Members' Information

We wish to inform you that a new Board of Directors has been formed and took up their duties on Monday.

The board of BATA now comprises new members; Mr Charles Brader, Mr Richard Butterworth and Mr Stephen Greenfield together with members of the previous board, Mr Robert Rook and Mrs Diane Flint. Mrs Flint and Mr Rook offered to stay on as members of the new board to offer some continuity. Mr Greenfield has been elected by the board as it’s new Chairman. All members of the new board have confirmed that they will serve until the next Annual General Meeting, at which time all members may, along with any other applicants, offer themselves for election in a vote in which all members may participate.

Mr Brader will be well known to many of you as a former Chairman of BATA, Mr Butterworth is currently Chairman of farmer-owned cooperative Scotlean Pigs and Mr Greenfield, as well as being Chief Executive of the Sledmere Estate, is a former Chairman of a farmer owned Cooperative.

For clarity, we confirm that long-standing members of the board, Mr John Sherwood and Mr David Lumley, with 20 years and 36 years service respectively, and Mr Tony Farmer, have resigned as directors and have been thanked for the work on behalf of BATA.

Mr Andrew Richardson remains Chief Executive but will step down as Secretary to the Society as from 23rd August 2023. An appointment of a new Secretary will be made by the board as soon as possible.

The new board has already held its first meeting after which they issued the following statement:

“In light of recent disruptive moves to demutualise the Society and the call by a large number of members for a substantive change in it’s leadership and governance, we are pleased to have assembled an experienced new board of directors whose clear aims will be to drive the business forward, respect and value our staff and engage with, and serve, the needs of all our

members and customers. The cooperative ethos will be at the heart of everything we do. We can assure you that a thorough review of many aspects of the business and governance of the Society will now take place, we will undertake wide-ranging consultation with staff, members and customers and, if it is found necessary, significant changes will be made. We look forward to receiving ideas and input from all existing members and to reaching out to former members and highlighting the benefits of membership to the wider rural community.”

If you have any questions specifically regarding this announcement, please email bataboard1@gmail.com