Let’s Dance Again CIO: Current Status of the Governance Record

A comprehensive Master Foundation Document (“MFD”) has now been consolidated in relation to Let’s Dance Again CIO.

This document is not a social media argument, not a personality clash, and not a campaign against community activity. It is a structured governance record bringing together correspondence, witness material, public posts, regulatory issues, data protection concerns, exclusion evidence, and Freedom of Information disclosures concerning the charity’s operation and oversight.

At its core, the issue remains simple: trustees of a registered charity have been asked clear and repeated questions about governance, financial oversight, safeguarding, conflicts of interest, data handling, and procedural fairness. Those questions have not been substantively answered.

The Trustees

The Charity Commission record shows the trustees as:

• Elaine Costigan
• Debora Dawn Price
• Janet Clarke

These individuals carry the legal responsibility for the governance and conduct of the charity.

That responsibility cannot be delegated away. It cannot be answered by supporters. It cannot be replaced by slogans, public outrage, or moral grandstanding on social media.

What the MFD Now Contains

The current MFD brings together, in one working record:

• Charity Commission status and trustee details
• Published financial summaries and comparator concerns
• Formal governance questions sent to trustees
• A formal data protection complaint
• A Subject Access Request and subsequent non-response
• Exclusion material affecting older beneficiaries
• Witness statements and contemporaneous accounts
• Public posts and comments by non-trustees acting in defence of the charity
• Evidence of trustee acquiescence in that conduct
• FOI disclosures from Sandwell Council concerning Wednesbury Town Hall
• An internal review request challenging the adequacy of that FOI response
• A chronology of escalation and unanswered issues

The purpose of the MFD is not theatrical. It is evidential.

The Core Governance Issues

The present record raises serious questions in the following areas.

1. Trustee Non-Response

Formal written questions have been sent to trustees on multiple occasions covering governance, safeguarding, data handling, exclusions, financial oversight, conflicts of interest, and public statements made on behalf of or in defence of the charity.

No substantive written response has been provided addressing the totality of those issues.

Silence, in these circumstances, is not neutral. It becomes part of the governance record.

2. Exclusion and Procedural Fairness

The record includes evidence of an exclusion letter issued to an older beneficiary, stating that the decision was final and not subject to appeal.

That raises obvious concerns about:

• natural justice,
• proportionality,
• consistency,
• and whether proper procedures were followed.

Where a charity serving older people excludes individuals without transparent process or review, scrutiny is not optional. It is necessary.

3. Data Protection and Special Category Data

Serious questions were raised regarding the collection and handling of personal data, including health-related information and emergency contact details.

Those questions included:

• who is the data controller,
• what lawful basis is relied upon,
• how forms are stored,
• who has access,
• and what safeguards exist where vulnerable people are involved.

Those concerns were not trivial and were put formally.

A later Subject Access Request was also submitted. As matters stand, the apparent failure to respond within time materially aggravates the data-protection picture.

4. Financial Transparency

The published income and expenditure figures do not obviously sit comfortably with the visible scale of activity carried on by the charity.

That is not an accusation of proven wrongdoing. It is a legitimate transparency concern.

Where there are:

• weekly activities,
• regular events,
• frequent use of public venues,
• and multiple streams of visible community operation,

it is reasonable to ask whether the published financial record fully reflects the operational reality, and whether trustees have exercised adequate financial oversight.

5. Conflict of Interest and USP Steels

A further unresolved issue concerns the public association between the charity and USP Steels, a company connected to the Chair’s son.

Questions were asked about:

• the nature and value of any support,
• what the company receives in return,
• whether any conflict was formally declared,
• whether trustee meetings approved the arrangement,
• and whether any branding or public association with Wednesbury Town Hall was known to or accepted by the council.

These are standard conflict-of-interest questions. They remain unanswered.

The Role of Non-Trustees

One of the clearest patterns in the record is that a non-trustee has repeatedly acted as the public voice of attack and retaliation while trustees themselves have remained substantively silent.

That conduct has included:

• personal attacks,
• legal-threat rhetoric,
• repeated public escalation,
• attempts to drag in third-party venues and organisations,
• and efforts to reframe governance scrutiny as harassment or hate.

That is not a proper substitute for trustee accountability.

A charity’s governance cannot lawfully be outsourced to an unofficial attack dog.

What the FOI Has Added

The FOI response from Sandwell Council materially strengthened the record.

It confirmed:

• extensive and repeated use of Wednesbury Town Hall,
• a period of free-use arrangements for community groups,
• a real funding relationship between council and charity,
• council awareness of complaints,
• and, strikingly, the apparent absence of written policy, criteria or guidance governing free use or preferential access during the relevant period.

That matters.

Where a charity is making repeated use of a public building, supported by public grant funding, and concerns are later raised about exclusion, fairness and safety, the expectation of proper governance is stronger, not weaker.

An internal review has now been requested because parts of the FOI response appear incomplete or overly reliant on applicant-supplied documents rather than independent council due diligence.

What This Is Not

This is not an attempt to shut down community activity.

It is not an attack on older people attending events.

It is not an attack on volunteers acting lawfully and properly.

It is not a hate campaign.

It is a documented effort to ensure that a registered charity serving older and potentially vulnerable beneficiaries is run:

• lawfully,
• transparently,
• fairly,
• and in accordance with trustee duties.

The Current Status

As matters stand, the position is this:

• The MFD has been consolidated into a structured evidential record.
• Trustees remain the central decision-makers and legal officeholders.
• Formal governance questions remain unanswered.
• Exclusion and fairness concerns remain live.
• Data protection concerns remain unresolved.
• The SAR issue remains serious.
• FOI disclosures have strengthened the public-interest case for scrutiny.
• The internal review process is now engaged.
• The conflict-of-interest strand remains unanswered.
• Public attacks by non-trustees have not displaced trustee responsibility.

Final Position

This matter is not becoming more trivial with time. It is becoming more defined.

The longer trustees do not answer clear governance questions, the more the absence of answers becomes evidential in itself.

The issue is no longer whether scrutiny was justified.

It plainly was.

The issue is whether the trustees of Let’s Dance Again CIO intend to discharge their duties properly, transparently, and on the record.

Until then, the MFD stands as the clearest available account of the present governance position.

#LetsDanceAgain #CharityGovernance #TrusteeAccountability #Wednesbury #Safeguarding #GDPR #FinancialTransparency #FOI #SandwellCouncil #WednesburyTownHall #CharityCommission #PublicInterest

When Trustees Go Quiet - Wednesbury

When Trustees Go Quiet

Let’s keep this simple.

I asked the trustees of Let’s Dance Again CIO a series of formal, written questions about governance.

They have not answered them.

Instead, there has been noise. Accusations. Deflection. Public commentary from people who are not trustees.

But no substantive written answers.

What This Is About

This is not about personalities.
It is not about shutting events down.
It is not about volunteers.
It is not about politics.

It is about governance.

Let’s Dance Again CIO is a registered charity.
Trustees carry legal duties.
Those duties are not optional.

When concerns are raised about:

• Data protection
• Safeguarding
• Financial transparency
• Exclusion of members
• Conflicts of interest

… trustees are required to respond.

Not emotionally.
Not theatrically.
Not through supporters or intermediaries.

In writing.

The Record So Far

For clarity, here is the sequence:

6 January 2026 – Formal written governance and safeguarding questions sent to the Chair.

8 January 2026 – Formal data protection clarification requested.

19 January 2026 – Follow-up noting no response.

22 January 2026 – Further written questions regarding conflicts of interest and public claims about regulators.

4 February 2026 – Formal notice reminding trustees of their responsibilities and requesting written clarification.

To date:

No substantive written response addressing the questions.

That silence is now part of the record.

What Happened Instead

Instead of trustee responses, what followed publicly included:

• Claims of bullying
• Claims of intimidation
• Assertions about “leaking”
• Invitations to meet privately
• Commentary from individuals who do not hold trustee responsibility

For clarity:

Governance matters should not be handled in cafés, Wetherspoons or restaurants.
They should not be handled on podcasts.
They should not be handled via social media commentary.

They should be handled by trustees.

In writing.

The full email record shows boundaries being set, requests for clarification being made, and confirmation of removal where inaccurate public material was involved.

That is not bullying.

That is documentation.

Responsibility Sits With Trustees

This has nothing to do with stopping events.

Nothing to do with destroying anything.

Nothing to do with personal grudges.

It has everything to do with whether:

• Personal and special-category data is lawfully processed
• Safeguarding procedures are robust and documented
• Exclusions are fair, minuted and appealable
• Financial controls are transparent
• Conflicts of interest are declared and managed
• Public statements about regulators are accurate

Trustees hold fiduciary responsibility.

Volunteers and supporters may speak loudly.

But trustees are accountable.

Annex: 15 Core Governance Questions Still Awaiting Answers

1. Who is the named Data Controller for the charity?
2. What lawful basis is relied upon for collecting health and next-of-kin data?
3. Has a Data Protection Impact Assessment been conducted?
4. Where are registration forms stored and who has access?
5. What retention policy applies to personal and special-category data?
6. What safeguarding policy is in force and when was it last reviewed?
7. Who is the named safeguarding lead?
8. What written complaints procedure exists?
9. What documented appeal process applies to excluded members?
10. How are conflicts of interest declared and minuted?
11. When was the last AGM held?
12. Were all trustees properly appointed and recorded?
13. What internal financial controls apply to events and bingo income?
14. On what basis were public statements made that regulators are “completely happy”?
15. Have trustees formally reviewed and minuted the concerns raised?

These are not hostile questions.

They are governance basics.

The Position Now

If governance is sound, answers are easy.

If answers are difficult, that is precisely why they are being asked.

Rather than third parties attempting to badmouth individuals, speculate about motives, or escalate matters publicly, their energy would be better directed toward encouraging the trustees to do what trustees are legally required to do:

Act in accordance with Charity Commission guidance.
Respond formally.
Provide documentation.
Answer the questions.

The door remains open.
The questions remain on the table.

#CharityGovernance #TrusteeDuties #AccountabilityMatters #TransparencyNow #SafeguardingFirst #GDPRCompliance #FollowTheQuestions #PublicTrust #CharityCommission #GovernanceNotDrama #AnswerTheQuestions #LetTheRecordShow

When the Numbers Don’t Add Up: Follow the Cash, Follow the Silence (An Update)

When the Numbers Don’t Add Up: Follow the Cash, Follow the Silence (An Update)

LET'S DANCE AGAIN 

Charity number: 1202816

21 January → now.
Since the last blog, silence has not clarified matters — it has amplified them.

In the days since publishing “When Silence Becomes the Answer”, a significant amount of new material, evidence, and public statements have landed. Some quietly. Some noisily. All of it points in the same direction:

👉 The figures now published bear no reasonable resemblance to the scale of activity being described, promoted, photographed, and witnessed.

This post brings everything together.

Not conjecture.
Not rumour.
Documented figures, published accounts, public statements, and unanswered questions.

The Published Figures (Now on the Charity Commission Record)

Let’s start with the numbers — because they are no longer missing.

Charity Commission financial returns show:

Financial year ending 31 March 2024

• Total gross income: £14,300
• Total expenditure: £11,710
• Income from government grants: £12,390

Financial year ending 31 March 2025

• Total gross income: £19,150
• Total expenditure: £17,520
• Income from government grants: £0 / N/A

So in plain English:

• Income rises by £4,850
• Expenditure rises by £5,810
• Government grant income disappears entirely
• Net surplus remains modest

On paper, it looks… tidy.

In reality?
It raises more questions than it answers.

The Activity vs Income Disconnect

Across the same period, the organisation publicly promotes and hosts:

• Weekly coffee mornings
• Monthly large-scale social events
• Ticketed shows and “spectaculars”
• Bingo sessions
• Raffles and prize draws
• Auctions
• Bric-a-brac and ad-hoc cash sales
• Bar sales
• Catering and food provision
• Regular cash collections at the door

This is not occasional activity.
This is continuous, cash-heavy operation.

Yet the entire organisation — all of that activity — allegedly turns over just £19,150 in a year.

That is:

• ~£368 per week
• before costs
• across multiple events, venues, and income streams

At this scale, one of two things must be true:

1. The organisation is operating at a level far smaller than publicly presented, or
2. Not all income is being captured, recorded, or reported

Those are not allegations.
They are logical possibilities created by the published figures themselves.

Bingo, Gambling, and Why This Matters

We have now received multiple consistent statements confirming that bingo sessions are run.

This matters because under the Gambling Act 2005, charity bingo is tightly regulated.

In short:

• Certain small-scale bingo can operate without a licence only if all proceeds (minus allowable expenses) are returned as prizes
• Fixed prize structures, retained surpluses, or pooled funds can trigger licensing and reporting requirements
• Cash handling must be transparent and auditable

Concerns raised include:

• Repeated identical prize amounts
• Monthly “bonus” payouts
• No evidence of licensing or exemption clarity
• No publicly available explanation of how bingo income and payouts are handled

The question is not “is this illegal?”

The question is: 👉 Where is the clarity, documentation, and transparency you would expect from a registered charity?

At present, there is none.

Cash Handling: The Black Hole Question

When an organisation relies so heavily on:

• Cash at the door
• Cash raffles
• Cash bingo
• Cash food and drink
• Cash auctions

…it must be able to show:

• Clear collection processes
• Separation of duties
• Reconciliation against event activity
• Transparent recording into accounts

Yet:

• No cash-handling policy has been published
• No internal controls have been evidenced
• No breakdown of income sources appears in the accounts
• No explanation has been offered despite repeated opportunities

The figures sit there, smiling politely, while the activity screams something else entirely.

Governance: Still Missing in Action

Despite claims of extensive policies, we have seen:

• No constitution
• No AGM records
• No minutes
• No membership decisions documented
• No appeals process evidenced
• No safeguarding decision records

This is not academic.

Recent mass exclusions, bans, and allegations were:

• Made without recorded meetings
• Made without minuted decisions
• Made without appeal mechanisms
• Made without transparency

Several witnesses state decisions were taken:

“By one or two individuals, without consultation, and based on hearsay.”

That is not governance.
That is risk.

Sponsorship, Relationships, and the USP Question

A further issue now documented concerns commercial sponsorship linked to a trustee’s family business (USP).

Again, no accusation is made — but:

• There is no recorded discussion
• No conflict-of-interest declaration published
• No minutes evidencing approval
• No explanation of value, benefit, or terms

In any properly governed charity, this would be:

• Declared
• Minuted
• Managed transparently

Here, it is simply… absent.

Patterns, Not Personalities

This matters enough to say clearly:

This is not about personalities.
This is about patterns.

Patterns of:

• Silence
• Control
• Missing records
• Financial figures that don’t align with observable activity
• Governance that exists only by assertion

When organisations are confident in their governance, they publish answers.

When they are not, they block, ban, and stay quiet.

The Question Remains

So we return to the simplest, fairest question of all:

👉 If everything is in order, where is the evidence?

Not reassurance.
Not Facebook posts.
Not “trust us”.

Evidence.

Until then, silence really does become the answer.

#CharityGovernance #FollowTheMoney #FinancialTransparency #CashHandling #BingoLaw #GamblingAct2005 #TrusteeDuties #Safeguarding #Accountability #SilenceIsAnAnswer #Sandwell

When Silence Becomes an Answer: Governance, Safeguarding and Escalation

When Silence Becomes an Answer: Governance, Safeguarding and Escalation

Since our last blog, a significant volume of new information and corroborating evidence has come forward concerning governance, safeguarding, data handling and decision-making within Let’s Dance Again (LDA) and its activities at Wednesbury Town Hall and other venues.

What has emerged is not a single dispute, personality clash, or isolated incident — but a pattern of action reported independently by multiple former volunteers, members, performers and supporters over a sustained period of time.

A growing pattern, not one-off concerns

New material received since the last update includes:

• Safeguarding concerns relating to crowding, fire safety, evacuation procedures and the management of large numbers of older and potentially vulnerable people.
• Accounts of fire alarms being activated with no clear evacuation plan, no designated lead, and confusion about whether events should continue.
• Reports of large numbers of attendees being placed in upstairs or balcony areas, raising serious questions about accessibility and emergency egress.
• Multiple accounts of individuals who raised concerns being removed, excluded, or warned off, often without written reasons, evidence, or any appeal process.
• Questions about financial transparency, cash handling, and a lack of clarity about where money was going — raised by more than one person, at different times.

These accounts are consistent in nature, detail and outcome, even where the individuals involved had no connection to one another.

Efforts to seek clarification — and the silence that followed

Before taking any external action, formal written requests for clarification were sent to the trustees of Let’s Dance Again CIO.

Those requests:

• set out the concerns clearly,
• asked factual questions,
• and provided trustees with the opportunity to respond, explain, or correct the record.

No response was received. Not even an acknowledgement.

That silence matters. When trustees choose not to engage with reasonable requests for clarification on safeguarding, governance and data protection matters, it leaves no responsible option other than escalation.

Attempts at intimidation do not resolve facts

Since raising these issues, we have also received messages from a non-trustee volunteer making sweeping allegations, character attacks, and unsupported claims about others who have raised concerns.

These messages:

• have no legal standing,
• do not come from anyone with authority to speak on behalf of the charity,
• and do nothing to address the substantive issues raised.

We are not interested in personal attacks, informal conversations, or off-record discussions.
We are interested in evidence, governance, safeguarding, and accountability.

Attempts to deflect, intimidate or threaten do not change the underlying facts — and they have been logged accordingly.

Why matters have now been escalated

Given:

• the volume and consistency of evidence now received,
• the failure of trustees to engage or clarify,
• and the seriousness of the safeguarding and governance issues involved,

matters have now been formally escalated to the appropriate regulatory and authority bodies.

This was not a first step.
It was the last available step after reasonable attempts to resolve matters directly were ignored.

A call to others — in confidence

We are aware that there may be others who have been excluded, warned, removed, or discouraged from speaking, or who have experienced similar issues but have so far remained silent.

If that applies to you:

• you are invited to contact us,
• your information will be treated in strict confidence,
• and no material will be used or shared without consent.

Patterns only become visible when people feel safe to speak.

What this is — and what it is not

This is not a personal vendetta.
It is not about rumours or hearsay.
It is not about personalities.

It is about:

• safeguarding older and vulnerable people,
• proper governance of community organisations,
• lawful handling of personal data,
• and ensuring that concerns are addressed — not buried.

Silence, exclusion, and intimidation are not governance tools.

We will continue to document matters accurately, proportionately, and transparently — and will update when regulators or authorities respond.

#Governance #Safeguarding #CharityGovernance #TrusteeAccountability #GDPR #DataProtection #PublicInterest #Let’sDanceAgain #LDACIO #Wednesbury #WednesburyTownHall #Sandwell #RegulatoryOversight #Whistleblowing #Transparency #CallForEvidence