signalled that the club would need to become financially self-sustaining from the beginning of the 2019/20 season.
committed himself to financing the club’s activities until the end of the 2018/19 season.

As well as wishing to end the significant financial burden placed on him & his family, he wished to put in place a structure that would:

be financially self-sustainable.
allow the management personnel of the club to change over future years without the need to sell the club, or establish new ones, on a regular basis.
be more-likely to be eligible for any RFU grants available.
bring together the adult section & the age grade (minis & juniors) section, which had been operating effectively independently.
run in accordance with the wishes of supporters & others involved with the club.

This required the establishment of a new club, incorporated as a company limited by guarantee (aka ‘members’ club’), unlike the existing structure club structure (private company limited by shares).

The new club (‘Bees Mark III’) was incorporated on 9 May 2018.

The new club had its inaugural general meeting on 9 December 2019, chaired by Jeremy Smith (Membership Secretary), at which the following officials were elected:
Mike Brennan, President
Richard Smith, Treasurer
Peter Carr, Head of Age Grade Rugby

The hope was for the new club to continue as a semi-professional club playing around level 5. However, it became apparent later that this just was not possible.
As a result on 1 May 2019 the (‘Mark II’) club announced that the Management Committee had met the previous evening and it was agreed that:

at that time the club was not in a position to commit to contracts that would involve the payment of players at Level 5 in the 2019/20 season.
any player who decides to make alternative arrangements for next season as consequence of this decision, will leave with the very best wishes of everyone involved at the club.

A week later, Head of Rugby Peter Glackin's departure was confirmed and he subsequently became head coach at Birmingham Moseley.

At the annual general meeting of the new club, held on 4 June 2019, it was agreed by members that it would play the following season in the Greater Birmingham Merit Table. The following day it was announced the Bees were withdrawing from the Midlands Premier League.

At the AGM Dr. Arturo ‘Lou’ Lupoli was elected as Head of Senior Rugby & he & a number of other Bees ‘stalwarts’ went about assembling -at very short notice- a team to play in the GBMT. Clive Chapman was recruited as the Head Coach.

A special mention must be made of Richard Smith who was the Treasurer of the ‘Mark II’ club, undertook all formalities to register the new club at Companies House, & served as the new club’s Treasurer until June 2020. The only director from the Mark II club to join the new club’s Management Committee, he undertook a wide range of activities that were crucial to getting the new club up & running. He brought vital skills, knowledge & commitment to the new club at its formative stage without which the transition would have been considerably more difficult.

Contents posted by Jeremy Smith 10 April 2022