1. Three Executive commitee members of the NCMD, all with far more experience in the hobby than Alastair Hackett asked him, why are you apparently not guarding the Constitution?
2. Why is Alastair Hackett going along with everything that Kevon Gorman does regardless of his actions?
2. Why is Alastair Hackett going along with everything that Kevon Gorman does regardless of his actions?
2. Why is Alastair Hackett going along with everything that Kevon Gorman does regardless of his actions?
The Four Regions
John Wells, Clive Sinclair, David Rees, Brian Vaughan and Syd Hallam are five well established Executive Committee members of the NCMD and have all been suspended by the small group of NCMD officers who have seized control of the NCMD. Three of them have also had their memberships revoked based on unsubstantiated accusations and were given no right to appeal. Those NCMD officers responsible for these actions, are mainly from the North West Region, Scottish and Anglian Regions and claim they are now the NCMD and have title to the organisation and membership funds. This take-over was instigated during the Covid 19 pandemic and these are people with limited experience, that have since stated that officers should be paid positions. That is unconstitutional and against everything the NCMD was founded on.
The fact is, that all any of these individuals in the four regions have done is to refuse to accept demands made on them by an unratified General Secretary, and not to accept the use of emails for meetings, or to attend zoom meetings that based on a written agreement from the President Alastair Hackett on 7th April 2020 should never have taken place throughout the pandemic.
John Wells is the Chairman of the Midland Region a position he has held for the past 40 years. He has been a member of the NCMD since its inception and achieved the positions of Chairman for 18 years, President 6 years, and honorary President for the last 3 years. He was also instrumental in leading the team of extremely talented volunteers who liaised with the Government, the Home Office, the British Museum in bringing about the Treasure Act 1996 that replaced the ancient law of Treasure Trove.
Wendy Howard, the present Chairman of the NCMD has seen fit to remove his honorary Presidency of the NCMD that had been bestowed on him in recognition for his long term exceptional service to the NCMD and the hobby.
Not attending zoom meetings should not justify destroying the NCMD.
Clive Sinclair (a former voluntary Public Relations Officer for the NCMD) has been the General Secretary of the Southern Region since the late 90’s, after which the region was renamed LEGISE:NCMD(SR) (Landscape Explorers in South East) in 2007. Clive and the other SR regional officers in 1997, assisted the PAS in implementing the Portable Antiquities Scheme pilot launch in Kent and later went on to develop a strong liaison with the Kent County Archaeologists, through regular meetings of the 'Kent Archaeologists and Detectorists Liaison Group' (KADLG) at County Hall, Maidstone. Later in 2002, Clive setup the 'Kent Archaeological Metal Detecting Support Unit' (KAMSU), later renamed to Kent Archaeological Metal Detecting Survey Unit. This unit gives metal detecting assistance to Archaeological contract units working in Kent.
David Rees is the Chairman of the Western Region and has been metal detecting for over 40 years. This picture was taken whilst he was filming the BBC Celebrity Antiques Road trip. Left to right are Christine Trevelyan, David Rees, Dave Whalley (the brother of the late Bob Whalley), and Nigel Harman (East Enders star).
He has been the chairman of three clubs in his region, and also the lead for the past two years of the Heritage Watch Initiative working with Heritage England, the Police and others authorities providing free awareness training to metal detectorists to help prevent and detect rural and heritage crime.
Brian Vaughan is the Secretary of the Western Region and he is a military veteran based in South Wales. He was previously a committee member for the former Welsh region. His own club has over 70 members, and he is well respected for his enthusiasm and dedication to the hobby and has been working with the Advisory Committee of PAS Cymru to evaluate the current structure, provision and funding of PAS Cymru.
On behalf of the region and the Welsh clubs he was in contact with the Welsh Assembly throughout the pandemic and assisted the Welsh members of the region to be aware of the differences between the guidelines for England and Wales that were often quite different in how they related to the hobby.
Syd Hallam started detecting over 40 years ago and he became site-finder for the Yorkshire Region in 1993. He became vice chairman 25 years ago, and when Trevor Austin passed away over 5 years ago, he became Secretary of the Region. Alongside his wife Beryl they have attended the NCMD council meetings for over 20 years.
Along with his best friend Trevor Austin and his wife Sue, both past General Secretary’s of the National council, He was actively involved in the NCMD anniversary week rally put on at Bridlington in 1993 and 1995 and was also part of the BBC TV program at Charlecote Park.
He still has the energy and enthusiasm to find sites every month for those attending his regional meetings.