Couple barred from club in debts probe

Jun 6 2005 Exclusive By James Cartledge, Evening Mail

A HUSBAND and wife have been suspended from a Royal British Legion club after a probe found debts that could run into thousands of pounds.

Frank and Val Harrison were told to stay away from Shard End Royal British Legion No.1 club.

Officials were today said to be going through the accounts with a "fine tooth comb".

Mrs Harrison is club secretary and her husband was in charge of its books. The couple, from Laburnum Avenue, Kingshurst, today insisted they had done nothing wrong.

"I went to a meeting and was told we were both suspended while they looked into the club's debts," said Mrs Harrison, a 58-year-old school dinner lady.

"I'm gutted because I dealt with everything. They said I should have told them the club was struggling. But other people put their heads in the sand."

Mr Harrison, a 66-year-old retired machine tool worker, confirmed he was asked to look at the club's income and expenditure books last month.

Both have been members of the club, in Hurst Lane, Shard End, for more than 40 years. It has 800 members.

Neither the couple nor club chairman Howard Aston would reveal the size of the debt.

But a source said the suspension related to unpaid bills.

"Officials are going through the accounts with a fine tooth comb," he said. "The committee was under strict instructions not to talk about it. But now everybody is aware of it."

Mr Aston confirmed the Harrisons were being investigated by club officials.

"There is an ongoing investigation. It is in the hands of our lawyers," he said.

"They haven't been accused of taking club money. It's in relation to the debt."