West Somerset Railway General Discussion

That's a very odd way of looking at things. What the volunteer is doing may actually incur costs but in any event the paybill is part of what it takes to deliver the charitable purposes in the same way as the electricity bill. The thinking behind that comment is a good example of the damaging us and them attitude. Employees are just as integral to achievement of the charitable purposes as the volunteers.

 

And 99% of people would regard your attitude to volunteers as demeaning, insulting and negative.
How’s your policy of lots of paid staff working out for the NYMR?

 

Volunteers are vital to the success of most heritage railways but it’s not demeaning, insulting or negative to recognise that the same is true of their paid staff. Both should be valued for the contributions they make.

 

Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless.

 

In general, paying staff is not the purpose of the charity but a means to the end. If that end can be met using volunteers, it will generally be possible to achieve more towards those purposes than if the same work has to be paid for.

As with everything else, there will be exceptions where continuity or skills require paid staff. My own trustee experience is that these are limited and, where resources are limited, the best value is achieved in hiring enablers rather than doers.

 

Pete, The NYMR, chooses for good reason not communicate via social media sites such as Nat.Pres.

 

So whenever the quantity of paid staff on the NYMR is raised, your first line of defence is to talk about the cost of volunteers and how difficult they are to manage. Never the positives of volunteers.

Who said anything about Nat-pres?

As Pete says, the NYMR has been heavily criticised on its own Facebook page. If the “awards” nomination and award ceremony is above board and completely independently organised and nominated, then the railway should refute the allegations on its’ own page. The fact that it has not, would suggest that the allegations are true, and the NYMR is wasting a lot of money it doesn’t have, on a made up awards ceremony, just so the “management” can have a jolly.

Someone recently quoted a figure of 17 admin/marketing staff on the NYMR, but yet none of these people can put out daily updates on the bridge work or appeal. If you think that is worth an award, then the railway has no hope.

It’s quite telling that you choose to post on other threads, but not on your own railways thread. Your posts can be personal rather than official NYMR statements, but it would seem that a heritage railway needs to have ultimate control on the thoughts and ideas of its volunteers and supporters.
Very sad.

 

The point you m

The point about not responding on social media is reasonable, except when significant staff numbers are specifically employed in PR roles. Employing 17 salaried non-comunicators isn't a sensible use of funds.

The WSR has lost countless volunteers, legacies and supporters due to the infighting and factional warfare in recent years. Much of this has been on social media and this forum in particular.

The WSR debacle has clearly not informed how your heritage railway responds to reasonable criticism and so they fall into the same trap. When a railway also has a policy of not responding to direct person to person criticism it only increases the airing of grievances elsewhere.

Having volunteered at both WSR and NYMR a common factor is that senior management have so little interest in supporter opinions that they don't deign to reply even when approached directly.

Whether gift aid is available or not is of little relevance when donations on which to claim it are no longer forthcoming due to managerial deafness.

 

There’s also a a good reason why some of us think ‘Stuff You’ and flick 2 fingers up in the general direction when the begging bowl comes out again. If you can’t be bothered to be open and honest with people, why the hell should they should be inclined to do something positive for you?

Call me old fashioned but from where I’m from respect and trust is very much a 2 way street.
Sow the wind and you’ll end up reaping the whirlwind.