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https://www.monktonwyldcourtcase.co.uk/timeline/
26 August Resistance Festival begins and the whole event runs smoothly and is a fantastic success under difficult conditions and with no support from the Trustees, only their attempts to prevent and derail the event
3 September Resistance Festival comes to a fitting finale with beautiful music and fun for all
6 September We learn in an email from the Co-op’s accountant that earlier in the year she was approached by a former community and co-op member, who had resigned from the co-op, but whose name had not yet been removed from the register at Companies House. He informed her that the Trustees had asked him to tell her to dissolve the worker’s co-operative. The accountant pointed out to him that she had no power to do this, since it had to be done by a General Meeting of the Partnership.
13 September Jared Hills, Groundskeeper and Community Member, is fired by Trustees by way of a legal letter from Foster and Coleman, for ‘gross misconduct’.
Legal letters also sent to Jasmine Hills, Head Gardiner, and Jon Hill, farm assistant, for the purposes of eviction. The three individuals each contested the orders with several clear reasons.
14 September Someone gets access to the Company’s House website and lists Jared and Jasmine Hills as having resigned from the Wyld Workers Coop, on 31 August, even though they did no such thing. They also reinstate as members a couple who recently resigned and who made it clear to the trustees that they did not want to be reinstated as Coop members. We are currently trying to find out who made these unauthorised changes to the list, which contravene the rules of the Co-op concerning the admission and resignation of members. The Co-op’s accountant, who has the password for altering the listings, refuses to divulge who authorised her to make the change.
11 October Jared, Jasmine and Jon, each receive replies from their responses to the Trustees solicitors, Foster and Coleman. They are all given a week to leave MWC, or there shall be a claim issued in the County Court, under CPR 55, to evict these 3 people as trespassers. All three of these individuals respond, with their clear reasoning why they see these eviction orders as invalid.
11 October Without any warning or consultation, Trustees change the Charity’s Articles of Association on the Company House website. They take the Articles of a London-based Community Interest Company called Public Voice CIC, make a few small changes, and paste it in to replace the previous Articles. Funnily enough, one of the Directors of Public Voice is Laura Guest who is also the main Trustee driving all the changes at Monkton Wyld Court.
Among other things, there are changes to the objects of the Charity, which for many years have been to promote education in sustainability and to maintain the listed buildings. Now the Charity’s objects include the promotion of “commerce, art, science, education, religion, charity or any profession, and to promote any social, political or sporting activity and anything incidental or conducive to the above objects”. Just about anything in fact. There are also changes making it easier to pay Trustees for their services and to sell off the charity to something other than another charity. A complaint to the Charity Commission has been made by former Trustees and community members.
13 October Jon Hill receives a letter from the Trustees, via Foster and Coleman, ordering a caravan to be removed from MWC. They give under three days for this to be done, threatening to send in Bailiffs if not. They add that they shall seek full costs from Jon via the courts.
17 October Jasmine and Jared both receive responses to their letters from Foster and Coleman, saying that they have no authority to remain at MWC. Foster and Coleman continue by saying they shall be issuing the Trustees claim in the county court to evict Jared and Jasmine as trespassers under CPR 55 without further notice.
19 October Bailiffs arrive on the farm at MWC, to issue notice on the caravan.
25 October The Trustees announce they are expropriating the Community’s shared car. The Trustees have never driven this vehicle nor have they paid a penny towards its upkeep. Unfortunately, the name of the logbook, dating from the days when there was no dispute between the charity and the community, is Monkton Wyld School, meaning that the Trustees can mask what is basically theft as “claiming ownership”. This mirrors exactly the way the Trustees have expropriated the entire charity and its community.
28 October Since the Charity is now too understaffed to harvest apples and make juice as usual, expelled members of the community have undertaken the job, washing up the empty bottles and pressing apples from a neighbouring orchard. Whereupon the Trustees write to Jon Hill demanding £600 in payment for the bottles. Actually the bottles are worth £340 and Jon has already arranged with the kitchen to offset this against money owed to him and Jared for supply of batteries to the charity, and back pay. Although this is explained to the Trustees, they nevertheless call in the police who as of 7 November are conducting an investigation.
5 November A comprehensive complaint is delivered to the Charity Commission signed by the six expelled residents and supported by five former Trustees. The complaint, which is 22,000 words long, plus 45 appendices, includes an account of what has taken place over the last seven months, and explanation of how this has harmed the charity. Watch this space.
11 November Xanthe P, who worked hard to look after the house after Sophie resigned in August, is ordered to leave by the the Trustees. Xanthe made a huge effort to try to mediate the dispute. Nevertheless, the Trustees fired her because “your support for people on site, who are actively causing harm to the Monkton Wyld Charity, is causing even more tension and disruption. You appear to share their attitude of hostility towards Stephen Williams.”
14 November Nine days after receiving the complaint, the Charity Commission informs us that they are not going to do anything. On 20 November they confirm this in an email, stating only that “we must advise that they are not matters that we can become involved in”. In response to our appeal against this verdict, they responded on 5 December : “we are not able to become involved in matters that relate to trustee decision making, where trustees are acting within their powers in the administration of a charity.”
23 November Police arrive at Monkton Wyld Court and arrest Simon Fairlie for “stealing” the community car. For nearly 14 years this car (originally a Peugeot and now a Honda 4WD) has been shared by members of the Community. Among other things it is necessary for servicing the farm. Simon is currently the main driver and has paid over £1500 in the last 30 months to maintain the vehicle. However the log book states that the registered keeper is Monkton Wyld School, and on this basis the Trustees managed to convince the Police that they are the owners — even though they have never used the car, nor spent a penny on its maintenance. Simon was held for 9 hours and then released on bail without charge.
1 December Environmental Health Officers arrive on site and tell us that we can no longer sell dairy produce to anyone, or give it away, until we obtain “approval”. We are therefore feeding it to our pigs. This is because we are no longer supplying Monkton Wyld Court and as a result the subsistence status that we formerly enjoyed no longer applies, and we enter into a new regulatory regime. We are currently applying for approval.
8 December Trustees order a locksmith to attend to install locks on some areas of The Court. A security guard is also hired for the day by the Trustees. Both individuals say they cannot proceed in this action as it is a civil matter, without the authorisation of the courts. The locksmith duly leaves the premises.
Later, Stephen Williams and a Trustee begin removing our campaign signs and banner and damaging them, watched by the security guard. The police are called and ultimately they recover the signs and banner. The incident is currently under police investigation.
4 – 5 January 2024 Massive support from attendees at the Oxford Real Farming Conference –
7 February The police inform us that they are going to charge Simon Fairlie with taking a vehicle without consent, under Section 12 of the Theft Act. Fairlie responds to the police “I find this very odd since I am part owner and main driver of the community car, I am currently responsible for its maintenance and I have recently paid over £500 to keep it on the road. Meanwhile the trustees who have made this accusation have no use for the vehicle. Their only motive is harassment. The vehicle has remained standing in the same place since before Christmas. With all due respect, I would have thought this dispute was a civil matter.”
10 February Malcolm Ramsay, an independent jurist, submits a further reasoned request to the Charity Commission to review their original decision. In it he notes that in an earlier communication he had asked the Commission’s case officer “if she recognised that trustees taking a decision for improper reasons constituted misconduct; her response was that, unless a decision was outside the trustees’ powers, the Commission could not intervene. I would expect the courts to find such a narrow definition of misconduct totally unacceptable . . . No reasons were provided explaining why the trustees’ behaviour – which would not be considered acceptable in any other sphere – was considered a legitimate exercise of their powers.”
16 February The trustees write to Jasmine telling her she will be reported to the police for theft if she sells any of the vegetables she has grown in the walled garden. They also write to Simon saying “clearly, the milk from two cows is far in excess of the dairy required for your personal use, or for swill for pigs. Will you please therefore inform us of your plans to stop dairy production, and removing the cows from our site.”
19 February Jon Hill, farm assistant, is served with court papers to appear at Yeovil County Court on 18th April. He has been charged with trespass and anti-social behaviour.
23 February Simon is charged with taking the Community Car without consent (see above 7 Feb) and is due top appear at Weymouth magistrates court on 27th March
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Website: https://www.monktonwyldcourtcase.co.uk/
Online petition:https://www.change.org/p/fighting-against-the-coup-d-%C3%A9tat-at-monkton-wyld-court
Just Giving for legal fees, court cases: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/monktonwyldcourtcase
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