A shocking death, and a charity chairman’s whitewash
The new filtered through last Tuesday, and was completely unexpected — at least by anybody I know.
Alexandra Pope, The Air Ambulance Service’s Director of People and Deputy CEO, had passed away. Apparently she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer previously, something that it seems most of us had no idea whatsoever about, and after going into hospital the previous week never reemerged.
For those who had no idea of the situation it was an utter shock, a tragic and unexpected twist. For all the allegations against her that has been discussed on this blog, in the papers, and elsewhere, it’s a horrible thing to happen to somebody, never mind a mother.
Alexandra and the CEO Andy Williamson were very much a duo — some would say she was the brains behind the operation — so it wasn’t surprising that he would be taking the week off.
After years working side by side, going on trips together, and having an extremely close relationship, it remains to be seen how he’ll cope without her, and whether he’ll effectively be able to do so at a critical time for the charity. Not least with Children’s Air Ambulance launching a second helicopter this summer but financially not holding its own, and relying on donations from the local air ambulance services to get by. (Whether donors to the local air ambulance services realise that is an interesting ethical question for another time.)
That would have made for a dramatic enough week in itself, but Wednesday then introduced a large dollop of absurdity in the frankly ridiculous shape of The Air Ambulance Service chairman John Williams.
If there had been any doubt amongst us that John is far too close to Andy to fulfil his objective duties effectively, then this occasion sealed it.
Wednesday saw our Learning Conference take place at Leicester Tigers stadium, an event many thought might be cancelled in the wake of Alexandra’s passing and Andy being absent. Instead John stepped in to parrot Andy and show he — and apparently the other trustees too — have no intention of taking the large amount of serious allegations seriously.
He kicked off the event dismissing the allegations in the Sunday Times as old news, evidently unaware of the numerous other claims from over half a dozen current and former employees/trustees that are currently with the Charity Commission. Most hilariously he had a slide to show off the achievements of Andy, turning himself into a cheerleader who is clearly unable to separate what is in the best interests of the charity from what is in the best interests of its current leadership team.
John seemed to notice the amount of shaking heads and disbelieving glares in the audience, and he also mentioned this very blog, so I hope he reads this: your pathetic words convinced nobody of Andy’s innocence. Indeed, the fact that you have to use a Learning Conference to defend the reputation of the CEO is alarming. As was your admission that you have apparently binned reporting into the charity by an external team for you and the trustees to conduct your own ‘investigation’.
John Williams, we don’t believe you. After your inaction we don’t trust anybody on your board. You are without shame, and your inability to govern effectively is putting the future of the charity at risk. Shame on you.
The problem with shameless people is they won’t go when it seems clear that they should. With that in mind, perhaps we should expect John and Andy to cling on like pitiful limpets many years past their prime, refusing to let go precisely because they know that they are too useless to have much of a future anywhere else. That they will drag The Air Ambulance Service down with them doesn’t seem to be of much concern for them, and so we will continue to do what we can to ensure their swift and clean removal. Stay tuned.