The annual meeting of one of the leading literary organisations in the country was torn apart over the handling of a cash crisis and resignation of its director.

Members of the Bront Society were incensed about being kept in the dark over the circumstances surrounding Mike Hill's resignation a month ago and grievances among staff at the world-famous Bront Parsonage Museum, in Haworth.

Target of their anger was chairman Margaret McCarthy who, throughout a three-hour meeting on Saturday, refused to reveal the details of staff grievances or Mr Hill's departure.

Angry members also voted to reduce the number of council members from 21 to 15. The council looks after running of the society and oversees the appointment of the director of the Parsonage.

The society is £80,000 in the red and has also been hit by falling visitor figures at the Parsonage - down by 10,000 last year. And more than 80 per cent of the society's £400,000 income is spent on wages. Financial experts from the Charities Commission are working with Parsonage staff in a bid to resolve the situation.

It is understood that the society has also been urged by the Yorkshire and Humberside Museum Council to get its house in order.

The press and public were banned from the annual meeting in Haworth, but afterwards Cathy Geldard, who was secretary in the 1980s, said: "I am so disturbed I think other people should know what's going on.

"I am absolutely appalled by the situation, not particularly about what has happened to the director, but because there is a most terrible rift in the council. "Council members stood up and made accusations about one another. It was awful. They used the meeting to vent their acrimony against other members of the council."

She said only four leading members of the society - chairman Margaret McCarthy, secretary Linda Glading, editor Robert Duckett and treasurer the Rev Louis Burton - were fully aware of the problem between staff and Mr Hill. Everyone else had been kept in the dark.

Mrs Geldard said the chairman had refused to give details and said she had signed a document of confidentiality on behalf of the society involving Mr Hill and his trade union.

Mrs Geldard, who has said there are too many paid staff at the Parsonage, added: "She (the chairman) would not tell us about the staff grievances. The staff had signed a declaration of grievances but it would appear that none of the council members knew about it."

Mrs Geldard said she understood that Mr Hill had been given a copy of the grievances and was invited to give his side of the situation.

He stated his case and then was later asked to remove his belongings from his office. He was given two weeks leave of absence with pay and later resigned, she understood.

She said that under pressure from the members, Mrs McCarthy was forced to agree to give full details of the grievances following the next meeting of the council.

Before the meeting on Saturday, Mrs McCarthy denied that the society had been urged to get its house in order about four months ago by the Yorkshire and Humberside Museum Council. And she said she was angry and depressed that a member of the society had leaked confidential information to the press before the meeting.

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