Follow that!

All weekend I have been receiving messages of how much people enjoyed what was broadly described as a magnificent weekend. Volunteers it seems also had fun - we had nearly forgotten that!

Heartiest congratulations to the organising Commercial team and my personal thanks to Director Colin Fewell who was the man who took it on.

Money? Income was in excess of Budget and at Todd today we took over £10,000 today! Exact figures as soon as we have them

The GWR delivers. Again.

Double weekend for me personally since I wasn't about because my football team (Newport County) was playing the second leg of the Conference promotion play off. Many fans have waited 30 years for this since we dropped out of the Football League. We won so I will be at Wembley next Sunday!

Wartime in the Cotswolds weekend

Hard work for all of us but it went extremely well. Amazing to see how many visitors went to the trouble of dressing in 1940's style. Sad the Dakota couldn't fly due to the wind (I can only assume we didn't have wind like that during the war) To see the third rake full (and more) all day was quite a sight and yet the public loved it. I lost count of the number of times people said we were more friendly than other railways and better organised. Everyone should take a bow but in particular the organising group. Many thanks to everyone.
Colin  Fewell

Housekeeping

There was a Plc Board meeting on Tuesday evening brought forward from Friday because of the Wartime Weekend.

It wasn't that interesting though since matters were more of  day to day issues rather than significant decision.

The Annual Report and Financial Statement for 2012/12 was received from the Auditor and duly approved. Robert Goundry & Co now go into over drive to print it and get the AGM papers to shareholders

The Management Accounts to end of March were received. These showed that income is going well against Budget but there is a long way to go for this season

Henry Howard reported that the GWRT "Sponsor a Sleeper" is doing very well this year with a recent single donation of £10,000!

The Broadway Station planning application is still on hold pending deciding on the location of the toilet block on or off platform

The Operations Manager reported on recommendations by HMRI re safety in the Loco Machine Shop. These will be implemented asap

That's about it so no Volunteer Announcement re the Board this month


MT

And this week?

Some  good time investment.

Met with Danny Scroggins and Neil Carr for further discussion on the new electronic Purchase Order system. We are hoping for a roll out in 3 months

Further discussion by e mail on the potential for GWRT to take on the Winchcombe Railway Museum

Friday went to see the Jerry Lee Lewis Story starring Cheltenham's Peter Gill at the Bacon Theatre  in Cheltenham. Belting  except some of the facts terribly wrong

Spoke with Mark Young who assured that the floor on the Paint Shop will be poured in the coming week plus DP Shed viewing route should be available for Steam Gala given a fair wind

Today met with Richard Johnson of C & W to make certain I understand the challenges they are facing. It comes down to money and time as ever and we must put more resources there. Then went to see the guys at W. Inter alia they were flat out trying to make certain we have a third rake for next Weekend

Went and watched the P Way crew working on the Parlour Road relay at Todd. As ever watching those guys, I felt inadequate.

Nice to see John Broadhurst on BOC duties

Brief chat with Guard HoD Kevin Bartolf

Did Chairman's report for Board next Tuesday which included one unpleasant volunteer problem

Trains looked well populated and not surprising since a beautiful day weather wise

Mundane isn't it?

MT

Working at it

One of the tasks Board new boy Chris Bristow has taken on is to try to improve the appearance of the Railway from a visitor perspective. The most frequent visitor comment we receive relates to what they perceive as wrecks at Todd and W

I well appreciate that most  coaches etc are being held for future renovation or as a spares source but the Board feels it important that we present these as well as possible

That's why for example the Loco Mess Coach is being repainted

I thought you might be interested in what Chris & Co achieved today at Winchcombe

Before and after:

It's 5 o'clock and here are the financial results

We now have the audited Accounts for the year to 31st January 2013.

These will be considered at the Board meeting next week but I thought you might be interested in some snippets

Overall the Railway's Profit & Loss account shows a loss of £105,913

This gives a measure of the battle we've had.

Included in these figures is £838,173 spent on embankment repairs. This is offset by donations and grants of £686,253 and £134,000 from the Bishops Cleve land sale.

The loss in cash terms was offset by shares sales (which don't relate to the P & L Account) of £99,421

On the income side:

Ticket sales were £421,477 (previous year £429,306)

OTC income £107,757 (£87,209)

Santas £100,644 (£86,029)

MT

GWRT Board appointments

Following Fridays Board Meeting the Trust is pleased to announce the following appointments:

Steve Sperring has been co-opted to the Board as Fundraising Director. Steve will oversee and develop all GWRT fundraising activities and work closely with David Mee and David Rowley, who administer our current appeals. He will also work closely with the Development Fund Manager to ensure that fundraising activities do not overlap.

Philip Young has been co-opted to the Board as Recruitment Director. Philip will immediately take over from Glyn Cornish the handling of enquiries and applications from potential volunteers and guide them through Induction to joining the volunteer workforce. He will also develop and implement strategies for attracting both new members and new volunteers to the Railway.

Steve and Philip will offer themselves for formal election by the entire membership at the forthcoming AGM on 27^th June.

The Board is still looking to co-opt a Communication Director, if you are interested in exploring this exciting position further please contact Henry Howard, or Maxine Barton-Hawkins, Company Secretary for a discussion or a job description.

Henry Howard, Chairman, GWRT