Six Trustees met on 15 February 2016 and made a number of decisions.
Members need to know that this meeting – claimed to be a formal Trustee Board meeting – was incorrectly called.
The Articles clearly state that all Trustees must be notified of forthcoming Trustee Board meetings. In this case that clear requirement was not met. Trustee Michael Rowe was not notified and not invited. That was wrong and it invalidates the meeting – and any decisions made at that meeting are also invalid:
– Ian Aldridge’s election as Chairman is invalid
– Paul Johnson’s election as Vice Chairman is invalid
– The announced postponement or cancellation of the forthcoming General Meeting is invalid (the “six” do not seem sure if they want to postpone it or to cancel it. There is a difference!)
– The suspension of Frank Courtney as Trustee is invalid
– The suspension of Michael Rowe as Trustee is invalid
– The suspension of the WSRA Manager is invalid
– and any other decison made at that meeting is also invalid
We can’t make it any clearer than that!
We did ask one of the “six” to explain why the “six” consider it was OK to ignore the requirements of the Articles but no explanation has been received. WSRA+ will be pleased if any of the “six” cares to write to this blog with a clear explanation on that point – after all there might be a very good reason and we’d love to hear about it.
As with the recent news item on http://www.wsr.org.uk, WSRA+ advises Members of the West Somerset Railway Association to ignore the very recent postings on the official WSRA website concerning the General Meeting at Crowcombe Village Hall on 27 February 2016.
The two postings – “General Meeting Postponed” and “Further Information” – contain information based on decisions made during an improperly-called Trustee Board meeting held on 15 February 2016.
WSRA+ feels there is no need for us to comment line by line through the content of those two postings as they are simply not valid and not official and can therefore be ignored completely.
So WSRA+ advises the Membership to contribute to the forthcoming General Meeting by voting on the single resolution.
As ever WSRA+ welcomes comments and we trust commentators to continue to be constructive and polite to all and help the blog to provide a useful information tool for the Members of our Association.
WSRA+ 
Let’s just hope that WSRA members who visit the Association website are aware of the true situation and will not be mislead and duped by these two recent ‘Latest News’ postings.
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Yep.
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Unfortunately, I think there will be some members who do not now send in their proxy papers or attend as they believe it to be cancelled.
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I doubt there can be more than a tiny number of members who are committed enough to vote who have not already sent back their proxies many days ago? Also I find it hard to believe that almost anyone who cares enough to actually attend would not have some engagement with the Natpres forum,this site or the Reform Group site and thus will be at least partly aware of the situation.
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Quite likely. But not many, I would have thought.
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Interestingly Frank Courtney and Michael Rowe are still listed on the Charity Commission site as Trustees of the WSRA.
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Jean why do you always see a glass hAlf empty instead of half full. We ALL need to committed and positive.
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My apologies but dont think I am. I am making the point that it is more important that those members who realise that this meeting is still going ahead make sure they get their vote in. Sometimes I ask a question that others may be thinking but not asking eg is the meeting cancelled or not and hopefully the answers provide clarityou for others.
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I think corrections like this need to be left for private conversations.
The situation can look very gloomy on occasions.
To always be upbeat is a job for Angeles.
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EGM 3 is the only and maybe last opportunity for the WSRA membership to bring change to the WSRA,
The meeting will go ahead, once the membership have made it view clear, we move on to the next phase of rebuilding the WSRA
So send you Proxy vote in or see you at Crowcombe Village Hall
Jeff Price
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I sympathise with the views of Jean Tucker. How on earth is the ‘average’ member supposed to make sense of the current situation if he/she has only the information on the WSRA website or whatever comes through the letter-box? Let us just hope that the majority of those who may now not bother to vote would have been ‘No’ voters anyway!
On a more general point about the initial WSRA+ posting, regardless of the formal or informal status of the meeting, NO suspension of a Trustee can be valid for the simple reason that the Articles do not provide such a facility. The Coombes Report made that quite clear in respect of the Coleby fiasco. Have the ‘six’ not learnt ANY lessons?
I suppose that the one ‘saving grace’ now will be that the ‘six’ do not attend the EGM on 27th. After all, if they regard the EGM as cancelled/postponed/invalid, then they are hardly likely to give it any validity by turning up to participate, are they? I wonder if they have sent in proxy votes instead, just so that they can vote without it being obvious ???
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As they are named in the motion they are Conflicted Trustees. If they actually decide to read the Articles (section 6.4) they will find that they have to “b. withdraw from the meeting for that item after providing any information requested by the Trustees” and “d. be absent during the vote and have no vote on the matter..”
As there is only that one item on the agenda they might just as well stay at home as they are not allowed to take part OR VOTE.
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If you want real confusion you should read the PDG statement which was unanimous. One of those fully endorsing Coombes at the PDG was a Mr I Aldridge.
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Seems turkeys do vote for Christmas after all.
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It was somewhat surprising when in 2007/8 rumours started to circulate about the desire to change the role of the Association. [WSRA+: the remaining words of Don’s posting have been removed by us to limit the online coverage to that website. Please visit that website to view the removed words. Thanks in advance to Don and others for your understanding.]
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Please read the above in conjunction with my following comment – it is a copy/paste from the WSRA History website……
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I have read the “new” WSRA history website and was amazed to see it claiming that WSRA Trustees in 2010 were asked to sign a “non-disclosure” document about the Plc taking over WSRA assets. I was a trustee at that time and can catagorically state – NO WE WERE NOT. I have never been asked to sign any such document or indeed shown any document or even had such a document mentioned to me. That is a complete fabrication, but I don’t suppose I should be surprised about that.
The writer of that page then goes on to ask why the Plc are so anti the WSRA? It interestingly makes no mention of the Freehold fiasco which surely was a major reason for any “issues” between the two organisations.
I do feel that somehow past Trustees are being dragged into this against our/my wishes.
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Sorry for any confusion – my first comment above was a simple “copy/paste” from the “WSRA History” website (which is a new one to me!) where I was highlighting what I see as blatent misinformation, hence my following comment. It doesn’t now read too well, but you need to read both together to get where I’m coming from !
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No worries, Don. We think folks will be able to follow your message(s).
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I find it curious that Ian Aldridge, in his assumed guise as WSRA Chairman, appears in his ‘letters to members’ which have been posted on the WSRA site so far to be plugging this new unofficial (and highly distrusted!) ‘history’ site as a source of on-line news information for members. Why not use the *official* WSRA site for such a purpose???
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Perhaps they no longer have access to it?
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The folks at WSRA+ may wish to add the alleged appointment of David Williams to post of Company Secretary to their list of invalid decisions made on 15th February.
I look forward to a truly valid decision being made on Saturday 27th February. Whether the resolution is carried or fails, the decision will be valid this time. Hope to see you all there.
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Looking forward to the Muppet show!
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http://www.WSRA-railway-history.co.uk is now off-line and is marked as comimg soon.
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[…] WSRA+ bloggers have previously made it clear that we consider the meeting of the “Six” on 15 February 2016 was wrongly called and […]
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