The 2015 Review of the West Somerset Railway Association
Background
Following the successful calling of a General Meeting by a group of concerned members, the whole membership was asked to consider and vote on five specific resolutions, and at that General Meeting of 10 May 2015, members voted in favour of a review of the purpose, objects, structure and activities of the Association. The number of votes cast was 1,317 (for) and 1,010 (against) with 60 abstentions.
Here is the wording of the Resolution:
The Trustees shall cause to be conducted a review of the purpose, objects, structure and activities of the WSRA, intended to return the WSRA to its core role as supporting the West Somerset Railway as a whole. The review shall be chaired by a person independent of the WSRA or any group on the Railway but the review team shall include WSRA Trustees, representatives of the WSRA Reform Group, WSR Plc and the WSSRT, and may include representatives of other groups on the Railway as the review chairman shall decide. There shall be an opportunity for all interested persons to contribute to the review. The review report shall be completed within six months of this resolution being passed and shall be presented in its entirety to the WSRA membership on completion. The Trustees shall then bring forward proposals to the WSRA membership to implement the review recommendations no later than the Annual General Meeting following the publication of the review report.
The Review Team is chaired by Robin Coombes with representatives of other organisations on the railway. Submissions for the review were due to be received by Monday 10 August 2015. The report is due for completion on 1 December 2015.
The Report
The report of the Review was completed on 1 December 2015 and three days later, the WSRA released the Review Report as a PDF document which is also available on the WSRA website at www.wsra.org.uk
On 23 December 2015 a hard copy of the report of the Review was sent by post to WSRA members who had not provided an email address to the Association. The postal package also included a covering letter from Acting Chairman, Frank Courtney. Feedback from the membership is also encouraged. Frank adds:
I will be pleased to receive comments on the report, or on any other aspect of the Association, which should be sent to me at frank.courtney@wsra.org.uk
Timeline