Background

At 9am on 28 January 2016, the Reform Group submitted a formal request to the WSRA Chairman Frank Courtney for an extraordinary General Meeting to be held. The request was supported by completed request forms signed by over 300 members of the Association. The EGM must now be held not less than 14 days and not more than 49 days from lodging of this request.

Here is the wording of the Resolution:

In the light of the Trustees' failure to follow the recommendations of the Coombes Report 'The Road Ahead', the members of the WSRA are resolved as follows:

David Williams, Peter Chidzey, Michael Thomas (a.k.a. Nick) Nichols, Ian Aldridge, Nigel Bruce-Robertson and Paul Johnson, and any other persons co-opted as Trustees after 18 January 2016, shall be removed as Directors and Trustees from the end of the General Meeting at which this motion is considered.

Within two days of the General Meeting called to consider this motion, the WSRA Manager shall post the result prominently on the home page of the WSRA website, including a notice inviting volunteers to serve as temporary Trustees until the 2016 Annual General Meeting of the WSRA. The deadline for such applications will be two weeks after the notice is posted on the WSRA website.

An independent person, being Robin Coombes (Chairman of the Panel which produced the Report on the WSRA) or in default of him another suitable person nominated by the Chairman of the Heritage Railways Association, shall consider the applications received, and, within two weeks following the deadline for receipt of applications, after consultation with any existing Trustees, shall recommend for co-option up to 8 persons best placed to serve as temporary Trustees until the 2016 WSRA Annual General Meeting.

The Trustees shall bring forward proposals to implement the recommendations of the Coombes Report, to be published to the WSRA membership, at the latest by 30 May 2016, so that they can be considered by the WSRA Membership at the 2016 WSRA AGM

The issues

The issues will be debated at a General Meeting at Crowcombe Village Hall on 27 February 2016 at 11am.

Despite information to the contrary, please note this General Meeting goes ahead as planned.

Papers for the General Meeting were received by members by post on 6 February 2016.

The postal bundle included:

• A letter from the Chairman Frank Courtney giving notice of the General Meeting on 27 February 2016 at 11am at Crowcombe Village Hall.
• A Report by the Chairman Frank Courtney
• The Proxy Notice.
• A statement from the WSRA Reform Group who are representing the members who have called the General Meeting.
• A pre-paid addressed envelope for the return of the Proxy Form.

The Proxy Form

We strongly urge any member unable to attend the General Meeting to complete the Proxy Form and we give this advice along with some examples - first, decide who will be your Proxy. You have two options:

• Nominate the chairman of the General Meeting - but please note this may be someone you were not expecting to be in that role - see example 1a.
• Nominate someone else who will be attending - see example 1b. (We now recommend you include a second person on the form in case the first person fails to turn up.) You will also need to include their addresses on the form.

and second, instruct your Proxy. You have two options:

• Use your vote as clearly marked on the form - see example 2a. The Proxy must follow your voting decision. We recommend this.
• Decide for you on the day of the meeting - by leaving the voting box empty on the form - see example 2b. The Proxy will make the decision for you. We do not recommend this.

Return the completed Proxy Form well before 25 February 2016 using the pre-paid envelope.

The venue

Interactive map

Static map

 

The outcome

The General Meeting of the West Somerset Railway Association was held as planned at Crowcombe Village Hall on 27 February 2016 despite claims by six of the eight Trustees that it had been cancelled. The General Meeting was chaired by Trustee Frank Courtney.

There was just a single Resolution (see left hand panel for details)

The Membership votes were 1674 in favour of the Resolution and 67 against.

Comment from the Reform Group

The WSRA Reform Group, the Group of concerned members of the West Somerset Railway Association, are delighted to welcome the overwhelming decision by 1674 votes to 67 at today's WSRA General Meeting, to vote out of office a group of Trustees who have been causing great trouble in the supporter's charity on the famous heritage line.

The effect of the vote is the immediate removal from office of Ian Aldridge, Nigel Bruce-Robertson, Peter Chidzey, Paul Johnson, Nick Nichols and David Williams. The result was greeted with prolonged applause and cheering at Crowcombe Village Hall where the meeting was held.

A group of temporary trustees were then co-opted into office to support Chairman Frank Courtney and Trustee Michael Rowe while the process to find new permanent Trustees begins.

Ms Robin White, volunteer signal man on the line and spokesperson for the Reform Group said:

This is a great result for our wonderful Railway, just as the 2016 season is about to open with our March Gala on 5/6 and 11/12/13 March. The group of old WSRA Trustees have shown themselves to be wholly unsuited to the positions they had come to hold. This was the finding of an Independently-chaired report published in December 2015, but the Trustees refused to heed the Report and step down immediately, as the Report called on them to do. So the members have had to take action. The vote is a tremendous expression of the community of our Railway, and we thank all who came together to express this view.

There have been increasingly desperate attempt in past days to interfere with this meeting by the Trustees who were the subject of the removal resolution including writing to members telling them that the meeting had been postponed or cancelled, and diverting some of the proxy votes being sent in for the meeting. Fortunately, WSRA Members were not put off by those tactics.

The WSRA Reform Group hope its work is now done, and will now be offering full support to WSRA Chairman Frank Courtney and his new Trustees as they regain control of the Association from the old Trustees, and set the Association on the right path for the future, in its rightful place at in the railway family that is the West Somerset Railway. Anyone who believes that they have skills, abilities, or time to offer in these important tasks are urged to be in contact with the new WSRA Board of Trustees.