SUSPENDED members of a philanthropic society who have spent six years trying to clear their names have told of their anger at being publicly accused of “misappropriating funds.”

The allegation was made in a national meeting of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (RAOB) and subsequently published in a widely distributed booklet of minutes.

The downfall of the RAOB, or Buffs, club on Church Street in Hartlepool was being discussed, leading to criticism of 'five members' associated with the club, although it did not use their names.

As previously reported in The Northern Echo, the fallout of the suspensions in 2009 led to mass resignations across County Durham and a six year campaign for an appeal.

The club closed and several more RAOB branches closed since the debacle as people left in protest.

The trouble began when the Hartlepool club’s trustees, who mainly lived in County Durham, applied to invest money from the RAOB’s Benevolent Fund after formulating a deal to pay it back at interest. It was eventually decided that using that Benevolent Fund money was against the rules and counted as ‘financial irregularities.’

Police investigated the accusation of financial wrong-doing against one of the five, Bob Martin, but decided there was no case to pursue.

However all five suspended trustees, including Stephen Drew, Geoff Dodsworth, Robert Percival and Barry Thompson, complain they did nothing wrong and have not had the chance to appeal.

The minutes from the grand meeting of the RAOB in Sunderland show that in a discussion of the demise of the South Durham Lodge a member said: “There were five members that have since been pushed out of the Order and we’ve tried to get the remainder out of the Order...and these are the ones that have been misappropriating funds of over £30,000.”

Mr Dodsworth, from Fishburn, near Sedgefield, said: “That is outrageous and can only be referring to us. We did nothing wrong and, in fact, all we’re asking for is a chance to prove that we didn’t in an appeal. I can’t believe people can going around saying something like this.”

Mr Percival added: “We are respectable people and we can’t stand for this kind of accusation.”

Chris McMahon, Grand Secretary to the ROAB, has previously said there is no new route to appeal for the former trustees.

Asked about the accusations made in the meeting, Mr McMahon said: “The article in our Grand Lodge report is a factual report of the comments made by delegates and not the opinion of the Order.

“We do not control what our members say. It is an accurate report and if the gentlemen in question wish to take the matter further it is nothing to do with the Grand Lodge of England.”