Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

With respect, I think you have misread that What Colin has said (elsewhere) is that he did NOT go to the meeting because he had COVID, yet it was being suggested nonetheless that he should have been there if he wanted to know what was being said.

The key issue here is that - despite such things as Zoom, e-mail, private YouTube recordings etc (all things which are used by other societies to which I belong in order to keep 'remote' members informed) - the Board has issued NO summary of the meeting despite requests from many members. WHY are they so reluctant to communicate with the wider membership? Even if - for some weird reason - they wanted to restrict the 'knowledge' to working volunteers as opposed to the membership as whole, what about those volunteers who work elsewhere away from WB and should not be compelled to travel all the way to North Devon in winter just to be 'included'?

 

you misunderstood what I said. I went to one meeting years ago, not last years one when I have Covid.

 

That’s an important point. I’m hoping to be able to go to the agm, but it’s only possible because I’m already going to be in north Devon on the day. My issue will then be being back in Lincolnshire for the following morning.

Zoom etc allow the opportunity to enhance visibility, even if virtual attendance is not full participation.


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I can't recall where I saw it. But I think it was the A1 Steam Trust that held a live AGM, on zoom or some other social media outlet recently. I think you can now watch it on You Tube. But I have a feeling they did have a live feed for questions from members who where not in the hall at the time.

If one group can do this I wonder why others can't I am sure we must have some experts which could set up the hardware in the L&BR Trust.

 

Last month I 'attended' a society AGM by Zoom, which included the ability to 'speak from the floor' and vote. We even had overseas members 'in attendance' !

Next month I have two meetings (different groups) which clash, being on the same day in different places. I shall 'attend' one by Zoom and watch the YouTube recording of the other at a later date.

Admittedly there can be problems - the usual one being that you can't hear 'questions from the floor' unless there is a 'roving mic' available - and there is not the usual social interaction afterwards, but it is certainly a lot better than not being able to attend meetings at all for whatever reason.

Surely not everything about the L&BR has to work as if it's still pre-1935 ?

 

The latest newsletter was issued in February this year and a further circular detailing the Boards' summation of the current situation and requesting responses was sent last month. Whilst I would agree that neither contain the level of detail that I'd like to see, it seems odd to claim that the last update was in October. Are you perhaps not receiving mail?

 

Sorry missed a word out of my post - I meant to say 'the last update to the members pages'. The rest of my post makes more sense when you realise that I meant the members area of the website.

 

I too have attended several AGMs via zoom - in fact one of the groups I belong to has members all over the country and has now decided to hold future AGMs virtually.

The Public Inquiry for the RVR TWAO was held virtually using microsoft teams - with a couple of days held as a hybrid meeting to enable those without the appropriate technology to present their case. I didn't attend all of it - just days when there was something of particular interest. Although it was fairly local to me I probably would not have attended any of it had it not been available online.

Maybe it is something the L and B trustees could consider in the future - members may feel more engaged. I would be happy just to view and listen = I would expect to return my voting papers as currently.

 

In similar vein, I’ve attended meetings of committees and a Diocesan Synod* that were entirely online. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

* - one significant point being that these are subject to a raft of constraints over and above company and charity law.


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Interestingly the Trust and CIC have been using Zoom for their own meetings all through Covid so its not like they don't know how to utilize it, as for reports of the AGM or Members forum being posted on the members page or elsewhere its probably about time they employed a professional secretary, independent of both Trust and CIC or at least someone who is more than capable of keeping up with minute taking to cover these gatherings, like it or not but i don't think the present secretary is up to the job anymore

 

A simple fix for Zoom/Teams meetings for dealing with questions from the floor. Ideally a roaming Microphone, but if not feasible then the Chair repeats the question into the camera/mike for the benefit of the remote audience. This would not involve any great technology to achieve. It all depends how professional you want it to look and how much money you're prepared to spend on it. The rest is down to the speed of the internet connection!

 

Often no money required either - just intent and a little bit of organisation

 

Questions can also be asked remotely. Basically they have to be typed into the appropriate box or emailed to the Chair. The chair would then select and read out the question(s) for discussion/answer. Obviously there may be a number of similar questions which can be effectively combined into one. This is all routine stuff!

 

Where there's a will there's a way. Where there isn't a will ...

 

Whats the old saying? You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

 

For work I know very well how to set up and run a Teams or Zoom meeting for a number of participants (each one participating via their own laptop or phone) but I've never done it to share a meeting in a hall with, let us say, 8-10 people on the platform (maybe also using a presentation screen) and 20-30 people on the floor.

I have participated in such meetings and I've seen it done well - and I've seen it done badly (e.g. with one laptop set up on a corner of the top table with no external mic) where sometimes you can't hear the platform speaker, let alone the floor speakers, or see things on the screen which they might be referring to.

When it's done well the remote viewer cannot see what equipment is being used. Therefore would anyone in this thread be able to advise in a few sentences the minimum level of equipment necessary to do it well for such a meeting as I've described above? It's probably something every AGM organiser should be glad to learn in this day and age.

 

We have done this and use a free standing camera and a microphone. I will give a bit more of an explanation when I get more time.

 

I received this via a block email from a lifetime member, supporter and significant donor, having not seen him until yesterday i wasnt sure i should share it but he told me it was intended to be shared as much as possible

Perchance It Is Not Dead But Reviveth.

Part One – Beginnings:
There was once an organisation called the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Society, but our story starts in 1979 when a disparate number of enthusiasts started to correspond with one another. Most were from North Devon, and many from Essex. Others lived in Kent, Surrey, Somerset, Bristol and the West Midlands, and very soon the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Association came to be. In exchange for a modest fee we received lovely printed membership cards with our names and membership number carefully and neatly hand-written in copper-plate by the late Bill Thrush. The Essex Group was formed seven years later, and other local Support Groups emerged. A few years later still, through friendly co-operation with the Stanbury family, and together with carriages and track obtained from the Treasure Island ride at Thorpe Park in Surrey, not to mention a huge amount of work carried-out on the cold, often wet and windy cliff-top near to Clovelly, a hardy band of dedicated and determined volunteers established the LynBarn Railway at the Milky Way.
As events soon progressed, this proved our essential Fun'd'Raiser to enable the start of the creation of “our Railway”. Having heard locally that the former Woody Bay station would likely be offered for sale, Devon Group members kept their ears to the ground, however it was a small advertisement in the back pages of an obscure railway magazine which caught the eye of a member in the south-east, offering for sale a “Swiss chalet style former West Country narrow gauge railway station” and included a contact name and phone number. The page was photo-copied and sent to Devon, and the rest, as they say, is history. Woody Bay Station was purchased in March 1995. (L&B Mag76 p5) [E&OE]

Part Two: Perchance It Is Not Dead But Sleepeth.
A five-year business loan was organised to buy Woody Bay station, secured against the income from an ever-growing membership and from passenger income from The LynBarn railway. The efforts of those valiant volunteers at the LynBarn must be acknowledged, since without their dedication we would not have the operational railway at Woody Bay that we have today. In 1998, and some halfway into that five-year business loan, Chelfham Station was offered for sale. Much head-scratching and soul-searching ensued, with the understandable concern and reluctance of those volunteers, however the courageous decision was taken to purchase Chelfham, and history has proven that decision correct. Meanwhile, back at Woody Bay station, a long and protracted boundary issue ensued, where it transpired that, as a result of past land sales and boundary changes, the rectangle of land between the two platform edges remained the possession of a near-neighbour, landlocked by the L&B and our nearest (and friendly) neighbour, Moorlands Hotel. Plans for the start of the reinstatement of the formation were delayed for more than four years, until that momentous day on 11th May 2003 (L&B Mags 70 & 71) when the Railway was officially reopened, with member Jim Haylock driving his steam locomotive “Emmet” hauling a demonstration goods train. It is significant also that 11th May 2003 marked the 105th Anniversary of the opening of the original L&B, and that this year, 11th May 2023 shall mark the 20th and 125th Anniversaries respectively. [E&OE]

Part Three: Onwards To Killington Lane.



The following year, on 17th July 2004, a small diesel “Exmoor Ranger” hauled a solitary (and heavily updated and improved) ex-Thorpe Park carriage out of Woody Bay Station to mark the first passenger service on the L&B since 29th September 1935. Eight short months later, on 20th March 2005, and during the tenth anniversary month of the purchase of Woody Bay station, “Peter Pan” hauled the first steam passenger service on the L&B since 29th September 1935. (L&B Mag76 p1)



May 2005 saw the arrival of “Bronllwyd” and the second ex-Thorpe park carriage, and 29th September 2005 the first of many Steam Galas, with visiting steam loco “Darent”. (L&B Mag78)
Meanwhile, and spearheaded by volunteers from the Isle of Wight Railway, track-laying had continued beyond the confines of the station down to approximately midway between Woody Bay station and Killington Lane. Thanks to friendly contact with, and the kind co-operation and generosity of, the grandson of the original constructor of the L&B, Edmund Nuttall, Nuttall's construction company reinstated Bridge 67 for us at no cost, enabling track-laying to continue towards Killington Lane. (L&B Mag78). The operating season of 2006 saw the completion of the newly-extended railway down to Killington Lane that we know and love today, complete with the platform and run-round loop. We had a railway which went from a restored original station to a country halt. (L&B Mag 80) [E&OE]

Part Four: Success To The Railway:
In ten eventful years, from 1995 to 2006, we had successfully purchased two of the most significant railway stations on the line, Woody Bay and Chelfham, we had reinstated steam passenger services, witnessed the reinstatement of Bridge 67 to a modern design, and had rebuilt the formation all the way down to a temporary western terminus at Killington Lane. Visitors to the railway, volunteers and members alike, had once again been able to experience the joy of travelling on this, the most famous narrow gauge railway in England, last travelled by holidaymakers to, and residents of, North Devon in the summer of 1935, and now revived as an integral part of the tourist appeal to this most beautiful part of south-west England, steeped in history, and adding to that rich history that is North Devon.
During that short time (although with all of that effort it had seemed much longer at the time) we had achieved something extraordinary. We had awakened The Impossible Dream. We had made those all-important initial steps to restoring what had been lost in 1935 and had reinstated our first, crucial, first mile of operational railway within Exmoor National Park, for the benefit of all.
It seemed that we had probably offered something new every year. The prospects looked favourable to continue, with the undoubted benefits to tourism and to the local economy. The future looked bright. The opportunity had already presented itself to demonstrate to the local authorities and to the residents of Parracombe and the surrounding area that we had successfully reinstated the railway to the benefit of tourism and to the local economy, and all of this with minimum negative impact, and to engage further through friendly consultation for their support for the continuation of the formation further westwards. After all, Heritage Railways have a history of supporting, and being a part of the tourist draw into National Parks and other areas where the local economy relies upon tourism, or benefits from tourism. Ask yourself a simple question: - “Name An English National Park That Does NOT Have A Heritage Railway Running Through It?”
The answer of “Exmoor National Park” can now be taken off that list. (The West Somerset terminates at Minehead. Minehead is outside the National Park.) [E&OE]

Part Five: The Future (2006-Style).
Subsequent L&B Magazines over the following year or so published ongoing changes to the management structure of our railway, upon whose shoulders rested our hopes and dreams for the future expansion and extension of our Railway.
Nice tea-rooms.
Five fabulous restored carriages courtesy of our friends in Essex, which have to endure the ravages of the North Devon weather, all year round, for want of dry secure cover under a suitable carriage shed which we do not possess.
Thirty foot rail has been installed all the way down to Killington Lane. A strong, wind-proof passenger shelter at Killington Lane.

More land purchases which we cannot use.
Fifteen years' passenger revenue.
Struggling, here.

Most of us have, or have retired from, careers in our professional lives.
We had jobs to do. Duties to perform. Targets to meet. Achievements to achieve. Tasks to complete. We completed those jobs, we performed those duties, we met those targets.
Politicians love to promote “What They Are Going To Do”, however real life differs.
In real life you are measured by what you do, what you achieve, what you complete.
Fifteen Years. What you achieve. What you complete.
Fifteen Years. What you achieve. What you complete.
Fifteen Years. What you achieve. What you complete.

Part Six: The Future (2023-Style)
Today, the future is in YOUR hands. If we cannot convince our closest friends, those of us who have lived this journey with us, then how do we expect to convince today's membership, many of whom will have probably joined within the past decade or so, with many old-timers having decided not to renew their membership, having waited for so long for something to happen. Today's membership may well be oblivious to the successes of the now-distant past, and probably believe that the current incumbents are synonymous with the creation of all that we have.
I want my Railway Back.

 

I’m not sure, when appealing for my vote, that ‘everything’s awful and I want my railway back’ is cutting it sorry to say.

Just my opinion, but if this is the start of a fight back I’m more depressed about the railway than I was before it was typed. Are there no grown ups on any side?