Teifi Valley Railway

Good to see the immediate threat has been lifted. I'm sure we'll hear more in good time.
Shame to hear of the passing of their CME

 

That's an odd take - a single name (regardless of language) doesn't make anyone more or less Welsh (said as a monoglot English speaker who is only just beginning to learn Welsh). Are non-Irish speakers any less Irish because of the Oireachtas, the Taoiseach, the Dail Eireann or the Seanad Eireann? Are non-Manx speakers any less Manx because of the Tynwald? Even within Wales our football league (Cymru Premier) has a single Welsh name

 

The Irish comparison makes my point. A language that was at the time absolutely a minority language, and only resuscitated by determined intervention by a nationalist movement that made language a feature of national identity, used as the sole language of key national buildings. That in a period in which national movements were seeking linguistic parity for those tongues that had been suppressed by the colonising power.

It’s not about a single name, but about what it says about the place it’s of. And that message is that to be truly Welsh, one must be a Welsh speaker.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Fecking fed up with English people telling us in Ireland and Wales about our languages!

 

What makes someone "Welsh"? Over half the population of Wales doesn't speak Welsh the majority of the time.
Are they excluded from being Welsh?

If it didn't matter what language it was written in, it could just as well be English. How would that go down?

So it does matter, and this is why I and others get nervous with the current agenda. If the idea is parity, fair enough (not my choice, not my issue), but it's patently not the case than any one language is fine (unless you called it eg the diet or althing)

Having lived in a scrupulously bi-lingual region, it can get silly, but it is a complex and politically-motivated issue.

 

Again, this feels like a really bad take that spectacularly misses the point, but fair enough

 

The main problem I found trying to learn it was - which Welsh are you gong to speak??? Formal Welsh (which us heathens to the east would probably compare to 'Oxford' English) is rarely spoken; Words used in the south have a totally different meaning in the north and local dialects can be totally different from place to place with as little as 10 miles between the two...

 

Not like in any other language in the world, of course "Words used in the south have a totally different meaning in the north" is restricted to a small number of vocabulary items and most Welsh speakers will know which they are and what each means, which is more than most English speakers can when confronted with Yorkshire or Somerset dialect words. It is simply not true that "local dialects can be totally different from place to place" - differences are never total! These differences of sociolinguistic variation are certainly not greater than those found in any language, but are generally exaggerated by people who do not realise this. Of course, for learners of Welsh there is a choice to be made but think of learners of English - British English, American English, Australia English; which variety to choose!

 

So "the immediate threat has been lifted". Not quite - just another delay in complying with the law and another unnecessary fine to pay. Just how hard can it be to take the documents to Cardigam?

 

So you agree the immediate threat has been lifted then.

 

Document now reads as attached

Patrick

 

Sad to report the resignation of the last of the Railway Society trustees for many years, who has found it impossible to convince the management of the importance of annual Accounts. So the railway has lost another experienced driver and the dictatorship continues.

 

Fake News:- What Elizabeth says above is not quite true. Please see below the full text of my Email retiring as a Teifi Valley Railway custodian trustee & judge for yourself.

Dear Charity Trustees,

I notice that the Deed of Trust of April 2016, valid for 5 years has now expired. I therefore no longer wish to be considered a custodian trustee. I do not seek re-election as I believe that 5 years is a reasonable term and fresh faces should be sought. I think it would be good to have people outside the current management team to bring in hopefully some constructive new thinking.

It has been an honour and a priviledge to serve and I thank everyone for putting up with me. I also wish to retire as news letter editor but would be happy to continue as a volunteer. I can continue if you wish as 100 club manager.

I am sure that the current management team know exactly where they are going and wish them all
the very best for the future.

Yours Sincerely



C.S. Shanks

Please note this is my final word on this and I do not wish to participate in any further discussion on the matter.

Chis Shanks Custodian Trustee TVR retired

 

The difference is the difference between "resignation" and "retirement". "Resignation" implies criticism and although Chris used this word in his email to me and another past colleague, he changed his mind and hence stated that this was not quite true. Chris had been concerned for some time about finding a legal procedure that would put pressure on the directors to comply with their obligation to produce Accounts, but was thwarted by the fact that the 4 Society trustees/officers who would have to call an EGM for this process were also the 4 directors...

 

While that is true, it still reads like a very carefully worded letter to me...

I seem to recall some of us pointing out months back that the failure of directors to submit accounts was often a bad sign, and were shot down for being negative. There are so many times in my life, both professionally, and as a volunteer, when I've been tempted to get a T-shirt with "I told you so" emblazoned across it. There's still a chance the management can redeem themselves here - let's hope they do...

 

Who has said it's not a bad sign?

What it doesn't prove is the weight of allegations made by people on here.

Accounts report on reality not vice versa. How does Llangollen plc fit with your picture? Their filings were in good order.

Lots of things are bad signs, they don't always come off.

 

I'm not going to revisit all the arguments - it all got heated and removed last time round, but at the time I encouraged the volunteers on here to try and persuade the management to sort this stuff out - and they've failed to do so despite having had months to address the issue. IMHO, it's clear there are odd things going on at several railways - you don't need to be a rocket surgeon to be able to spot those. With Llan the warning signs were in the engineering issues, with WSR something clearly doesn't smell right. Peak Rail it's the never ending litigation. No matter how hard you protest, the evidence suggests the management at the Teifi are a little off the rails - they are struggling to meet basic legal requirements for running a company. I wish them well - but it is up to them how it pans out...

 

Who has said it's all roses? No-one has as far as I know. But as has been noted elsewhere, many railways have had rocky patches with warning signs, and come out the other side.
I hope they can get it all sorted.