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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by gwr4090, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    A correction, if I may. JustGiving offers the facility to maintain a total of offline donations against the appeal target. There is no cost associated with that, and it is useful as a way of showing success even if most donations are offline.


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  2. j&mkeynes

    j&mkeynes Guest

    Its very good to hear then of the success of the direct appeal, and also that JustGiving as an organisation is rather more altruistic than many might think. For those who are inclined to criticise this forum another thought. I wonder if the update to the appeals total would have happened had the apparent slow progress to date not been highlighted here? As success can breed success, perhaps a little momentum may now be generated, particularly on such an important weekend for WSR. Incidentally here`s a reminder for those still struggling to fill their idle hours this weekend: https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/events/detail/west-somerset-railway-40th-anniversary-weekend
     
  3. Anne C-B

    Anne C-B Member

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    I agree and would add that the silence from the PLC is deafening and encourages the speculation here.
     
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  4. aldfort

    aldfort Well-Known Member

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    That is a stretch even for me. A tiny handful of people contribute to this forum and a slightly larger handful read it. While it has an impact (both positive and negative) it is not the major channel from which people get news about the WSR. Steve Edge's wonderful site is far more important in that regard.
    Fundraising is a major task on a Heritage Railway. We put countless hours into projects intended to raise funds, many of which are never ever mentioned here on NP. Even those that are seem to be dismissed out of hand as the forum collective return to their favourite topics. As somebody mentioned recently it really is just the equivalent of pub talk.
     
  5. j&mkeynes

    j&mkeynes Guest

    I certainly agree that Steve Edge`s site is a wonderful resource. I further agree that most social media is merely an extension of what used to be pub talk. I agree that fundraising is too often an essential but thankless task that many volunteers sweat blood to accomplish. I disagree with the contention that this site and many like it are unimportant. So I checked. I randomly chose a 2 week sample from this forum - the first 2 weeks in March - and totalled the number of different contributors. 47. Make of that number what you will.
     
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  6. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    Loco 9351 - Lady in waiting

    9351 is days away from steaming and is available for viewing today and tomorrow at Williton 10:00 to 15:00.

    The restoration blog has been updated with more pictures and commentary will be added shortly.

    https://www.wsra.org.uk/category/9351-blog/

    E4EBC7E9-4827-4DAC-89D4-9AD5BDDCEFE4.jpeg 39EB322F-47C0-4575-91C4-3570E668F2CD.jpeg 6C9D925B-A8DE-4660-A36C-D274E5867F62.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2019
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  7. jnc

    jnc Well-Known Member

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    I'm going to disagree with several aspects of this (below); but I also find this post very illuminative of what I suspect is a fairly widespread mindset at the WSR, one which I reckon is rooted in the line's history, when it was initially planned as a real business, operating commuter service after BR closed the line - but which I feel is now outdated.

    Anyway, I disagree that only PLC shareholders should be the only ones who can ask questions. I think there's a larger group, who fall under the modern term 'stakeholders', who need to be considered. Why not just the PLC shareholders? Well, as one example of why not, it's now generally understood that the WSR is going to need a massive amount of money (IIRC the .5M GBP was just the start of it) for infrastructure work - money that cannot be generated from operations. That money has to come in, effectively, as donations; donors may wind up with shares, but nobody will be buying them as an investment. Now, unless the concept is that the entire amount will be raised from existing shareholders, necessarily a lot of current non-shareholders will have to be involved. Brushing them off now with 'you're not a shareholder, go away' is pretty much the last way to treat them.

    Contrast this with the way the GWSR has often handled questions from outsiders (not that I'm trying to hold up the GWSR as perfect, but there's a reason I mention them, below); at the time of the embankment issues, Darren Fairley (I think it was - the relevant pages now seem to be offline, so I can't check if it was him or another GWSR manager) happily answered questions from one and all posted on the pages about the embankment work. And Bill Britton's openness and willingness to engage with all on his Broadway station blog were famed. And it paid off for them; in my case, although I had no previous formal link with them, I wound up making a substantial contribution to the bridges appeal, and I have reason to believe there were others who did the same.

    In an ordinary business, the shareholders would be the ones to ask questions (but even there, there are people like investment analysts whose questions have to be answered - but I digress). But the WSR (along with most heritage lines) just isn't an ordinary business (although that may have been the original intent), and it's IMO a big mistake to try and treat it as if it were. The WSR, and everyone involved in it, has to stop thinking of the PLC as a normal company.

    Noel
     
  8. AnthonyTrains2017

    AnthonyTrains2017 Well-Known Member

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    Once one get to Minehead on the Manor double headed special tonight, where can one get fish and chips in mineh3ad.
     
  9. granmaree

    granmaree Member

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    Hopefully right beside the station.
     
  10. AnthonyTrains2017

    AnthonyTrains2017 Well-Known Member

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    Opening hours show it shuts at 8
     
  11. AnthonyTrains2017

    AnthonyTrains2017 Well-Known Member

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    Class 14 just left on BL webcam, never knew that was out today. Has something failed?
     
  12. 6960 Raveningham Hall

    6960 Raveningham Hall Member Friend

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    I saw it at Crowcombe double-heading with 7752 on an up service late this afternoon. I assumed it was simply a stock movement but, thinking about it, the service was 20 minutes late, so maybe 7752 had experienced a problem.
     
  13. ikcdab

    ikcdab Member Friend

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    I was on that train. We left minehead and williton bang on time so not sure how you get 20mins late at CH. The 14 was added at williton as a positioning move to get it to BL. Nothing untoward.
    Ian C
     
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  14. ikcdab

    ikcdab Member Friend

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    Tales of the West Somerset Railway published and available.
    You will have read about this new book on www.wsr.org.uk and wssrt.co.uk. It has been produced to celebrate 40 years running to BL. It came about from a chance remark to me from JJP asking if i could write a book for the 40th anniversary. Time was too tight for a dusty history so having involved Alan Stannistreet and Ian Tabrett we coerced 30 other long-standing volunteers to write their own short essays on their recollections of the last 40 years. The result is a book that celebrates the efforts of all the volunteers and is truly railwaywide (dare I say "one railway?). We have priced it competitively to sell at £8.99 and every penny from the sales goes to support the railway - all the authors and all the type setting and image processing was done as voluntary activities. We had to pay for printing, but this has been backed by the WSSRT and we had a great deal from a local printing company who I now highly recommend (PM me for details - or see their name inside your copy!).

    At the launch last night we sold 60 copies and the sales today have also been very encouraging. I anticipate that with good luck we should sell around 200 copies over the weekend.

    If you support the railway, please buy a copy. You will be getting a copy of a high-quality, unique product that is a result of real cross-railway teamwork. Not only are you supporting the line, but it truly is a great read and professionally put together.
    They can be obtained from BL and MD shops in person or by phoning either shop for a modest p&p supplement. I was at MD today and the shop staff took several phone orders - so it is selling well. I will be at BL tomorrow signing copies, so if you are around, please say hello and buy one. If you have any problems getting a copy, please email me at booksales@wssrt.co.uk.
    If you already have your copy, then please post an independent review....
    Over to you!
    Ian Coleby

    front and back cover.jpg
     
  15. Paul Kibbey

    Paul Kibbey Well-Known Member

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    Wonderful news about 9351 , I am really looking forward to seeing her again in steam , hopefully I'll be across for the WSR Steam Rally
     
  16. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    Pretty diesel.

    D7017 making light of the gradient past Farmers Arms Bridge this afternoon.

    87D405A4-13AA-4CD6-B209-525C58493916.jpeg
     
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  17. 6960 Raveningham Hall

    6960 Raveningham Hall Member Friend

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    Simply quoting what the crew told us when explaining why we would have to sit at CH for 20 minutes. That's where I got it.
     
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  18. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    Needs to crack the doors open to get some top air ...

    Tom
     
  19. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    I seem to recall that on the last major Bluebell fundraising appeal, about £1 in every 6 was raised online. So not a majority, but some years previous, it had been closer to £1 in every 10; the trend is clearly only going in one direction. (How much of the offline figure was specifically cheques and how much other mechanisms I don't know). Obviously for the time being, any appeal needs to have both online and offline components; the major platforms generally allow the offline figure to be manually inputted by the administrator so that supporters can see how the whole appeal is going.

    As for admin costs, they aren't necessarily free even offline if you have to pay someone to do all the admin and banking. Going with an online provider can simplify admin for the charity, particularly around Gift Aid reclaims; and also can mean that the money (including Gift Aid) is cleared to the charity much quicker; it wouldn't be unusual for Gift Aid payment from HMRC back to the charity to lag three or four months behind a donation when the claim has to be submitted manually by the charity, whereas with an online platform it may be available within days or weeks. That said, of all the online platforms, JustGiving seems to me to be consistently amongst the most expensive; there are other options out there that may be worth exploring (accepting that transferring between providers isn't an overnight job). Has anyone got any experience with www.wonderful.org? - they charge no fees at all, i.e. a £10 donation with Gift Aid reclaim is worth £12.50 to the charity; their admin fees are covered by corporate sponsors as a CSR initiative. My wife's church use it and, having set up a small fundraiser (as part of the Quest2020 appeal) it is at least quite easy to use from that point of view, even if it doesn't quite have all the bells and whistles or brand recognition of JustGiving.

    Tom
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2019
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  20. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    Evening Manors.

    This evening’s double-headed Manor 14-coach special seen here at Combe Florey and Ker Moor.

    A privilege to be Responsible Officer today.

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    Last edited: Jun 8, 2019

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