06/11/2025
To all Maybole Charity Shop Members,
Effective today, Thursday 6th November 2025, I will be stepping down from my role as the Chairperson of the Maybole Charity Shop Committee. You elected me to this position at the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held on 24th March 2025 when it was decided, by you the members, to keep the Charity Shop running in its present form. I did not make this decision lightly as I accepted this role to safeguard the future of the Charity Shop as a properly-run community asset and I do not believe I have been able to achieve this.
As I made clear when you elected me to this position, it was my intention to lead a committee that served the best interest of our community in an ethical, impartial, transparent and inclusive manner. It was also a priority for me, in line with views expressed at the EGM, to make all efforts possible to heal the division caused in the community following the resignation of previous committee members and the disagreement as to the future of the Charity Shop and how it should be run.
To this end, I outlined clear goals to improve the operation and governance of the Charity Shop and to protect the interest of the community and the groups/charities that rely on it. These goals have been relayed to the committee from day one, these being to:
• Create a robust constitution that would resolve previous governance issues and help safeguard the future of the shop in its current form.
• Introduce a code of conduct and conflict of interest policy for members and groups using the shop.
• Promote inclusive volunteer/community membership procedures.
• Engage positively with the previous committee and with all other parties involved to mend bridges where possible.
Unfortunately, it has become clear to me that these goals are not in alignment with those of other key office bearers on the Committee. My attempts to keep the Committee on track to these goals have been met with criticism, obstruction, verbal abuse and blatant disrespect. Requests for basic information, such as regular financial statements at committee meetings, have been ignored and I no longer have confidence that I am being kept properly informed of committee member actions.
It also quickly became apparent that some of the other office bearers were not supportive of my attempts to mend bridges within the community and actively worked against them, even when this was to the disadvantage of the current committee and the good operation of the shop. Any advice or direction I gave to ease the transition from the previous committee was either ignored or rejected out of hand, leading to unnecessary complications and increasing ill feelings.
There has now been an attempt today by the same office bearers at an informal meeting, not at a committee meeting, to call for a vote of no confidence in myself as Chairperson. This has made it clear to me that I can no longer affect positive change within the current committee or implement even basic good governance in line with best practice for the voluntary sector. In good conscience, I cannot and will not be a part of a committee that engages in this type of behaviour or expects me to compromise my integrity or ethics; thus, I am left with no other course than stepping down.
I would like to thank the many people and groups in the community that have supported me over the last eight months as Chairperson and wish you well.
Yours sincerely,
Sherrie McCorriston
