West Somerset Railway General Discussion

They hired a Site Manager, not a Project Manager, bit of a difference in the two roles. It's quite easy to find the job advert on the WSR Plc website using google, so it therefore could appear to some that your taking an unnecessary swipe at a individual employed by the WSR, for note.

 

North star class 47 , Due to move To Nymr at some point but stuck at BL is there any reason why the wsr can't use it before it goes there for 2yrs thinking of mixed traffic weekend coming up .

 

Thank you for reply , i take it may Never run on wsr again due this .

 

No need to jump on your high horse and start imagining I'm taking a swipe at people just because I was incorrect in my assumption (My comment actually read " I thought..."). There are enough people on here who will do that for fun or to try and excuse / hide / disguise failures of the management.

In any case, my apologies to the Site Manager if my comments caused any concern. Hopefully the Site Manager will have sufficient contracting knowledge to understand that my comments were directed at the Project Manager and did not refer individual concerned.

However, that only raises the question of who is the project manager then? Someone somewhere should have overall responsibility and control of the works on site, H&S, programme, reporting to the client, financials etc. etc. Are you aware if anyone has been appointed to this position? Or do each of the groups concerned (WSR, Amey (AMEC or whatever) & SCC Highways) have their own project management with each working to their own timetable so no one is fully aware of the overall position?

 

When it moved from the depg to BL I take it that’s the only part of the line it could run on
Due to the weight limit. That’s going to take some money to upgrade if it’s done .

 

'The WSR is now looking in [at] different ways to increase donations rapidly, with the help of a new fundraising drive' - rather than pushing the donations in different ways...

Interesting phrasing, it's not clear whether the PLC and two support charities have agreed projects for which they will fundraise (as it was the Partnership Development Group) or if the PLC has decided projects and the charities ‘can’ support them.

It also suggests to me a change of emphasis with the '£500k emergency funds then £500k infrastructure' appeal becoming '£500k target this winter and then another £500k'.

All positive.

From the last update and this, the June and July cumulative profit is £52,027 and £191,183 ahead of the budgeted £139,156 loss.

Patrick

 

I think it not really unreasonable for people to respond to you fairly directly. Because you and this forum have not been provided with certain timing information, or details of project management arrangements, you appear to assume that the WSR and SCC do not have a clear timetable and end point, and no competent project management structure. We have both, and our project managers have many years of successful project management experience of projects of a range of sizes.

This project will be completed in the next few weeks but we have not yet published a date because it continues to be subject to a wide range of unpredictable variables. More detailed information will be published shortly in the WSR newsletter, The Platform. If you have a specific question please PM me. I am the WSR Board Director responsible for the project.
Frank Courtney

 

As @FrankC has pointed out, just because we haven't been told what the completion date is, doesn't mean there isn't one. There is little upside in publishing a completion date and plenty of downside: make it too early and everyone is unhappy that you don't hit your target, make it too late and everyone is unhappy about how late it is, and are only partly mollified by your doing better than anticipated. The main people who need to know the completion date are the Plc and they, presumably, already know it.

 

Rather like the word 'inflation', the mention of the word insolvency by a business can lead to it happening.

Businesses, like money, are all about confidence.
If you have confidence that the business can do a good job, & will be around to do the job, then you'll give them the job, which creates revenue & hopefully a profit.
If you don't have the confidence that they'll be around, then you won't give them the job, which means no revenue.

Which is why a business won't ever question it's own viability, unless required to (eg. stock market reporting requirements)

Indeed...

You can use future cost savings to justify investment plans, eg;
if you have light fittings that are near end of life (10 years), & you could either replace like for like for £10k, or more energy efficient ones for £15k.
If the better ones save you £2k in energy costs, & £1k in maintenance/lamp costs over 10 years, then there's only £2k extra spend to justify.

You can't book £300 to income this year, & next year, & on, because it isn't income!
It's a reduction in expenses, & only occurs when the expense is incurred.


I assume that the figure won't be double counted on both sides of the ledger...

Considering the appeal has now been running for over 3 months, & they were asking for regular/monthly donations, if they have any of those then the appeal is doing even worse than it looks.
(If you have 100 people giving £10 per month, then you have to take £1000/pm off the figures to reveal what 'new' money has been raised that month)

This is the amount being raised each month so far;
June £13725
July £9496.44
August £10811.33

So, after 3 months, £30k had been raised.
If we extrapolate out to 12months, then it's likely to be £120k max raised.

Where will the remaining £380k magically appear from?

Also, this isn't fundraising for a long-term project, where you can wait for the funds, this is to plug a hole in the accounts, presumably by March 2022. (that's the end date on the standing order form, so it would only be £90-100k raised)


Well, it's not coming from the WSRHT, as they don't have that level of funds
https://register-of-charities.chari...ty-details/265564/accounts-and-annual-returns

( they should also check their records at the CC;
Charity reporting is overdue by 414 days
https://register-of-charities.chari...ty-search/-/charity-details/265564/governance
Gift aid: Not recognised by HMRC for gift aid )


As the plc have made public concerns as to their ongoing solvency, then the surrounding orgs now need to ensure they protect their assets, their funds, & any grants given.


Grants?
From whom & what for?

There lies a/the problem.

You cannot please everyone all the time, & trying to do so is futile.
Some people hate change, even though their own existence is itself a change.


Have all the plc Directors, & all the connected orgs Trustees been voted into place with 100% of the vote?
I'm going to say 'no'.
So, why is a simple majority for those changes okay, yet a simple majority for another change not okay?


Those that don't initially want/go along with a change may do so later, as long as they are reached out to to keep them involved, & given time to process the change.
A very clear signal upfront that no-one will be removed, or thought less of, because they didn't vote for the change, goes a long way.


Isn't the 'idea' that by having one overall charity, it can raise more funds via gift aid & grants, that can then be spent on the assets it owns, & give grants to a plc that it has majority ownership of.

Anyone at the WSR who doesn't want a structure that enables that is presumably;
pushing for the public appeal from the plc to be ended
pushing for the surrounding charities to be de-registered
If they aren't then they're a hypocrite!

& another problem!

Why does everyone have to have masses of prior experience at a heritage railway?
Finance, HR/volunteer management, fundraising, website/social media, marketing, etc etc, all move between different sectors.
It's a good way of bringing in new ideas, & it widens the recruitment pool.

This is the lot that did the WSR website
https://websitevision.co.uk/
Do they only do websites for heritage railways? No!

 

Petrol and diesel.

 

WSRHT

That is another reason why absorption into either the WSRA or a new charity would be an improvement.

 

You said "Have all the plc Directors, & all the connected orgs Trustees been voted into place with 100% of the vote?
I'm going to say 'no'.
So, why is a simple majority for those changes okay, yet a simple majority for another change not okay?"

You're right, probably, in saying "No" to your own question. But then that is true almost universally in any organisation if you are referring to votes by shareholders and/or members of a charity.

Not entirely sure when a "simple majority" hasn't been "OK" on the WSR? Has such a thing ever happened and been rejected? Can you help with that, in a one liner, please?

(edited for a dreadful grammar mistake )

Steve
wsr.org.uk

 

The WSRHT does claim gift aid. If you look at the most recent accounts online you will see a line "income tax recovered on donations".
Ian Coleby

 

Workbooks attached. £37,664 cash raised in 14 weeks, excluding utility savings (discussed extensively upthread). That suggests ~ £80,709 pro rata projected total to 31/12 (IIRC they'd said 'this year' but it now says 'winter'?) and so £411,907 to be raised by grants or other commercial means in order to reach the first £500,000 target. Recasting that with an end date of 31/3/22 takes the projected donations to £113k (second workbook).

Grants would include Culture Recovery Fund 3 which, if successful, could be substantial.

As for the financial/cash position and projections through to the 2022 season, we don't know (and don't have a right to). One might idly wonder, in view of June and July cumulative position being £191,183 ahead of the budgeted figure and the £1m appeal target set before then, what the projected shortfall now is?

Patrick

 

As said, the CC needs updating then;

https://register-of-charities.chari...ty-search/-/charity-details/265564/governance

WSRHT by RichardBrum posted Sep 17, 2021 at 6:13 PM

 

Many thanks for clearing this up.