.

    The Main board have failed to manage and supervise the society's activities effectively.

    It is alleged that KIRBY now has a repayment plan. (who's he going to screw next?).

    There is nothing to stop anyone going to a police station to report a crime, absolutely nothing. It is the duty of the Police to investigate, and report to the crown prosecution service. I don't believe this has happened, YET.

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  38. just read the agm report in radcom white wash treated like mushrooms says it all as for the green shed thats me gone from this lot.

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  39. Peter Kirby is better off out of the narrow minded bigoted world of amateur radio, after devoting 19 years to this hobby trying to drag it into the 21st century (often at detriment to his health) but as they say ‘you can lead a horse to water’ lets see how the RSGB fare now with the bias management team at the reins. Okay he messed up, but at least this shows he is in fact a human being which is what a lot of amateurs forgot when insulting this ‘one man’ but hey lets focus on all the bad and not all the good that he has brought to this hobby.

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  40. That may well be true thank you for pointing that out Mr Kirby! ;0p

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  41. This was not posted by Mr Kirby, but his daughter of which he knows nothing of this, I had to put you all to right as we as a family have to deal with all this!!! So please refrain from some of your more hurtful comments.

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  42. Well done for sticking up for your father then, but as you may realise all I did here was state what facts we knew. The hurtful comments not mine but came from angry RSGB members posting replies here. As I said before in this thread...

    Please note the opinions posted as comments on this blog are not necessarily the opinions of CQHQ or GW7AAV and I reserve the right to remove posts that go too far.

    I do hope this can all be sorted out as soon as possible and you can get on with your lives. It is probably a good job the fuss is only limited to the ham radio community.

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  43. I see in the latest PW the rsgb is appealing for cash for its "Spectrum defence fund" to pay for a "Judicial Review"
    This is somewhat disingenuous, as there are strict time limits for this to be possible.
    The limit is three months , from official exchange of letters on the matter.This is long expired.
    Ofcom need do nothing , just sit quietly.
    The RSGB has been poorly advised by their city lawyers

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  44. The Bletchley Park project has been suspended I believe?

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  45. Dipping my toe back into the hobby after 30 years or so, and only occasionally reading RadCom, I only just found out about all this.

    All I can say is that back in the mid-70's (I must find out when..) the auditors qualified their approval of the accounts, stating that some of the paper trail was missing. With some other members, we managed to block the approval of the accounts at the AGM. The board promised to investigate and give a full report.

    Some months later, we received a request to rescind our objection since some time had passed, and the matter was "minor" anyway. That was the extent of their report.

    So, as they say, plus ca change.

    Mike G4APG

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  46. I write this as a member and ex-committee member of RSGB who has not been active in the Society for some time. These are purely my views and have tried to be ballanced in my opinion.

    When Peter Kirby was originally appointed I had mixed feelings. I knew he had the potential to do a lot of good for the Society and its members but I thought his personal maner was somewhere between aloof and arogant. However, over the years he did an enormous amount of hard work for Amateur Radio and it is sad for him and his family that he should end his career like this.

    If he has committed a criminal offence then I am sure due process will take its course.

    At times like this we should pull together as radio amateurs for the good of the hobby and whilst agreeing that those who have always slighted RSGB have a right to do so we should see their vitriol for what it is.

    Let us remember the good work of so many staff, officers, and volunteers and not let their efforts be lost by disproportionate, illconceived, and injudicious responses.

    The sooner RSGB are able to publish a full and frank account of all the facts, the outcomes, and the consequences of this unfortunate and damaging episode the better.

    Sebastian

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  47. This is not personal but Ive never liked talking to people over a hedge....a beard I mean..., Now Mr Kirby has left people are ready to seek glory, I know we need a new leader but I dont wish to be a member of a society that has lost its principals , duty to its members and moreover lost its direction and putting up costs as though their is no tomorrow and neglecting the long standing members who are the very foundation stone of the RSGB, That is the OAPs who have lost their dispensation on membership, now having to pay for qsl card returns and also a massive increase for membership, disgusting, in order to get back in the black instead of bringing the culprit to book. I am ashamed of the RSGB as they have not been transparent and open about it all... It will be a whitewash,You will see the members will vote with their feet if the policy is NOT reversed, What would the patron think The Duke of Edinburgh..""NEVER AGAIN WILL I BE A MEMBER"""" lOCATION TAMWORTH ,STAFFS

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  48. ive been licenced now 31 years and supported the rsgb as a rs number and a full licencee i am currently unemployed and watch the pennies as many other members in the same situation and it really makes me mad that greed has come into the equation i will never ever have nothing to do with the rsgb again kirby should be shot .

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  49. I THINK THE RSGB HAS DESERTED THE NEEDS OF THE OAPs , THEY OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES TREATING THE MEMBERS AS THEY ARE INCREASING FEES AND CHARGING FOR QSL FACILITIES , ITS SHAMEFUL , TRULY IS..AN ACT OF SELFISHNESS AND GREED BY THE SOCIETY , JUST FOR PROFIT SO IT CAN FINANCE PEOPLE LIKE KIRBY TO THE TUNE OF £50 GRAND A YEAR AND THEY STILL WANT MORE .AND MOREOVER IT WILL BE A WHITEWASH.KIRBY WILL GET AWAY WITH IT.. PLEASE MEMBERS VOTE WITH YOUR FEET.......

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  50. I WAS (past tense) a member for about 10 years but when I became unemployed for a short time I asked if there were any "concessions".....OH YES......pay by direct debit on installments.....
    I am now retired......would I get any discount now? HA HA....good joke eh? OK, so if I hadn't had a sense of humour I would never have joined in the first place.....perhaps the word GULLIBLE really ISN'T in the dictionary (No, please don't go looking it up :-)

    Probably a bit like I suggested to my local MP.....POLITICS should be TWO words......

    POLY as in MANY

    TICS as in PARASITES....

    And now it extends into a hobby.

    A disgruntled G4

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  51. I guess Mr Kirby thought he was entitled to a big bonus like the rest of them, it was just the way he went about it that stinks. When, when we get the money back maybe we'll have a decent magazine instead of the same old same old.

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  52. Kirby was just the tip of the iceberg, the society is rotten to the core.

    The only way you will change the RSGB is to stop giving them any money until they start to really listen to us. They EGM and the Interim board were a con, we were tricked and they got away with it.

    As long as they have subscribers they can do what they want and ignore us.
    Don't be fooled by all this talk of openess, it isn't there. Read the advisory group report and start asking questions.

    https://anonfiles.com/cdn/1321109197747.pdf

    RSGB = Corrupt just like our politicians.

    73 an ex RSGB member

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  53. I'd like to know when we are going to find out whether he has repaid the £41k, because nothing has appeared in RadCom on the subject for six months.

    BTW, £41k MUST BE the tip of the iceberg, because PK worked at RSGB for 18 years. Are we supposed to believe that he only turned bad in the final few? After all, he was having an affair with a female member of staff back in the 1990s - an affair that was still taking place at the time he was sacked.

    Successive Presidents and several senior members of HQ staff demonstrated willful blindness (or allowed themselves to be bullied). I was saddened (but not at all surprised) that few other heads rolled when Kirby's did. I can think of three current members of staff who should be ex-members. Two of them have a remarkably similar handshake to the one that PK used to have!

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  54. My company, Surplectronics, has supported Radio Rallies for many years offering quality board level components at sensible prices.

    After we were ripped off at the Newark Rally last October, we will not be attending any more rallies that the RSGB are involved in

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