West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Completely out of touch with reality, as usual! The only conflicts arise when one side feels the need to dominate, most of the time (by and large on the NYMR before you became Chairman there) but there have been points where the "professional" management fail to recognise the value of the volunteer contribution and try to pretend it is neither significant or necessary. Eventually they end up making themselves look foolish. I suggest that you might want to bear that in mind!.

 

I think this is an odd summation of the debate so far. Structures don’t create conflict (though some are more difficult to govern well than others), people create conflict, especially when difficult circumstances cause challenges that might tempt a short cut or two.

Is it really so difficult to get it right? No. Plenty do. Can it be a challenge? Yes. I’m back to people again though. The right people will focus on what is right, and they will communicate well.

 

As 21b said in his post, Its down to people focussing on what is right, my way, or the highway does not to me seem the right way, and that goes for both sides, in this never-ending saga, and there's a degree of settling old scores also, as well as empire building, If you were to start afresh, with a blank sheet, you would not have multiple separate organisations, all with their own rules, and terms, you would have one agreed body, that incorporates the others, with oversite from the members by way of a majority holding of shares in the operating company and time limited boards, so that ideas don't stagnate.

 

I must have missed that. All I saw on this thread was that their reason(s) were not to be disclosed. When and where were they (or rather was their singular reason) disclosed?

 

You are conflating "The West Somerset Railway" with the "West Somerset Railway plc". The two are not the same. The former encompasses all the various groups and organisation on the railway, as well as the route and the original company. Whilst the financial collapse of the plc might lead to the end of trains being run over the line due to the removal and sale of the rails themselves, that does not mean that the WSR will cease to exist. One can easily envisage a scenario where SCC were keen to, say, lease Minehead station to the WSRA for them to run as a museum plus a bit of railway line, or the shed at Williton to the DEPG or Restorations. As pointed out above the S&DHRT managed perfectly well for decades despite the company having ceased to exist and the entirety of the railway line having been closed.

Do you actually mean that or is it just lawyerly argument? Can you really see no difference between an employee, who, if they lose their job, has almost zero chance of getting another one like it and a volunteer who can walk into another heritage railway and be welcomed with open arms?

 

Of course, but that's not the point. Both would have, to differing degrees, reason for their loss that might colour their judgement. Both could be susceptible to being pressured in how to vote by the organiastion they work or volunteer for.

 

Fair enough, but perhaps instead of

you should have said "There is of course a major difference between losing your job if the funding support is not given and losing your opportunity to volunteer, but either could be susceptible to being pressured in how to vote by the organiastion they work or volunteer for."

 

Why all the woe on here? A shareholder has a right to view the minutes of meetings. Why not go ask?
A FOI request has to be answered or a damn good reason given. Why not apply?
Endlessly kicking matters around on here get us nowhere.

 

FOI only applies to public bodies, not private companies.

 

Oops! Thanks for the clarification.

 

And unless there is an express provision to the contrary in the articles shareholders do not have the right to inspect minutes of board meetings unlike the minutes of company general meetings.

 

Not really woe, more observations about matters in the public domain and the reasons behind them. I think it is a case of seeing if details might be encouraged out into the light. Such encouragement requires in part a sharing of what knowledge is available with the objective only of informing. The more people know to ask a question, the more likely that the answer will be provided. NP is not the solution, merely part of enabling the journey.

 

NP is just a chat site. No company directors in their right mind would take any notice of anything said on here!

 

On the contrary, amidst the noise there’s a lot of wisdom - and some directors.

 

That’s true.

 

I often find I learn how things work best when observing them go wrong, and I learnt an awful lot about charities/plcs and the running thereof from reading this thread over the years. Small comfort to the denizens of Somerset who have to put up with it all I know! But it's not just mindless chatter here, there is a lot of considered opinion.

 

There are a fair few “wise” heads in this discussion. I think we see that in the balance that is shown. Ok, several thousand pages ago that wasn’t always so, but the last few have been pretty good I feel.

 

Precisely - and I know that discussions on threads here have informed my views for the better when doing stuff elsewhere.

 

I see some witterings of mine have made into January ‘Railnews’.

 

I just looked up the timetable for the No 28 bus service

Buses if Somerset seem to have pinched an idea of mine with the limited stop 28X which does Taunton to Minehead in 1 hour 10 mins