Or a bit of both?
It is true that the management of NAC has been seriously inadequate, to the point of being almost non-existent, however the combined effect of landing (and T/G) fees by about 1000 percent has had a deleterious effect upon the clubs income stream, and follows a pattern set by the CEO (alleged salary £700K) when in charge at Bristol. Incidentally most of his excessive charges were reviewed and reduced following his departure from Bristol.
Unfortunately a few years ago the club was relatively wealthy, but numerous bad (and possibly illegal) actions by successive club committees have frittered away all the reserves, and exposed a fundamentally flawed business structure.
Several of the responsible committee members have resigned over the past 18 months leaving a lack of proper scrutiny or control over expenditure, particulalry in relation to directors expenses!
A failure to effectively communicate with either creditors or
the membership has led to a deterioriation in an already difficult position, to a point where, without any income stream, there is almost certainly no prospect of recovery.
As has been said above this is the oldest flying club in continuous existence, and in the unlikely event of it surviving into 2005 will have been in existence for 80 years. Unless it can be saved or replaced there will be no affordable access to fixed wing flight training between Durham Tees Valley and Edinburgh.
Truly a sad state of affairs for aqviation in the NE