Finchley Society president resigns over Bothy dispute

3:18pm Monday 17th December 2007

By Rebecca Lowe

The President of the Finchley Society has resigned following a vote of no confidence from members, who believed he had a conflict of interest as the leader of another charity.

Bill Tyler is president of both The Finchley Society and chairman of its home base, the Avenue House Estate Trust (AHET). AHET has been in dispute with the Finchley Arts Centre Trust (FACT) since January, when AHET evicted FACT from The Bothy building in its grounds.

While The Finchley Society does not have an official stance on the disagreement, many members believe it should be involved in mediation between the two charities, which, they say, was effectively impossible while Mr Tyler remained in charge.

Mr Tyler resigned as president, trustee and member of the planning committee on November 30. He said: "Following the voting of members at the special general meeting, I have considered the circumstances and decided to resign as president of the Society."

The no confidence motion was voted in favour by 44 votes to 41 on November 21. But Society secretary Robert Winton said that there was no evidence that Mr Tyler had ever tried to influence members.

"If you want to influence the Society you have to do it through the trustees, but it was the members who voted against him in the meeting. I think some were influenced by a meeting in February, when Bill Tyler spoke in a neutral way about the situation, but FACT supporters alleged that this was an attempt to prevent mediation.

"We are hoping it's all calmed down now and we can resume a more normal course."

Society member Chris Ower, a supporter of FACT, said Mr Tyler's resignation would have very little effect on the AHET/FACT dispute.

"It shouldn't have gone this far. We just wanted a situation where everything was discussed and sorted out for everyone's benefit. I don't think things will resolve now. It is very unfortunate it has happened the way it has, but he should have had more sense, really."

A Society letter sent to members on December 12 stated: "Bill Tyler has given outstanding support to the Society over many years, and the trustees very greatly regret his resignation. He was a founder member in 1971 and over many years has given much of his time and work to supporting the Society in many roles, such as architectural adviser, Society chairman, vice president, chairman of the planning committe and president since 1992."

The Bothy is a Grade II-listed mock fortress in the grounds of Victorian mansion Avenue House, in East End Road, Finchley. FACT partially renovated the building to turn it into an arts and community centre at a cost of £600,000, but was evicted when AHET maintained it did not have valid insurance for its activities and had not met building regulations.