Dear <<First Name>>
Many volunteers have asked how our charity is structured and what the relationship is between the Board of Trustees, and the Steering Group. So I thought it would be useful to set out, at high level, how it all hangs together and how important your role is as a volunteer in ensuring Waterways Experiences is well run.
The organisation of the charity and its objectives are defined primarily in our constitution, which is published on our website for all to see. The Constitution describes how we hold an Annual General Meeting of members every year to review our Board of Trustees. This year's AGM is scheduled for Saturday 10 April, so put the date in your diary. This is your once a year chance to exercise your rights as a member to help run the charity and to vote for your Trustees. Paul Bennett said last week that we have some new Trustee applications, so come along and make your vote count.
The Trustees are then responsible for everything that goes on within the charity. In particular, if anything goes wrong, they are responsible! The Constitution provides for the Board of Trustees delegating its powers by appointing a group to manage the day to day affairs of the charity. We call this management committee the Steering Group and its members are appointed by the Trustees.
The Steering Group has recently been looking at documenting roles and responsibilities and the rules under which it operates and Trustees have recently approved the principles of this, so it can start to be put into operation.
Several issues have been raised since last summer, when I was appointed to chair the Steering Group and this seems like a good opportunity to explain what we have been doing to address them.
1. Overlap between Trustees and Steering Group members:
It has always been the aim of the Board of Trustees to maintain as large a differential as possible between the Trustees and the members of Steering Group. Indeed the Constitution stipulates that at least three members of the Steering Group should be appointed from those who are not trustees.
My objective is to go further than this. At the first Steering Group meeting I chaired in August 2020, we only had three non trustees on the Steering Group - and one of them left the meeting early! Since then, we have extended the membership to include Bookings and Training team representatives. I am now pleased to report that Chris Saxton has recently taken on the role as team leader, Crewing Logistics and Lin Greenfield has taken on team leader Marketing and Communications. I wish them both well in their important roles. The Steering Group now includes far more non Trustees than are required by the Constitution and is the better for it.
2. Disengagement of volunteers:
The Covid pandemic has prevented us from operating properly to meet our charitable objectives - apart from a few trips late last year - and lockdown has led to us all being virtually incarcerated for a very long time. I feel for people who live alone in particular, as well as for those young and old living in care environments, where meeting loved ones has been difficult or impossible for so long. Many people in all walks of life are finding this very trying on the patience. We have worked hard to keep you, our volunteers, engaged, as we do not want you to stop seeing Waterways Experiences as an important part of your life.
The Training team tried very hard to set up a set of Refresher Trips in December and again in January to reengage volunteers and prepare them for when we are allowed to restart running trips. Rest assured, you will have an opportunity to go on a Refresher trip before you do your first client trip this year. The restart team also worked very hard to actually restart trips, but the timing of the introduction of the tier system and then full lockdown meant this was, in the end, unsuccessful from a client perspective, although it certainly kept many of us engaged in work to make it happen!
The recent Government announcements now give us a roadmap around which to build our restart plans and we will keep you informed as these develop.
I hope these regular News updates have also helped to remind you that Waterways Experiences is still operating and will be restarting trips - both day trips and residentials - just as soon as it is safe and legal to do so.
3. Transparency in meetings:
It is always our policy to be transparent in all our operations. In normal times, we achieve that transparency by holding mainstream records in a shared place for all to see, by circulating agendas before meetings and minutes after meetings. We have gone a step further more recently and encouraged volunteers to attend regular Steering Group meetings as observers. This is aimed at increasing participation and therefore engagement during the pandemic when many volunteers, who do not have a land based role, had nothing else to do for the charity.
Recent Changes
1. Team Leader Crewing Logistics
I recently stood down as Team Leader, Crewing Logistics in favour of Chris Saxton, who has a lot of experience within the Crewing Team. Thank you to Chris for taking this on. Hopefully the timing, during a quiet time on the water, will give him time to take over the reins before things start getting busy again.
2. Team Leader, Marketing and Communications
Sally Ash recently stood down as Team Leader, Marketing and Communications in favour of Lin Greenfield. Thank you to Lin for taking on this important role.
I must pay tribute to Sally, who had been team leader of Marketing and Communications team since almost the beginning of WExp. She has always been very generous with her time and expertise and often the first to step forward when something new needed to be done. Sally remains a Trustee and is still closely involved in fundraising for the new Boat and the Wharf projects. So she is not going to be without anything to do!
3. Team Leader, Compliance
Some time ago, Graham Danbury stood down as Team Leader, Compliance and I am now pleased to announce formally that Andrew Sykes, one of our senior Boatmasters, has stepped up to take his place. Congratulations and thank you to Andrew for taking on this vital role.
Thank you to Graham for all he has done leading the Compliance team over the years since it started and ensuring that our relations with the MCA were always professionally managed and that we always followed the regulations. I understand Graham is now planning to allow his Boatmaster licence to lapse so he can concentrate on the widebeams, which he has always preferred!
Looking forward, there is more and more good news daily, as the vaccination programme rolls out and the shape and timing of relaxations in the restrictions become clearer. Stick with the rules, have your vaccination when offered and help us all get through to a brighter future where the virus no longer rules our lives and we can take up our volunteering work again in earnest - out on the water.
Best regards
Malcolm Tebbutt
Trustee & Chair of Steering Group
Waterways Experiences
mobile: 07947 373569 Email: malcolm.tebbutt@wexp.org.uk
website: www.wexp.org.uk
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