West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I'm a supporter of both the SVR and the Swanage Railway. At this particular time another two won't do any harm. <BJ>

 

An odd statement, that. As far as public statements are concerned, the trustees are only bound by the collective decisions of their Board and these, as you say, relate purely to the objectives of the charity. They are therefore quite free to comment, either as a board or individually, on anything that falls outside of that remit.

Where, I suspect, there is a conflict is that the Association is one of the three major shareholders in the PLC and, as such, one would expect it to have input into the PLC Board policies. However, at the present, it seems the Association does not have a representative on the Board of the PLC and therefore need not be constrained, collectively or personally, from comment on the activities of the PLC Board. On the other hand, if it has no direct input into the PLC Board, except at election time (Company AGM), it has to attempt to influence the PLC , if required, by co-operation and diplomacy. So Association Trustees may be technically free to make public statements but are constrained by the need to maintain a working relationship with the PLC Board.

Once again we are led back to the oddities of the organisational structure. Hopefully, once we are safely past the present challenges, both financial and medical, the major shareholders could set up a review to consider some options.

In the meantime, I think many of us are in for a rocky time in our private lives for the next few weeks or months. So let's take it a bit easy for a while and throw a bit of goodwill around.

Mike

 

I think a key point is that it should be made clear when such people comment, whether those comments are their personal opinion or representing the opinion of any organisation that they may sometimes represent. Half the responses on here are people reading too much into posts partly because it is not clear who the comments should be attributed too (which is not necessarily the same as who posted them!) .
It is particularly difficult for outsiders such as myself to know just who is who (even if half the time it is none of our business anyway - hey! I'm nosey I like to know these things. )

 

A good conundrum. In my house it works like this:-
1. I open the 'family wallet' and take out £x.
2. My wife takes £x/2 and puts it in her handbag.
3 I divide the remaining portion equally between the various heritage railways of which I am a member.

Simples

PS: after a couple of days I open wife's handbag and reclaim what is left....

 

credit: Tim Dunn (twitter)

 

Good to see one of my WSR pics being used (there'll be no fee )

Steve

 

Any location for the R/Rail bus?

 

Ooh please I can do that! Bishops Lydeard.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

You open your wife's handbag?

 

Presumably the Chancellor's announcements will ensure that all the paid staff can be still employed and use the enforced closure to undertake further improvements to the line?

Ed

 

Looks like Bishops Lydeard to me.

 

There's someone who likes to live dangerously.
(or so I'm told, not having a wife I have no first hand knowledge of these things)

 

Reports* suggest the scheme is more limited, it might be prudent to wait for the detail rather than presume.

Patrick

*"It is understood that the wage subsidy will apply to firms where bosses have already had to lay off workers due to the coronavirus, as long as they are brought back into the workforce and instead granted a leave of absence." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51982005. As reported, the employer pays 20% but the worker is idle?

 

Presumably they could turn up for work as volunteers, though?

 

Have you counted your fingers recently.

 

Sorry to say, but in my mind this is non essential work and the workers/volunteers should be staying at home to help prevent spreading the virus. The shutdown should not be seen as an opportunity to have an extra period of work

Keith

 

Given that the future of the entire heritage sector must be in doubt at the moment, anything that helps to keep the business's going, without creating a health risk is surely justified

 

It won't keep any business going unless we heed medical advice and avoid health risks.

 

It depends what sort of work you're talking about. Time doesn't stop. You can't down tools today and expect everything to be unchanged in 3 months time.

I would have thought every railway will still need regular p/way checks just as a sensible precaution that nothing untoward is happening

 

By an ironic coincidence, I have received a message today from FoBAS.

It would appear that they "....have been asked (by the WSR) like all other groups and charities if they can help financially in any way....." So they are thinking of making a substantial donation, but need agreement from their members as such things are not strictly covered by its Constitution.

Quite obviously everyone wants to support 'the railway' during this difficult time. But, in light of the ongoing situation with the S&DRT, one has to ask what will happen to any such groups who are unable (as with the S&DRT and its charitable objectives) to act in that way - will they be the next to feel the wrath of the Board? On the other hand, if they decline to donate and subsequently the Board says "we're sorry that you couldn't help, but we understand your (constitutional etc) problems, so no hard feelings", then how will it explain its attitude towards the S&DRT?