Bonnie Greer resigns as president of the Brontë Society

Well, it seems that the Jimmy Choos were not enough to keep the Brontë Society in order. BBC News reports:

Writer Bonnie Greer has resigned as president of the Brontë Society after an internal feud over how to preserve the legacy of the Brontë sisters. (...)
Greer's departure follows months of turmoil over the society's direction.
She stepped down at the annual general meeting on Saturday and the two leaders of a campaign to overhaul the society's leadership were elected to its council.

The Telegraph gives more details:

The president of the Brontë Society, Bonnie Greer, has resigned following disagreements over the future of the family parsonage.
Greer handed in her notice after a period of disquiet, which culminated in an AGM at which she kept order by banging a Jimmy Choo shoe on the table.
The writer and critic said she had considered her position and would not be staying on as president. But she expressed hopes that the society would continue her work, including attempts to bring a more diverse range of visitors to the tourist attraction in Haworth, West Yorkshire. (...)
She expressed frustration that "malevolent lamebrains" had leaked details of her final meeting, and explained the Jimmy Choo episode was simply an attempt to lighten the mood.
“I brought my shoe because it has been, for some of us, grim. I thought, ‘I’m going to make this funny,’ so I brought up this shoe made for me by Jimmy Choo himself,” she said.(Anita Singh)

And the Yorkshire Post gives some first-hand information:

The London-based author stunned the Society’s annual meeting when she went off script after a turbulent four hour meeting to announce she was stepping down.
New trustee Rev Peter Mayo-Smith, rector of Haworth parish church, said: “I was really shocked.
“I had no idea it was going to happen - nor did most of the existing council members. She talked about the damage that had happened to the Brontë Society.
“She said we needed to understand the Brontë Society had a bad image. She wished the Society well and that was it. She said she would be involved with the Society - but not as President.
“Then she sat down and shut up. Suddenly, we found ourselves without a President and still don’t really understand why.”
The search for a new President will begin when the committee meets again on July 4.
It comes at a crucial time as the Society plans lavish celebrations for the bicentenary years of all the sisters.
Since last year the Society has been split between the old committee and The Modernists who say the 120 year old organisation is stuck in a timewarp.
The claim it is under the yoke of a “snooty”clique threatening to “squander” the Bronte memory and allow the Society to simply “wither away”.
Their revolt is led by Harrogate whisky magnate Sir James Akroyd, whose great grandfather bequeathed the former Brontë Parsonage to the Society in 1928.
Saturday’s AGM saw Sir James among a number of new trustees elected to bring new blood into the committee ranks.

There is also an article in the Daily Mail.