BAFC Business - The British Airborne Forces Club Forum https://www.bafc.org.uk/community/bafc-business-room-bafc-business-room/ The British Airborne Forces Club Discussion Board en-GB Tue, 25 Aug 2026 03:50:59 +0000 wpForo 60 BAFC Charity Status. https://www.bafc.org.uk/community/bafc-business-room-bafc-business-room/bafc-charity-status/ Tue, 13 Jan 2026 12:40:48 +0000 Gents, we are victims of our own success. We are now legally required to become a Charity. Nick posted the following on fudbok:

We will not be the kind of H4H charity, so the committee will not be receiving six figure salaries and expense acounts and gucci Range Rovers each.

To all members of the BAFC

Hi guys
 
As a Committee, we always, without exception act in the best interests of the Club and our members. To that end we must now take steps to protect the Club and those who run it by becoming a Registered Charity.
 
Due to our current financial position we could fall foul of both HMRC and The Charity Commission which could have detrimental consequences for the Committee and the Club.
 
Please read the details below for a complete breakdown of what we propose to do and why regarding the status of the BAFC.
 
If you have any questions or feedback please send them to me directly as a private message.
 
We will be asking members to vote on the proposed changes to the Club’s status at the AGM in Brecon on the 16th May 2026.
 
Many thanks
 
Nick Butler
 
Chairman BAFC
 
“Why We Must Now Become a Registered Charity.”
 
1. Introduction
This briefing explains why the British Airborne Forces Club (BAFC) must now take the step of becoming a formally registered charity, and why this is not a matter of preference, ideology, or committee ambition, but a legal and regulatory necessity.
This is about protecting the Club, protecting its members, and protecting those who serve it.
 
2. What the Club is already doing
In practice, the BAFC already operates like a charity.
We:
Support veterans and serving personnel
Preserve Airborne Forces heritage and esprit de corps
Provide welfare, community, remembrance, and support activities
Hold funds, collect subscriptions, and spend money for collective benefit
Act in the name of a defined community with a clear purpose
These are charitable activities in law, whether we label them as such or not.
The issue is simple:
we are doing charitable work without the legal structure that the law now requires.
 
3. The uncomfortable truth (put plainly)
At present, the BAFC is not legally incorporated and not registered with the Charity Commission or any other statutory body.
That means:
The Club has no separate legal personality
The Committee members are personally liable
Funds are being handled without statutory protection
We are outside modern charity and financial regulations
HMRC and regulators would view us as non-compliant
No one set out to create this situation. It is common in long-standing veterans’ organisations. But it cannot continue.
If we carry on as we are:
Individual committee members could be personally exposed to financial or legal claims
Banking arrangements could be frozen or withdrawn
Grant funding and support opportunities are closed to us
Regulators could intervene
The Club itself could be put at risk
Put bluntly:
doing nothing is the riskiest option available to us.
 
4. This is not a “committee power grab”
It is important to be absolutely clear:
This is not about control
This is not about changing the ethos of the Club
This is not about telling members what to think or do
This is not about outside interference
This step is being taken because the law has moved on, not because the committee has changed its mind about the Club’s identity.
In military terms:
the ground has shifted, and we must move or be exposed.
 
5. Why incorporation as a Charity CIO is the correct route
After advice, research, and comparison of structures, the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) is the most appropriate form for the BAFC.
It provides:
Legal status in its own right (the Club becomes a legal person)
Protection for trustees and committee members
Clear governance, written down and transparent
Proper financial oversight
Eligibility for grants, funding, and formal partnerships
Credibility with banks, authorities, and other organisations
Long-term stability beyond any one group of individuals
Crucially:
A CIO is designed for organisations like ours
It is not a corporate structure
It does not change who we are
It simply makes us lawful, protected, and sustainable
 
6. What this means for members (and what it does not)
What stays the same
The Airborne ethos
The identity of the Club
The purpose of remembrance, support, and comradeship
The voice of the membership
The volunteer nature of service
What improves
Financial transparency and protection
Long-term security of the Club
Accountability (written, not personal)
Ability to plan properly for the future
Protection of the Club’s name and assets
Members are not being ordered to accept change for change’s sake.
They are being asked to support the only responsible course available.
 
7. Duty of care – to the Club and to those who serve it
Those who sit on the committee today are already carrying responsibility.
Without incorporation:
They carry personal risk
They act without statutory cover
They are exposed individually, not collectively
No responsible organisation asks volunteers to continue in that position once the risk is understood.
Moving to a CIO is an act of duty of care:
To current committee members
To future volunteers
To the membership as a whole
To the reputation of the Airborne community
 
8. The bottom line
This is not about wanting to change the Club.
It is about keeping the Club alive, lawful, and protected.
The choice before us is simple:
Act now, deliberately and together, or
Drift on, exposed to legal, financial, and reputational harm
The committee is not asking for blind obedience.
It is asking for understanding, support, and trust to do what is required — not what is comfortable.
 
9. Next steps
At the forthcoming AGM we will :
Explain the structure
Answer questions
Listen to concerns
Proceed transparently and properly, following a vote by members
 
Many thanks
 
Nick Butler
 
Chairman
 
]]> BAFC Business Don Stewart https://www.bafc.org.uk/community/bafc-business-room-bafc-business-room/bafc-charity-status/ BAFC AGM Agenda 2025 https://www.bafc.org.uk/community/bafc-business-room-bafc-business-room/bafc-agm-agenda-2025/ Wed, 19 Mar 2025 12:47:27 +0000 Gent here's the agenda for this years AGM.  Any questions to me and i'll bring it to the attention of the committee.

 

Annual General Meeting

 Saturday 17th May 2025

1500 hrs

Brecon Rugby Club

 

 

ORDER OF BUSINESS

 

 

Before we start the meeting, please stand and we will have a minute’s silence to honour those that have Fallen since our last gathering in Aldershot last November.

 

  1. Can I please have a proposer that the minutes from the previous meeting held on the 19h May 2024 as posted on the club website, are accurate.

 

Proposed:                                    Seconded:                     All in favour

 

  1. The Treasurer’s statement regarding the financial position of the club read by our treasurer Dean Kurgan,

 

  1. A statement by the Membership Officer with the number of current members and increase/decrease over the last 12 months (Read by Don Stewart).

 

  1. A statement by the Welfare Officer with a summary of cases the club has been involved with in the last 12 months (Read by Marty Margerison).

 

  1. Vote of thanks to the RQMS at Dering Lines for his kind support of the club by providing accommodation within Dering Lines.

 

 

Proposed:                                    Seconded:                           All in favour

 

 

  1. Vote of thanks to Sharon for letting us use the rugby club and for their unstinting support to the BAFC.

 

 

Proposed:                                                Seconded:                           All in favour 

 

 

  1. Vote of thanks to Annie Lewis for her continued work with the Club forum.

 

 

Proposed:                                    Seconded:                             All in favour

 

 

  1. Vote to retain the current BAFC Committee in situ for the next 12 months. Please note that anyone can put themselves forward to be nominated to be on the committee.

 

 

Proposed:                                               Seconded:                               All in favour

 

 

  1. Proposal is that we pay Support Our Paras £1000 later this year November/ December 2025 to support the annual Christmas Hamper appeal. This is to provide Christmas hampers for those AB veterans who are in most need, arranged by Support Our Paras. We need a vote to agree this due to the amount being over the Chairmans discretionary limit of £500.Proposer/ seconder required.

 

 

Proposed:                                    Seconded:                               All in favour

 

 

  1. BAFC Facebook- Can I ask that all posts are Airborne or BAFC related. We are happy for members of the BAFC to advertise AB goods on our Facebook page. We have already agreed this with a couple of guys and they have agreed to make a donation to the BAFC, minimum 5% of their profits based on sales through our Facebook page. Seems to be working well at present.

 

  1. Welfare notifications- Please keep us updated asap if you become aware of an Airborne brother who has fallen on hard times. Please use social media or just message any of the committee, we can then pick the case up. Recently we have made welfare payments within the hour after doing our due diligence checks.

 

 

 

  1. Malta Remembrance weekend- This will follow the same format as previous years. For those seeking further information please contact Phil Probets.

 

  • BAFC P Company 10 Miler in Aldershot will be on Saturday 22ND November 2025.

 

  • BAFC Fandance 2026 will be in Brecon over the weekend of 15/16  May 2026

 

  • Any other business (by prior consultation with the Chairman)

 

Electronically Signed

 

Nick Butler

Chairman

BAFC

 

"May the defence of the Most High be above and beneath,

around and within us, in our going out and in our coming in,

in our rising up and in our going down,

through all our days and all our nights,

until dawn when the Sun of Righteousness shall rise

 with healing in his wings for the peoples of the world,

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen."

 

]]> BAFC Business Don Stewart https://www.bafc.org.uk/community/bafc-business-room-bafc-business-room/bafc-agm-agenda-2025/