BASI, Grantown-on-Spey ... state-of-play
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF SNOWSPORT INSTRUCTORS ...
... founded on Speyside in 1962 and in its current Grantown HQ since 2009, is in a state of unprecedented legal and directional crisis. During 2014 there have been repeated challenges to the authority of BASI's board of directors, and a significant proportion of its membership is unhappy with the Association's stance on members' employment rights in the European Union.
BASI is the pre-eminent training and examination body for ski instructors in the UK - acknowledged as such by the International Ski Instructors Association – and has qualified thousands of ski instructors to high standards, but even the ISIA is asking questions of its governance. Gareth Roberts is the chairman of BASI, and Andrew Lockerbie is returning shortly as its chief executive. The interim chief executive is Stephen Burke, who is also (significantly, in view of current events) BASI's legal director. There have been recent resignations of directors from BASI’s board.
Though BASI's affairs are rarely discussed on Winterhighland - there is a very active discussion on Facebook called (interestingly) 'BASI Members' Group' (it's open to ex-members and non-members) ...
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www.facebook.com]
... this is maybe a good time to get a few factual matters on the record, summarised for general consumption ...
1. BASI 50th anniversary. This was a prestigious lunch in 2012, hosted at the House of Commons by Danny Alexander MP and attended by - among many others from several Alpine nations - Sir Steve Redgrave. Sir Steve, the 5-times Olympic gold-medallist, is the current president of BASI and a BASI-qualified ski instructor.
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www.basi.org.uk]
Those 50th anniversary celebrations were supposed to include a commemorative book, written by James Cove of PlanetSki (a BASI instructor). This book has not appeared but is believed to be in progress.
This 100th issue of BASI News appeared in 2011, anticipating the anniversary, and gives a picture of the organisation in happier times: [
www.basi.org.uk]
2. BASI training programme. It's as well to emphasise, despite the points above and below, that BASI will have a full programme of instructor training courses this winter, detailed on its website: [
www.basi.org.uk]
Live official BASI info on Facebook: [
www.facebook.com]
3. The legal dispute with Simon Butler. This affair, which is primarily a French prosecution of BASI member Simon Butler for employing instructors in Megeve who allegedly do not hold valid (French-approved) qualifications, continues. BASI has allied itself with the ESF (Ecole du Ski Français) over this prosecution, to the extent of circulating a statement from the French embassy ...
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www.basi.org.uk]
BASI expelled Simon Butler and removed his professional licence on 1 November 2014, just minutes before a general meeting at the Telegraph Ski Show in London. Butler responded by taking legal action. On 21 November, BASI HQ was visited by a ‘messenger at arms’ from the Edinburgh Court of Session, suspending their action against Simon Butler ...
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www.basi.org.uk]
This gave BASI 21 days to respond, which is tomorrow Friday 12 December. BASI’s response is, as yet, unknown.
4. The position of the ISIA. At an ISIA meeting on 18 October 2014, two matters concerning BASI’s governance were brought to the attention of delegates. The minutes record an allegation of “false documents” being issued to 33 British snowboard instructors, now being investigated by the ISIA.
The minutes also record a complaint by Simon Butler about his arrest and prosecution by the French. They state “ISIA will, however, demand an explanation from the BASI as to why specifically Simon Butler was refused the MoU sticker (enabling him to teach) for 2014."
See pages 9 and 10 of these ISA minutes: [
www.isiaski.org]
5. The vacancy of BASI Alpine Director. BASI announced two days ago that it has cancelled an extraordinary general meeting, due to be held in Chamonix on 24 January, to appoint a new alpine director. Errors occurred in the calling of the meeting, and the sole candidate for the post withdrew his candidature ...
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www.basi.org.uk]
That meeting had been notified on 26 November ...
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www.basi.org.uk]
The vacancy arose because of the recently-announced resignation of BASI alpine director Ian Linklater.
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This posting is meant to be a balanced picture of achievement and challenge currently facing BASI. To conclude on a positive note, the Association will field a demonstration team for the 2015 Interski meeting in Ushuaia, Argentina, in 2015. This 3-minute video explains:
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www.youtube.com]
Edited 18 times. Last edit at 15.16hrs Thu 11 Dec 14 by David Goldsmith.