West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Pics have to publish accounts within 6 months of their year end, private companies have 9 months.

however you would expect the directors to see the accounts with a couple of weeks of the year end.

 

There’s always going to be a delay, so it just depends where your year-end is. If you set that to 31 December, it is still too late by time you start operating again in the new year if you wait until the formal accounts are published.

In practical terms, the managers and directors will have access to reports from the financial system, so ought to have a picture of the financial (and other) performance of the company on a very up-to-date basis. The accounts are just there to present a summary to shareholders, but clearly the board aren’t waiting until October before planning what to do from the previous March!

Tom

 

Indeed so but had the turnover been particularly good we would have heard from somebody or other PDQ.

 

See post 42123. There is no dispute that detailed accounts will take (much) longer.

 

Well it didn't take them long to crow about how well they had done with Santa's and train of lights (not sure that the figures were after the application of all costs though) so it's quite obvious they can do it - if they want to. Somehow I don't think they would be quite so keen to publicise any results they can't crow about or twist to their whims,

 

I managed to do a couple of trips last year, and the trains were well patronised, although not full and standing. It may have been a decent, if not spectacular, season.

 

Anyone who has run a small company will know that a profit in the accounts just means a bill from the taxman, it doesn't equal money in the bank, often quite the reverse.

 

I think you've slightly missed the point there, I wasn't questioning how good or bad he season had been, I was simply remarking on how quickly and how willing they were to publicise financial performance figures - when it suited them...

 

Although there is confusion even there, with alternation between how well they are doing and how desperately they need donations.

 

Budget and actual profit figures to July '21 were reported to the pound in The Railway Magazine October 2021. @Steve Edge 's wsr.org reported in January a financial update to the Somerset County Gazette.

Although the PLC's financial year end is March the January report talked of the 'year in 2021' and 'a loss for last season'. I'm a casual observer and the WSR PLC can report what and how it likes, but reporting from time-to-time a mix of financial year, calendar year and season isn't the clearest.

 

Planning a visit next Sunday, to get into Minehead by train after over two years! Does anyone know what is the likely motive power, please? Happy with anything, but preferably not a bus!

 

No official allocations yet, but pictures on wsr.org show 9351 and 5199 getting the attention of the cleaners on Saturday - could be a clue!

 

I think lack of diversity is the least of the WSR's problems. Given that the sort of person who would be interested in working for the WSR, either as paid staff or as a volunteer, is overwhelmingly from that 45%, any attempt to deliberately try and recruit people from outside it is always going to look like tokenism.
However, equality and inclusivity are not concepts that spring to mind when thinking of today's WSR plc. As has been made very clear on this forum, a limited company is not a democracy: the bosses do the bossing and everyone else is supposed to shut up and do as they are told. So much for equality. The recent history of the company's dealing with the other organisations on and off the railway very much comes across as "It's our railway, we will run it how we like, if you don't like it, you know where you can go", not exactly a beacon of inclusivity, either.
As far as ED&I is concerned, the WSR plc seems to be faithfully recreating the 1950s, presumably to match the trains, uniforms and stations.

 

I won’t like that but I will agree with it.

 

The WSR seems ready for the off with the QB also running a Mothering Sunday train.

 

To be honest, that's all a pretty daft remark. Someone raises the issue of equality and diversity in general on heritage railways and then someone else distorts that comments into a stick to beat the WSR with.
It's a prime example of why this forum has such a poor reputation.
Your remarks are way off-beam for the WSR. Just one example, the new GM is a woman and I see many others around the railway in key roles. Any business can only reflect the makeup of the population around it.
The issue of the SDRT is completely irrelevant here.
Ian Coleby

 

A wee bit rich from a WSR source perhaps?

 

Fair comments, except that the external reputation of the WSR is of precisely the qualities that do not make for good inclusion.


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