WSRA Trustee Election Hustings

I haven't read Robins note, but even with your figures, the point I'm making remains. The overwhelming majority did not vote in favour of change.

 

Interesting that Mike Buttel apparently remains as a Promotions director, as he had the steam rally portfolio and I understood (from Mike himself) that he had intended to step down from all things rally.

Barrie

 

So how are the Non trustee promotions directors selected- 3.30 at Kempton Park again ?

 

I know the answer to that one. The trustees invite applications but then ignore responses from anyone not named Kaufman, Chidzey or Nicholls. They then secretly elect somebody nobody has heard of or met to provide balance.

Barrie (a failed appliacant)

 

Given that the 'gruntled' members clearly significantly outnumber (at the moment, at least) the disgruntled, I'm not sure that the group would indeed founder if those who are dissatisfied departed.

Noel

 

Err, my reading of that post was that that was his 'day job'.

Noel

 

You may well be right, but I would still move on.

 

Whilst what you say is true, the other way of looking at the results is "The overwhelming majority did not vote. At all."

 

The greatest number are the 'uninformed'....

Robin

 

Like a certain Mr. Edge who has posted a sanitised account of the AGM on his website rather than the full facts. Shame on him. At least we now know his true colours!

 

Steve tries very hard to maintain a 'neutral' stance. His website has to do so to keep receiving info from all concerned, and is not for 'campaigning' as some of us are having to do. The website has and continues to be of immense value to the Railway, so I have no difficulty with Steve's 'true colours' including a liberal dash of grey. Grey not being a colour I use much...........more of a black and red person, me.

kind regards

Robin

 

I fully agree about his site being invaluable. Sadly on this occasion he has shown anything but neutrality. An accurate account without comment would have been neutral. What he wrote was deliberately misleading. In fact it is exactly how I would expect the Journal to gloss over the reality.

 

Removal of certain trustees is only the first step. We should not forget that a significant part of the problem is the Secretary.
Removing a paid officer is no doubt not so easy, but it will need to be done.

Personally I believe we should not actively support WSRA related activities wherever possible, not always easy I know, but we need to hit them in the pocket as hard as we can. I hope the Plc are looking at this, as its my understanding they potentially have the ability to make life difficult financially for the WSRA.

 

That is a possibility, but for a bit further into the future. Interfering with / not supporting activities such as the Rally in August and the QB dining train for the remainder of the year now that we have folks booked on to it would now have a considerable impact on the public perception of the Railway as a whole. Further down the line, if change does not come by other means before the turn of the year........that may be another thing.

kind regards

Robin White

 

The PLC could, if it wanted to, bring the WSRA to, it's knees by banning the Trustees and Secretary from all railway property. Shutting off the stone train revenue would also cripple the association financially. However, that is what is known as "the nuclear option" and the consequences would be messy to say the least. Nevertheless I doubt the PLC has infinite patience with the Trustees. As for the Secretary/manager questions should be asked about her inflated salary given her poor performance at AGMs.

 

I think it be wrong at this time to involve the PLC, it will provide WSRA with the excuse it wants to say it was all schemed up by the Company. As Robin says, any action that affects public perception of the railway will affect all,and be avoided at least for this season.

 

Robin,
thanks for the steer. I was wondering about withdrawal of my own volunteer labour from WRSA connected activities on the railway but had the same concern about disappointing customers who had booked, for example, a QB seat already. The public at large does not understand the difference between the plc and the WSRA and would clearly see the railway in a poor light if even more QB's were cancelled this year.

 

I was simply replying the comment about PLC involvement but was not advocating it. Nevertheless they might eventually lose patience with the machinations of the WSRA trustees. I think I spotted six or seven PLC board members at the the AGM and they cannot have been impressed by the way the WSRA board behaved.

 

To those who keep suggesting we "rebels" throw in the towel:
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - Shaw

 

Peter

Can I use an analogy from the treatment of cancer. This is all rather like chemotherapy. We have to use a sufficient dose of poison to kill the cancer without killing the patient. It is often difficult to judge the dose but you have to start from a low dose and work upward. If you start from the other end of the spectrum you have a 100% chance of killing both the cancer and the patient.

I know the Trustees are reading this. They should understand that the reformers are a (steam powered?) road roller. We will just keep trundling towards you until.................SPLAT!

kind regards

Robin White