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UFO UpDates Mailing List

From: "Tim Matthews" <matthews@zetnet.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 3 May 1998 03:21:20 +0100
Fwd Date: Sat, 02 May 1998 13:58:46 -0400
Subject: The 'Truth' About BUFORA?

Dear Researchers,

I have read with some interest the recent discusssion about the
current state of British Ufology. Now don't get me wrong, there
are some excellent researchers over here - around 50 people if
the truth be told.

Some of these people are independent, some are members of local
groups.

Others are members of BUFORA - The British UFO Research
Association.

Our US colleagues need to know the truth about the current state
of affairs within what is claimed to be the number #1 objective
research body in the UK. I was a member for a year during which
time I assisted the Director of Investigations with her research
wherever possible. Whilst Gloria Dixon did, and continues to do,
an excellent job with a timy number of other researchers, the
'organisation' has become a sick joke.

In the last two years members have been treated with a shocking
disregard. Imagine paying out =A320 a year to join. You get almost
nothing in return. A couple of magazines a year, the chance to
attend lectures in London (200 miles away from a mjaortiy of
members) and the very occasional attempt at a regional lecture in
Merseyside and the North East.

I was shocked to find the depths of UFO politics within the
organisation. This had been going on for years, according to
several long-term members and the political mess reached a head
in late 1997 after a series of resignations.

The membership has largely been kept in the dark about this and
over half the members have not renewed their membership. After
all, what do they get for their money? Very little.

Over the last ten years Jenny Randles, Britains' most respected
member and a cooleague of mine, has recorded a weekly message on
the BUFORA 'UFOCALL' service. This was set up with the intention
of providing interested parties with a chance to keep up with the
latest UFO activity and to raise money for the organisation. Just
a couple of years ago this service raised =A35,000 for BUFORA and
so it is safe to assume that over recent years tens of thousands
have been raised.

Where has all the money gone? BUFORA is currently in a financial
mess with no money to print a new magazine or to pay its'
officers.

Several initiatives have been killed off, through a range of
seemingly deliberate means. One such initiative was directed
towards putting the several thousand BUFORA case files, lovingly
collected over three decades, onto CD-ROM. The idea was that this
should be sold to both members and public and serve as a resource
for researchers everywhere.

A good idea. Killed dead. One researcher, Matthew Williams,
reportedly bought a CD writer to assist this effort only to be
told that his services were no longer required.

One prominent member, who had put BUFORA on the map to some
extent through a succession of well-organised Conferences, was
forced out by a shabby campaign waged against him.