West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I think that is a dangerous path to follow but, if you do have concerns about a particular post or poster, raise them with the moderators, whose job it is to adjudicate.

 

As you rightly say a Charity is required to keep adequate reserves. 'Yorkshireman' might take note that restricted
funds fall outside the definition of reserves. ( although the CC observes "restricted funds may impact on the
charity's reserves policy")

My personal involvement with the WSRA was wrt to the 2015/6 accounts. This post the ex 6 was a difficult
time. ( members were well acquainted with the difficulties at the Consultation meeting held mid 2016. I
made a point of outlining 'warts and all' to those attending.)

The wrap up meeting with the then WSRA Auditors (the much missed Nigel Adams and myself for the
WSRA) was difficult. Whilst the WSRA policy was reserves of 3 times monthly costs plus salaries, the
Auditors view was 6 times monthly costs. We had a rigorous discussion as to whether the WSRA was
'a going concern.

The auditor agreed to the WSRA being a going concern but still qualified the accounts wrt some
ticket sales at the Steam Fayre (the recording process thereof). Despite my view that the sum
involved was very small and surely fell within the remit of not being 'material'

Reserves policy, what is material ? etc etc. Over such niceties do annual reports differ. Counting
the beans may be an exact science, interpretation of said beans less so, annual statements
even less so.

Yorkshireman by the way please stop continually stating the WSRA has available funds
to purchase 4110. They do not !

ps I know I am only a Chemical Engineer but I did in the 1990s successfully manage a
nine digit annual t/o international process contracting business.

Michael Rowe

 

Where do you get this information from as for about a twelve month there was vertically no ballast there at all and, so there was none to sell (the ballast pile size stayed the same for must be about 6 months and might have been 20 feet high at the max). Yes there is a good large pile again what is good but will the supply dry up again in the near future or not. Every time I drive home from Taunton I can see how much or little is left.

 

Charities generally seem to treat the reserve concept as an afterthought, as it is usually very poorly explained in the annual report. The WSRA does not for instance (unless I am mistaken) say what they think their reserves are for this purpose (which is not in compliance with CC19 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charities-and-reserves-cc19/charities-and-reserves). Apart from the deduction of restricted funds, 3.1 of CC19 gives some general guidance on what else should be deducted. e.g. for the WSRA, its investment in locos may for instance be considered to be tangible fixed assets used to carry out the charity's purpose). The reserve guidance seems to be driven not only by the "Janet and John" advice to amateur trustees to try and avoid insolvency, but also to ensure that the charity does not hoard funds instead of spending them on its purposes. While the latter is a high class problem,and not an issue for the WSRA (or perhaps it is with the obvious confusion about how much cash it can put on the table for 4110?) it is important as if you are showing large cash balances, you need to be able to explain why you are launching appeals for even more.

 

I said they probably had sufficient funds in the bank nothing to do with reserves. Also would they, given the tight deadline, have made an offer if they did not have the funds readily available? It would be rather odd if the WSRA needed to launch a competing fund raising effort under the circumstances and tight deadline. A combined bid with the 4110 group seems much more logical.

 

Seems like an awful lot of speculation there!

 

Are Restorations starting to cover their costs now then?

 

The amount of ballast available will depend on where the HOBC's are operating.
If they are not working in the SW then no ballast.
Have they done all the trackage in the area? then time to move elsewhere in the country.

 

Agreed - geography of HOBC ops is a key factor. The WSR has been aware of that from day one. The flow - quantity and timing - is 100% dependent on NR. Stuff still coming in though, and some of it from well beyond what I'd define as 'SW'

Nov 2006 seems a long time ago now

Steve

 

It's a bit unfortunate that they won't make an exception for the WSRA. as that represents many individuals. Oh, well, to the extent that the WSRA has collected more than that, in line with their previous commitment, that can be used on the restoration.

Noel

 

Or use the ignore function...

 

Many Thanks, perhaps I should be quicker at looking at WSRA postings!

 

Why Noel? Are you saying that many individuals can influence the actions of the WSRA Trustees? I cannot remember if I were asked if they should dispense with the Services of Trustees Rodney Greenway and Frank Courtenay both of whom had only recently been elected?

For those reasons should they raise a 20% stake in 4110 it should remain the extent of their involvement.

 

My personal view of the 'ignore' button is that is not a good idea and is self defeating.
It is probably one of the reasons that Yorkshireman misses the point quite often. He has some here 'on ignore' and threatened more in a recent post. I pointed out, in a recent post in this thread, that 'ignoring' people, especially in a very active thread such as this, is rather like reading a good book which has pages missing.

 

Yes, thats a very good point

 

Interesting if you have put money into the WSRA 4110 fund and it has failed to get the money needed you will get your money back. https://www.wsra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/4110-Joint-Statement.pdf . So will this happen or will the money be handed over to the 4110 ltd and the people who have put money into this fund become part owners of 4110 in their own right or not. I have sent an email over this point to the WSRA chairman Paul Whitehouse.

 

Any news?

 

Presumably I'm on his ignore list (though no idea why) as he has ignored my perfectly reasonable question in post 16244:
https://www.national-preservation.c...ilway-operations.508987/page-813#post-2361191
Either that, or the assertion he was making, which I wanted to understand, was purely made up?

Hmm. Maybe I should have quoted the whole post for prosperity, as it would appear it has been edited and has a different slant to the original post.

 

An interesting point, and a complication that has arisen from not having a consistent ‘one railway’ message on the future of 4110.

Presumably any people who have made donations to the WSRA appeal, will be asked if they are happy for the funds to be used instead for the WSRA to buy itself a share in 4110 ltd. If not then funds can be returned to donor.

 

Not legal and will cause endless problems.