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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by gwr4090, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. The Dainton Banker

    The Dainton Banker Well-Known Member

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    Ian, in what way are the Trust Board being "swamped " by 14 appointments ? There is no guarantee that all, or even any, of them will be elected and, even if they are they still then have to persuade the membership to vote in favour of their proposals. You and your fellow Trustees have had plenty of time to make your case in opposition but don't appear to have done so. You are giving a strong impression of "playing the man and not the ball". Perhaps it would be better to concentrate on developing your case and drop the personal attacks.
    Mike
     
  2. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

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    Ian, I, and others on this board would appreciate your views on the statement by @QB Cook that that 15 candidates were "sprung" on the WSSRT trustees because the Chairman refused to have a meeting with them beforehand, since this seems to be the main bone of contention that you and the Chairman have with their proposals as candidates.
     
  3. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

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    If everyone had just kept their heads down and kept on working since the start of the C20th, we would still have Dickensian conditions in all our workplaces, with no legislation protecting employees at all. It is always a minority who decide that conditions have gone beyond what they can stand and take action and suffer for it and it is always the others who, in time, benefit from those other's actions without having had to do anything.
     
  4. WSSRTcandidates

    WSSRTcandidates New Member

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    Should just clarify, the request for a meeting with the Chairman (then rebuffed) was submitted very shortly after the submission of our nomination forms.
     
  5. Andy Norman

    Andy Norman Member

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    Ian, I understand your opinion and rationale, but clearly we are not going to agree. My point was that your post was an example of my concerns that the WSSRT Trustee have forgotten that it’s not their decision to make and their responsibilities as Trustees.

    Your reply rather reinforces my view when you say: “swamp the board with 14 new appointments which would clearly out vote and force the existing 7 to change direction”.

    The 14 (10, now 11) have stated they want the members to decide which direction they want to go in not force the current Trustees to change their views, you as Members are entitled to your opinion. Your reply for me just confirms the 7 have already made the future direction decision and don’t want anybody to change that, its not down to just 7 people to decide, it is for us all as Members.

    Please focus on steering the WSSRT through these choppy waters and keeping it intact and focus less on what you and your colleagues as individuals want as the outcome.
     
  6. WSSRTcandidates

    WSSRTcandidates New Member

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    It is now 12.
     
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  7. Snifter

    Snifter Well-Known Member

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    Ahh, I see. You were referring to a situation that changed some time back.
     
  8. ikcdab

    ikcdab Member Friend

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    More than happy to clear this one up. The 14 nominations were deposited at BL station on 3 or 4 Sept, just before nominations closed on 5th.
    No prior communications were received from the 14 and these nominations were received "out of the blue".
    As @QB Cook says, a letter was later received from the 14 on 7th sept suggesting a meeting. As the trust needed to take stock of this unprecedented situation, indeed there was little point at a meeting then.
    However, two weeks later the WSSRT chairman wrote to the 10, as they now were, giving them all the opportunity to meet (via zoom) individually to discuss how each could best support the trust and to discuss their plans.
    This opportunity was dismissed by all of the 10 who then refused to meet at that point.
    Ian C
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2020
  9. WSSRTcandidates

    WSSRTcandidates New Member

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    Ian, happy to clear this one up as well. We were invited to interview, the premise being that we would then be selected (or not) against designated 'portfolios' for co-option on to the board of Trustees, accompanied by a recommendation to members to vote us in at the AGM. Such a vetting/pre-selection/co-option/recommendation process appears to have been a rather recent invention, nor within the Articles of Association, so we declined the opportunity and decided to maintain our nominations on the basis of the properly filed submissions lodged at the beginning of September.
     
  10. Big Al

    Big Al Nat Pres stalwart Staff Member Moderator

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    That is such an ignorant comment. A group of people use the democratic process to put themselves up for election. Better than that they are also open about why they want to be voted in. The rest is up to the voting process, as it should be.

    What's the problem? And to answer my own question, the 'problem' is that the existing Trustees seem to then want to set up a selection process whereby people can be co opted by them and recommended at the AGM.

    That kind of 'managed democracy' smacks of the lack of openness that I thought was an underlying problem on the Railway.
     
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  11. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    Was Ian in the loop, or was the action only taken by one, or two people, I ask this because Ian appears to hold a view of how things happened that has a different aspect to the given by those who applied to be trustees, is it possible he, him self was not given the complete break down, perhaps, deliberately by some so he might not find common cause with them, Ian, as a trustee of the WSRA at the time the x-6 held sway, did the right thing, and I find it strange that he appears now to support something he fought against.
     
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  12. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    Unfortunately it seems to be a WSR thing, history is repeating itself. In my opinion, (with Mod hat clearly off), not only is history repeating itself with the same kind of tactics and thinking of the ex6, the actions of the trustees just seem to be strengthening the cause of the candidates especially if the WSRRT Chairman has to make his apology public in a statement.


    As a trustee one would hope not, if so then you could argue that he should be aware of what is going on, if not why not?
     
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  13. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    Only yes man , or women need apply then, is that what this boils down to, we, or most probably the chairman of WSSRT only wants those who he approves of,
    very much in the same way as the PLC chairman only wanted people he found acceptable to join him on the board, managed democracy, or a dictatorship?
     
  14. Greenway

    Greenway Part of the furniture

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    Anyone who runs a successful business usually has the support of his senior staff who generally approve of his vision. If he doesn't then the business will fail or struggle at best. That is why specific choices are made when recruiting. We have all read or heard of poor choices but that is a calculated risk or simply poor judgement.
    The underlying issue at the WSR is the continual undercurrent that seems to object to much of what is trying to be achieved. Criticism of statements are one thing but undermining the lines survival is another. Much of the disputes mentioned here arise from administrative problems, rather than operational ones. If there is no line to operate then all the rest become immaterial.
    The recent grants - note the plural - should, hopefully, see the line through until well into the new year. How it copes beyond that time will that depend not on tussles between supporting acts but how much support and finance the PLC receive.
    Quite a few posters - and I daresay others - have openly stated their reluctance to donate to the WSR in the present circumstances. All the argy-bargy over positions on the WSSRT board certainly do not encourage anyone to change their minds about donating.
     
  15. AnthonyTrains2017

    AnthonyTrains2017 Well-Known Member

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    do we know loco planned for Santa Express yet, and where does the travel travel to from BL. no much detail on website
     
  16. martin1656

    martin1656 Nat Pres stalwart Friend

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    I would have to say, it's now looking highly unlikely that many lines will be able to run a traditional Santa special, possibly if you have a grotto on a station that's large enough to ensure social distancing something might be possible , most likily the lines that can will have to once again think out of the box to come up with something that excites the kids, and keeps everyone safe
     
  17. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    The SVR have come up with a good idea IMO which should work well and ensure social distancing as long as the restrictions don’t tighten to much.

    https://www.svr.co.uk/SEItem.aspx?a=121
     
  18. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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    The volunteers that I speak to say it's the only way or they could be ousted. What a sad state of affairs. <BJ>
     
  19. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    I am now getting very, very confused (SWMBO says that's common at my age!).....

    First it was 14 candidates, then it was 10, yet people still talk about 14, now apparently it is 11 or 12, but as yet I have seen nothing anywhere to say who these additional 1 or 2 are. Hands up please folks! And at this precise moment exactly how many serving Trustees does the WSSRT have if one includes the 3 recently co-opted???

    If we can't even agree on how many people are involved, how on earth we can manage any progress at all baffles me.
     
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  20. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Well according to this post the 11th candidate is a Dan Lehmann, that post said there were 11 candidates, a subsequent post by @WSSRTcandidates said it is now 12, but no extra name. I think the WSSRT currently has 10 trustees including the 3 recently co-opted. If everyone gets voted in at the AGM (and remember, there are no limits to the number of trustees as stated in the AoA, and each candidate only needs to get more "fors" than "againsts") then the WSSRT will be furnished with 24 trustees.
     

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