Over nine months have now passed since members of the 140 strong Orihuela Costa Branch of the Royal British Legion first complained about the ‘bullyboy conduct’ of the Chairman of the District Committee in Spain (North), and yet, in all that time, the only action taken has been closure of the branch, the dismissal of it’s committee and the suspension of 3 of the Orihuela Costa complainants, a former Army Major, a retired Royal Navy Commander and the long serving Honorary Branch Secretary.
In the meantime, the subject of the complaint, Spain North Chairman Jack Kemp, has been completely untouched, allowed by the Royal British Legion Complaints Committee in London, to continue with his duties, and is now, rather bizarrely, about to chair the meeting that will decide on the future of the branch.
And all the time that this has been going on, since September 2022 in fact, the needs of the 140 paid up members have been largely ignored, as the branch has been prevented from meeting, despite petitions to the RBL President, Lieutenant General James Bashall, the RBL Chairman, Jason Coward and the Royal British Legion hierarchy in Haigh House, London.
DUTY OF CARE
In it’s National Charter ‘A Duty of Care to members’ is just one of the principles that the RBL claims to regard, above all others, and yet the 140 Orihuela Costa members, with many hundreds of years of loyal service between them, have been thrown to the wolves, all because the Branch Chairman, Kevin Reardon, with temperatures in the high eighties, allowed his 79-year old Standard Bearer to wear ‘shirt sleeve order’ during a memorial service to the late Queen Elizabeth II, held outdoors by the Orihuela City Council, in the September mid-day sun.
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Mr Reardon was removed from the Branch Chair by the District Chairman for his ‘ignoring a directive’, despite the high temperatures and this being a regular occurrence, one that is replicated in hot climates around the world.
At a second memorial service the following week, Kemp was verbally abusive to both Mr Reardon, a retired major with over 30 years military service, and the branch Standard bearer, Mr Eddie Coleman.
He shouted and screamed at both, and in the words of Mr Reardon, “He towered over me, just, inches from my face. I was covered in his spittle as he yelled at me in front of a large retiring congregation. Even young recruits don’t get such treatment!”
Both Reardon and Coleman submitted written complaints about the disgraceful display of aggression by the Spain North Chairman, to the Overseas Secretary, Bob Chambers, the Legion Complaints Committee and the highest RBL body, it’s Membership Council.
Sent separately were a number of witness statements from observers, including at least one senior RBL official and yet, other than the suspension of Mr Reardon, which has resulted in the closure of the Orihuela Costa Branch, no action has been taken.
Unfortunately the branch has now remained closed for almost 9 months, during which time members have been unable to meet, the branch assets have been frozen and despite having raised almost half a million euros toward the poppy appeal in recent years, the branch has been unable to carry out any fund-raising activities.
So as the authorities continue to ‘sit on their hands’ in London, dozens of branch members have now either left the RBL or indicated that they will not be renewing their membership because of their ‘shoddy’ treatment. This would appear to be the ‘Duty of Care’ currently being applied to Orihuela Costa members in Spain by the hierarchy of the Royal British Legion.
