HERITAGE RAILWAY ASSOCIATION SIDELINES 112 13th February 2011 DISTRIBUTION 10, Hurdeswell, ……………………………………. Long Hanborough, ……………………………………. Oxfordshire. ……………………………………. OX29 8DH ……………………………………. ……………………………………. Tel 0800 756 5111 ext 702 ……………………………………. Tel/Fax 01993 883384 ……………………………………. [email protected] ……………………………………. PLEASE PASS ON ALL RELEVANT INFORMATION TO OFFICERS IN YOUR ORGANISATION (Check who does it in your organisation - it could be you). Notes included in 'Sidelines' are guidelines. For specific circumstances, individual expert advice should be sought. JOURNALISTS OF THE NATIONAL PRESS ARE REQUESTED TO OBTAIN CLEARANCE BEFORE PUBLICATION SO THAT ANY FURTHER DETAILS TO AID A MORE GENERAL READERSHIP CAN BE INCLUDED. DETAILS OF HRA DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS ARE LISTED IN THE MEMBERS’ HANDBOOK ON THE MEMBERS’ SECTION OF THE HRA WEBSITE SIDELINES AND BROADLINES ARE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOADING ON THE HRA WEBSITE MEMBERS’ PAGES 1/ CHANGES AT HRA EGM & AGM. At the Association’s Extraordinary General Meeting held on Saturday 5th February the members approved the proposed changes to the Articles of Association whereby HRA’s accounts will not need to be audited in future by an auditor but only examined by an independent examiner. This has the effect of saving a reasonable sum of money and will not, of course, reduce the information that is circulated to members. We also changed the maximum number of directors from 14 to 15. This is because we are keen to bring young blood onto the Board, partly to handle the increase in workload but also so that there are younger members to whom we can hand over as the older ones amongst us succumb to old age! At the AGM itself we named Dame Margaret Weston as our first Patron to unanimous acclaim upon her retirement as President of HRA and Lord Faulkner of Worcester was unanimously declared President in her place. A biographical note on Lord Faulkner is set out below. BIOGRAPHY OF LORD FAULKNER OF WORCESTER Richard Faulkner joined the House of Lords as a "working peer" in 1999, and has since then held a number of prominent positions in Parliament. He is a Deputy Speaker, and was formerly a minister in the government whips' office, with particular responsibility for transport and energy and climate change. He has extensive experience of the railway industry, and particularly the heritage sector. From 2004 to 2009 he was chairman of the Railway Heritage Committee, is a member of the Railway Heritage Trust's advisory panel, and speaks regularly in parliament on the subject (see for example his debate on 1 February 2011 (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/110201-gc0001.htm#1102021000140). He is president of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, a member of the First Great Western Trains advisory board, a vice-president of the Campaign for Better Transport, and treasurer of the parliamentary all-party railways group. For over 20 years prior to joining the Lords, he was a public affairs adviser to the British Railways Board. He is currently completing the co-authorship of a book on railway closures. Lord Faulkner is a graduate of the University of Oxford, having studied philosophy, politics and economics at Worcester College, where he is an honorary fellow. N.B. RAIB REPORT ON END PAGES OF THIS ISSUE OF SIDELINES HERITAGE RAILWAY ASSOCIATION SIDELINES 112 1 of 15 2/ PARLIAMENTARY RECEPTION. David Morgan reported on the planned Parliamentary Reception in the last issue of Sidelines. It has since become evident that this will be a very well attended event, and it has proved necessary to seek a larger room in which to hold it, and consequently a new date. We are grateful to Nicky Morgan, MP for Loughborough, who is hosting the event, details of which are: Tuesday 21st June 2011 between 16.00 and 18.00 in the Members’ Dining Room, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. Please put this date in your diary in place of the March date previously given. This will be a great opportunity for member railways to meet their local MPs over a cup of tea and to underline the important role their railways play in the local community and the economic benefits they bring. By convention, invitations to MPs will be sent out by the MP hosting the event (probably in early March), and it is recommended that individual railways should then follow up with a reminder to their MPs about a month later. In the meantime, please consider who should represent your railway (space constraints will really mean just one representative per railway) and details will be collected by Andrew Goyns shortly. A small sub committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Mark Smith to progress this, and further details will be provided through Sidelines as arrangements are sorted out. Please contact me if you need further advice at this stage, at [email protected], Chris Austin. 3/ RAILWAY HERITAGE COMMITTEE. There seems now to be a good prospect of the role and powers of the RHC passing to the National Museum of Science & Industry, although this remains to be formally confirmed. Speaking in the short House of Lords debate on heritage railways initiated by Lord Faulkner on 1st February, the Government minister, Earl Attlee indicated that positive discussions were taking place between the relevant Government departments. The Lords will return to the issue when the Committee stage of the Public Bodies Bill is resumed on the 28th February and Lord Faulkner's amendment on the RHC is debated. Meanwhile, the HRA AGM agreed the Resolution that "This Association urges the Government to retain the statutory powers exercised by the Railway Heritage Committee" at the meeting of the 5th February. Chris Austin. 4/ NEW YEARS HONOURS LIST. HRA offers its congratulations for two richly-deserved awards in the Honours List: Helen Ashby Head of Knowledge and Collections, NRM has been awarded an OBE for her services to heritage and her work with the NRM. In addition to working directly with many HRA member railways and groups, Helen for has for many years been a member of the HRA Heritage Committee and the HRA Annual Awards Committee in both of which she has provided valuable input to our work, making a contribution far beyond fulfilling the, albeit important, liaison role with the NRM. We can do no better than to quote Steve Davies, NRM Director who commented: “There can be few if any preserved railways and railway museums who have not enjoyed direct or indirect benefit from Helen’s considerable expertise and love for our railway heritage and even fewer can match her passion, charm, subject matter knowledge and sheer ability to get things done.” Sonia Rolt, widow of the Talyllyn Railway pioneer Tom Rolt has also been awarded an OBE for her services to industrial archaeology and heritage. Sonia has been a Vice-President of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society since 1990 and in February 2010 she opened an exhibition at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum at Tywyn to commemorate the centenary of Tom Rolt’s birth. Looking a little further back, in 2001 she visited the special exhibition at the NRM organised in collaboration with HRA to mark the 50th. Anniversary of railway preservation and loaned items relating to her husband for inclusion in the exhibition. Over the years, Sonia has also played a major part in the canal preservation movement, the Landmark Trust and other heritage organisations all of which are reflected in the citation for this well-merited award. Another welcome award has been a CBE to Ian Brown who has recently retired from Transport for London as Director, London Rail. Earlier roles in the railway industry have included expanding and developing the Docklands Light Railway and for transforming the “London Overground”, the former North London line and related routes. Ian has been a member of the Railway Heritage Committee and has made a much valued contribution to the work of the Committee and is currently still serving as a member of the RHC Artefacts Sub-Committee. HERITAGE RAILWAY ASSOCIATION SIDELINES 112 2 of 15 5/ NEW EMPLOYMENT ADVISOR. Following the retirement of Robin Leleux we are very pleased to announce that John Suggett has kindly offered to take over this role. Not only is John a solicitor with experience in this area, but he also has had a long involvement with railway preservation being a former Chairman of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. Contact details for John are via his office Eldridge Solicitors, Avenue House, Avenue Road, Freshwater, Isle of Wight. PO40 9UZ Tel 01983 752492 Email: [email protected] D.W. 6/ RAILWAY BENEFIT FUND. The Railway Benefit Fund is a long established charity which provides assistance for railway employees who have problems or who are in distress. Practical help. advice and financial assistance are available. The Fund has advised that their services are available to full time employees of heritage railways including spouses and dependent children. Their website is www.railwaybenefitfund.org.uk and contact details are: Railway Benefit Fund, Electra Way, CREWE. CW1 6HS Tel:01270 251316. Email: [email protected] Member railways may like to consider holding a fund raising event to assist this national railway charity who have the motto “Looking after our own” D.W. 7/ ANNUAL STATISTICAL RETURN for 2010 The HRA on behalf of the ORR/HMRI is once more organising a formal Annual Statistical Return from all our members as of 31 December 2010. In order to ease the completion of the forms by all members we have generated two forms; one for operating members and larger museums which is almost identical to previous year's forms and a separate simplified form for all other corporate members.