009 Society AGM & Narrow Gauge Show Saturday 30th March 2019.

[Hobby]

Did you tell them that, Stan?!

[Graeme Dunbar]

Sorry - I didn't see the diary entry when I checked just before posting. Most sensibly, entries in the past appear to be deleted.

A good point though - a separate entry or banner notification would be nice - but it is easy to invent work for other people!

[JulienW]

I

[BrianE]

For the purposes of part of the ongoing conversation I will point out that I do not have email addresses for over 26% of the present membership. That is not to say they don't have email, just that I don't have it on file. Therefore there is no way to send an email, with or without any attachments, to them while that state persists. I know also that some of those email addresses that I do have are not used often if at all. Even the Sales Listings, which go to around 800 members who asked for it, only gets 80% reading. Make of it what you will.

And I just found my old entry about the forum stats: roughly 400 members signed up, roughly 40 members significant participation.

Brian E
MemSec

[Hobby]

So three quarters of the Membership do have an email (whether they use it or not) and, by definition, have access to a device which allows them to get onto the 'net... Statistics can be used in all sorts of ways!

Just to clarify I wasn't asking for everyone to get the News by email attachment, nor were others saying that the Forum be the sole form of correspondence for Society announcements...

What we were asking is that they be used as alternatives to just the News...

[MickT]

What we were asking is that they be used as alternatives to just the News...

In which case, as I have said several times before, as I only know of one Society Director (ie elected member of the Board) who frequents this forum, and does not post very often, then we can but assume that the other 3 (4 with the recently vacated Communications Director seat) are not on this forum, so the only way to get concerns properly reported and addressed is to raise the concerns through the proper channels, directly to the Society Secretary in writing, either letter or email, and ask for acknowledgement of receipt so that you can't claim, as you have done before, that contacting the Secretary is futile.

I have not found it so, and have been a pain in the backside to the Board on several occasions but at least I know that my concerns have been noted if not always resolved.

Brian, as memsec is not elected and is one of the co-opted or appointed committee members, which means he does the job he has been appointed to do, and very well I might add, but does not have an executive vote on the Board, so if there are pressing concerns, they should be raised TO the Board, not about them other than in colloquial discussion.


Mick

[Stefan Krebs]

Dear Gentlemen,

May I just express my satisfaction reading your discussion, and I fully second everything said. One of the reasons I shall not attend the AGM is that I'm disabled, but it was impossible to extract HOW accessible the facilities will be.

On an aside, when I joined the 009 society I proposed, and offered to provide, translation of our web-site into German (and as many other languages as possible). We make claims of international aspiration, but only manage to communicate in English, despite strong foreign representation!
The answer was that there was no need as the language of the Internet was English...! I didn't bother to explain that there is more on the Internet in foreign languages than there is in English, as obviously if you only speak English you don't find how much you're missing.   ;D

Obviously no shame about this rather imperialistic/ nationalistic attitude by the respondent from the board either...   ;D


Just another thought for discussion from
Waldschrat

[Stan Williams]

Waldschrat,

I must pick you up on one of your statements about not attending an AGM because you are disabled and not knowing the facilities available.

If you go to the start of this thread page one, the first piece I started with read.
The hall is wheelchair friendly and all on one level.

You responded by thanking me for mentioning the above !!

Just a reminder.

Stan.

[clayliner]

Alternatively you can take the trouble to attend the AGM and get a copy of the last meeting minutes 5 minutes before the meeting starts when they are dished out, leaving just about nil time to read and digest them, so in order to maintain the will to live somebody proposes that the minutes are accepted, somebody else seconds it and the assembled members vote it in unanimously, and the committee get on with the rest of the meeting safe in the knowledge that everyone is absolutely content with wverything.

As a regular minute-taker I'm well aware that if you leave making minutes available to the latest possible opportunity - ideally just before the next meeting - then the chances are that everyone will have long forgotten what was said or agreed. Especially true if a whole year has elapsed!

David.

[Tom Haythornthwaite]

I am keen to know if a motion I proposed for the AGM was discussed.  I proposed that "the society will not permit itself to be represented at any event that does not declare in its announcements and publicity the particulars of accessibility for disabled visitors and participants".  I have asked for a set of minutes when it is convenient.  (I fully understand that these things take time.)

... quite a lot of time, apparently.  So far, not a sausage.

[Malcolm]

Tom
I was at the AGM and unless I nodded off I do not recall your motion being raised either as a stand alone or under AOCB.  Indeed one of the few items raised under AOCB was by myself enquiring where the proposed new format members forum had got to...........
Malcolm

[Stefan Krebs]

Dear Stan,

My apologies, but disabled usable is not just about wheelchair accessible; there are other requirements too. I have been to quite a few venues with wheelchair access, but have got stuck on other aspects (just this weekend, wheelchair access, but no access to disabled toilets, and a defect wheelchair lift!). And yes, I read the whole thread, and yes, I asked a couple of questions to our secretary, which are still unanswered 2 month hence.   ;D

Unfortunately, stairlifts, disabled toilets, etc. are always low on the priority list of maintainers, so frequently you find claims of 'wheelchair accessible' are rather academic as equipment is defect, or not serviceable. And the number of disabled toilets used as rubbish tips is astounding too...    ;D

And that's before I get started on corridor width and clutter on the floor in exhibition halls, layouts that are too high etc..    ;D

Cheers
Waldschrat

[Hobby]

You need to ask the person organising the Show, not the "secretary" whoever he may be. In this case you asked Stan and he told you the situation, if you were that concerned about the other things then a personal message to Stan would have sufficed to check on the various aspects you mention.

Whilst i have some sympathy with you and many of your comments concerning the likes of aisle widths, etc., are very valid you don't help yourself sometimes. Ask the organiser, if you don't get a proper answer then don't go to the show and have a moan, but it's unfair on Stan to raise such things when you didn't even bother before the event, when you could have done!

[Tom Haythornthwaite]

I believe my motion, which Charles Insley agreed in December would be discussed at the AGM (but I now learn, but not from him, that it wasn't), might have helped this access issue.  It intentionally does not go so far as to require proper access.  (That might have to wait for another decade.)  It went so far as to require show organizers to be clear about limitations to access.

The secretary has yet to respond to my inquiry about AGM outcomes.

By the way, somebody referred (but I think in jest) to people taking the trouble to attend the AGM.  I'd love to attend but I gather they are normally held in England.

[Hobby]

I think perhaps for next year that we set up a thread before the event to list Motions that people have asked to be raised (in the official manner of course!) so for those who go can see if they were raised and the outcome. As I said earlier that one of Tom's was very close to my heart as well and had I been going I'd have given up my time to attend it rather than man the S/H stall to make sure it was discussed.

We live and learn!