West Somerset Railway - Removal of the PLC Chairman and related matters

In no particular order......

I am a layman (a bear with a little brain) not a lawyer

The 40’s w/e was not a gala. It was led by an educationist. It was fun but had a strong educational element especially for our younger visitors.

Whether it was commercially successful is irrelevant in this context. Incidentally the WSRA shop was “ manic” so I am told

The WSRA missed a trick by not sponsoring the military train. It could have promoted itself and membership but didn’t

I fully accept that good governance of the charity is essential but given the content of the w /e I can’t believe the CC or WSRA members would chastise the Trustees for sponsoring the military train for say £2K. Then again sometimes the law is an ass.

I feel “one Railway” some way off

 

Perhaps not as far off as you think.

I am reminded by someone involved (who was more than a touch mortified by the tone adopted here) that the WSRA assisted with funding of tarpaulins for wagons and materials for the ex-MOD brake van to the tune of some £1,200.

Robin

 

Maybe each should make clear what their respective red lines are so there are no misunderstandings

Perhaps the appropriate date to finalise this is 29th March 2019

 

In support of Robin’s opinion. Please let’s not draw a positive, one railway event that the 1940’s weekend is into this negative debate. As the WSR Internal organisor of the 1940’s Weekend I’ll be clear about who worked on it. Robin Wichard the External organisor (local historian and History Teacher) came to the WSR in 2017 and asked to run a 1940's Weekend to recreate life in West Somerset in the 1940's, it was agreed and correctly placed under the PLC Commercial Team to organise as any normal event or gala is. Late in 2017 a Director decided that it wasn’t a good idea and cancelled it. I became involved and there was an internal ‘debate’ with all concerned and we re-started the event in January of this year with the full support of the PLC & WSRA Boards.

We ran the military train as a part of the Spring Gala as a pre-event and the main event grew and expanded over the next few months as we hoped it would. The end product was very, very successful in terms of PR, income, Community Involvement and most importantly enjoyment.

In effect we ran as an event organised by the Community (with massive input from Robin Wichard looking after this aspect) and me ensuring that the WSR worked with the Community giving them what was needed. I sat within the WSR helping to pull it together with the support of all, this involved the PLC, WSRA, Wagon Restoration Team, The 813 Fund, The SDRT, Station Groups, Watchet Town, military and civilian vehicle owners, military and civilian re-enactors, musicians, stall holders, many Volunteers and paid staff and no-doubt others I’ve forgotten to include.

Many people on the WSR did things above and beyond and the more photos I see on Facebook (West Somerset Railway Forties Weekend 2019), Steve Edge’s site and many other places the more I see that individual stakeholders in the railway did hundreds of often small things to add to the atmosphere which made it the success it was. All came together for the collective good.

The early set back I mention in the first paragraph was an individual making the wrong decision not the PLC Board being negative as a Board decision. Once that was resolved it was not a matter of PLC v WSRA, as the person sat in the middle of the event everybody just got on with it and everybody worked hard to make it a success.

As a first year event it exceeded expectations, we are planning a wash up meeting to pull out the good and the bad points and the next event is set for 14/15 September 2019. This is a fantastic example of the WSR working together as one railway and involving the Community for the benefit of all. All internally recognise this and it would be fair to say it’s helping us all move forward.

Whilst many readers here may just see a negative view of the WSR (with much idle speculation by some people here) the WSR is working together daily, weekly and monthly and both Boards are looking toward the future and working toward that. It’s usually the odd individual who causes the upsets, mistrust and negativity by their individual actions, not the Boards as entities. At least that is my opinion speaking as one who since November of last year has worked on this and two other major projects with both Boards with me in effect sitting between all the parties, so I can speak with first-hand experience.

 

The post by Andy Norman suggests that this thread is an extension of someone "making mischief" to the detriment of the public view of the WSR Board its activities and its relationships within the WSR "family". Is this a fair assessment - and does it indicate a further stage of the "ego and politics" that bedevil many organisations when one individual feels he deserves more credit than he is given ?

 

Can the goods shed at Dunster be turned into Spandau prison for 2019 ?

 

The comment that stands out to me in Post 1084 (A. Norman) is that the person whose idea the latest 1940's week-end was, in fact, a fairly new arrival on the WSR scene.
Many clubs, churches, associations are frequently hampered in their attempts to progress by a few people who resist all forms of change. Acknowledging that some changes are good and others not so maybe some newer 'blood' and thinking is all that some of the lines organizations need as far as present issues are concerned.

 

I think you might need a separate thread to list who would be inmates!!

 

Well, look at the post that started the ball rolling...

Note that I didn't say 'first post in the thread'; the fact that this is a separate thread is down to the mods, who (rightly, in my view) wanted to keep the main WSR Operations thread clear of this stuff, and moved a bunch of posts over from it to start this one.

Noel

 

Mmmmm, might be interesting, I wonder who would be top of the list, (snigger snigger)

 

All depends on who the author of the list was, doesn't it!

As far as possible, one would hope that the present situation can be resolved without any 'incarcerations', but one fears that it may not be possible without at least a few departures (and probably 'humble pie' being the Minehead or BL buffet Special for a good while!)

Steven

 

And there was me thinking the never ending story was something else, this is beginning to get a life of its own, that seems to be self fulfilling, and refuses to go quietly .

 

As I see it then, speaking as a layman, ANY funds passed directly to the WSR plc could be argued as being revenue support, in one way or another for the railway. So what exactly is the purpose of the WSRA: on the face of it, it appears to me to be a self-serving, stand-alone entity. Perhaps the WSRA would like to publish a list of those activities, functions, groups, et cetera, that it will or would support financially, that are outside of it's own control.

 

If I recall correctly, before the change of trustees, after the EGM removing the former six trustees, the Association used to proclaim that it was the main (or words with similar meaning) support organization of the WSR. That no longer seems to be a claim.
Whilst some worthwhile small grants appear to have been made to some of the smaller groups working on the WSR a lot of money seems to have gone to supporting other projects (Williton?), administration and legal fees. Presumably money is now available for the recently approved re-commencement of locomotive restorations. I expect it is likely that money is also set aside if the shares issue goes to court, should they lose. Lost court cases are costly as the Association knows quite well..

 

There is now a press release on the WSR staff website confirming the co-option of Mr Jones Pratt as a PLC Director at last weeks board meeting. The vote was unanimous. His main task will be to come up with a plan to address the current financial situation. In the meantime, three of the directors are charged with continuing the search for a suitable non exec Chairman.

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk

 

I think several contributors to this forum could usefully read the WSRA Articles of Association.
Although a legal document it is not as imposing as it might appear. In particular, Section 2, the Objects of the Association, are described quite clearly.
The Association cannot simply 'give money' to the Plc.

https://www.wsra.org.uk/wp-content/...ssociation-Articles-of-Association-170930.pdf

 

Without commenting on the correctness of any particular decision, the Objects clause was restated in 2017 but that seems to have been a wasted opportunity as it still appears to be rather narrow and unambitious. Compare for instance the objects clause of the SVR Charitable Trust (which owns very few shares in SVR Holdings plc).

It does not mention the SVR or even a railway from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster (but let's assume that it is an "historic railway"). The failure to mention the WSR in the previous version of the WSRA's Object clause seems to have been one of the motivations for amending it (to refer specifically to the Taunton-Minehead line - don't mention that to the MRLG! - rather than railways in SW England as before). Now whether it is the Objects clause or the attitude is not clear, but if the will (and the cash) is there, it would seem better to sort it out rather than to use it as an excuse. The SVRCT's grants in the year to 30 June 2017 included £30,000 for track renewal, £60k towards repairs of one viaduct, and £40k to the Bridgnorth station development, which were grants towards plc-owned assets (plus grants for non-plc rolling stock, and the slightly indirect benefit of the Heritage Skill Training Academy (£165k)), plus a few other things.

 

As @huochemi notes, other railways seem to find ways whereby the charitable arm can provide significant financial support for, amongst other purposes, renewals of company assets. It continues to confuse me why on the WSR such support seems to generate such semantic knots.

Tom

 

You sound like a desperate man.