News Archive entries for November 2012

Here are the diary entries for this month. You can use the forward and backward links to see the next or previous months. Most photos taken before 2018 are small size. From 2018 onwards, most photos you see below will have a link to a full size image by clicking on the photo.

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2012 AGM
15/11/2012
	President Carole Cuneo and the Council of Management at the 2012 AGM. Back row left to right - Geoff Turner : Project Engineer, Chris Jones : BRSLOG representative, Richard Aldridge : Finance Officer & Finance Director, Mike Sedgley : Sales Officer, David Etheridge : IT Officer. Front row left to right - Allan Jones : Membership Secretary, Carole Cuneo : Project President, Bob Ife : Commercial Officer. 2012 AGM Many thanks to everyone who attended this years AGM. This is a brief summary from the IT officer prior to the publication of the formal minutes of the meeting by the Project Secretary. These should not be taken as a true and accurate record of the meeting. The meeting was started with apologies for absence and the minutes of the 2011 AGM were signed off by the members as being a true and accurate record. Council of Management Reports John Drew gave his Chairmans Report thanking those present and the hard work that had gone into the project over the past 12 months. John was also able to confirm that we now have official permission to use the BR Cycling Lion emblem on our stationary, website, clothing and of course the locomotive and tender. It is interesting to report that very few other groups have this permission! It is also pleasing to report that the locomotive has a Rolling Stock Library number 98610. This number was in fact registered in BR days as part of the plans to build the second batch of Clan locomotives. The locomotive also has a Euro Vehicle Number. Richard Adridge then gave the Finance Report and stated that although our bank accounts are currently healthy the upcoming purchase of the combined frame stretchers will take a substantial amount from the main account. Richard emphasised that monthly donations are key to the projects growth and it was pleasing to see that over half of those in attendance (including all of the Council of Management) make monthly donations. It is also important to record that several present make substantial donations throughout the year in lieu of monthly donations. The Membership Report was then given by the Projects Membership Secretary Allan Jones. Allan presented a report on the proposed new membership structure including membership levels, membership fees and membership benefits. Several objections were raised regarding monthly contributors also needing to pay a £15 membership fee stating that the membership fee should come from the contributions and the fact that we want to encourage monthly contributors over annual subscriptions. It was agreed that this matter will be further discussed at the next Council of Management meeting. AMENDMENT SUBSEQUENT TO THE AGM Please read this amendment carefully: Where the total amount of a Member's monthly donation is sufficient and, on receipt of a signed, written instruction from the Member concerned, the Council will divert sufficient funds from that Member’s January donation to cover the appropriate Membership Renewal Fee outstanding. Example; A member contributes a regular donation of £20 per month by standing order and wishes to renew an Ordinary Adult Membership for the coming year (£15) – in this case, on receipt of the Member's written instruction, the £15 Membership Fee will be diverted from the donation to the Membership Account, with the remaining £5 allocated, as normal, to the General Account; the Membership being renewed accordingly. Any Member contributing a regular monthly amount of less than that necessary to renew their Membership in this way, will be required to pay the appropriate Membership Renewal Fee, in its entirety, within the specified period*. Such a Member may ‘top up’ their January monthly contribution, to a level sufficient to cover the appropriate Membership Renewal Fee**, provided that a signed written instruction authorises the Council to divert their regular monthly payment. Example; A member contributing a regular monthly donation of £5 per month wishes to renew an Ordinary Adult Membership (£15) – in this case, on receipt of the Member’s written instruction and payment of the remaining £10, within the specified period*, that Member’s monthly donation, plus the £10 ‘top up’** payment, will be diverted, in its entirety, to the Membership Account and the Membership renewed accordingly. *The ‘specified period’ shall be the time between receipt of the Membership Renewal Form with the November 2012 edition of ‘Clan News’ and the renewal closing date – 31st January 2013. ** ‘Top up’ amounts will differ according to membership grade selected. Written and signed instructions, authorising the Council to so divert the January monthly contribution, must accompany the completed Membership Renewal/Application Form and will not be accepted retrospectively. The spreading of payments over several successive months (staged payment) will not be accepted and all New Member Applications must be accompanied by the full appropriate fee. The Engineering Report was given by Geoff Turner. Geoff was pleased to report that a foundary has been found that will cast the complex combined frame stretchers. This process has taken nearly a year and is a credit to Geoff and the Engineering Committee. The foundry is Norton Cast Products in Sheffield and a verbal quote has been given and a further enquiry will be made as to the filming / photographing of the casting, turn-out and fettling of the casting as part of a press release. It was also pleasing to hear that the Non-Destructive Testing results of the frames have come back and everything is most satisfactory. A dimensional check has revealed a few discrepancies and we are confident that out correction methods will be signed off by our Certification Body (replacement of the old VAB system). A Certification Body has been selected and they will be approached with the request to provide their services to us. The companies details will therefore be withheld until the full minutes when it will be known if the Certification Body in question has accepted our request. The Sales, Commercial and Trading Reports were then given by Mike Sedgley and Bob Ife. We are down year on year sales wise mainly due to this years inclement weather and the cancellation of several key galas and events. We have several major events to complete the year including Model Rail at Barrow Hill and the GCR Autumn Steam Gala. We would be grateful of any help for manning the sales stand. Currently the sales team are also members of the Council of Management with three members also members of the Engineering Committee leading to schedule conflicts. We have the stock and venue offers to be running two sales stands, we just need more help to man them. The IT & Website Report to be given by Dave Etheridge was moved to AOB as it was agreed this report was more for members information. Proposal to amend the Memorandums and Articles of the Company The proposals to increase the limit on the number of C of M members from 7 to 9 (minimum 5) was unanimously agreed and passed. The proposal to limit the number of posts held by a Council of Management member to 1 was similarly passed. Election of Officers Chris Jones and Dave Etheridge submitted their reasons to join the Council of Management to the members present and both were duly elected, Chris Jones to 'Member without portfolio & BRSLOG representative' and Dave Etheridge to 'IT & Website Officer'. Richard Aldridge was also nominated as Finance Director and this motion was unanimously passed by those present. John Drew resigned as Chairman. This is not a reflection on the project but his wish that the Council of Managent be closer (geographically) to allow more face to face C of M meetings. Following his resignation the meeting was chaired by our President Carole Cuneo. Any Other Business Dave Etheridge presented an IT & Website Report. The website is now being maintained by Dave who will ensure regular timely updates. The new members section will be enhanced and expanded over the next few weeks. All the latest news will be posted in the members area 3 days before the main website. The website is being viewed by approximately 150 to 180 individuals per day. After posting to Twitter, Facebook (via Bob Ife) and Google+ these figures jump to 300+ individual visits per day. The website is an important tool to keep members informed and attract new members. If you have any suggestions please email Dave here. The project is now utilising a 'Document Database'. This system will ensure the safe storage of important documents and will allow these to be shared securely with 3rd parties such as our Certification Body. This will speed up information transfer and save on printing, postage, faxing and the delays that these methods incur. All of the Projects IT needs are being sponsored by First B2B with Domain renewals being sponsored by Dave. Another saving has also been received in the form of Microsoft Charity Sponsorship giving the Project access to all of their software for only £29 every two years. This is a substantial saving over retail prices. Once again we would like to thank all those present and a special thank you to Carole Cuneo for her attendance and for chairing part of the AGM.
Appointment of Certification Body
17/11/2012
	We are pleased to report that we have now appointed Wayne Jones & Partners as our Certification body (formerly knows as the Vehicle Acceptance Body - VAB ). This represents another milestone in the project and WJ&P bring many years experience with mainline and heritage locomotive repairs and certification. All work on safety critical or structural components will now be checked by WJ&P and our growing collections of test certificates, material certificates and test results stand us in good stead at a time when the build progress is picking up momentum. We look forward to forging a strong working relationship with Wayne and his team.