Voting opens for the CRT council reps

[CDS]

Does anyone know what is happening regarding the Black single mum who apparently has been

overlooked,it would be good to perhaps offer her some support and solidarity,in fact does it not

call the whole process into question?I know of course she was trying to represent a different sector

so to speak.Has there been any canvassing of CRT to see what they intend to do if anything?Is the

Electoral Commision involved?please excuse my ignorance.

Edited November 21, 2015 by CDS

[CDS]

I can't agree. A genuinely good candidate would work with boaters outside of the occassional meetings to build a consensus of opinion on matters which affect us all. A good candidate would be travelling the country and using their council position to set-up and engage with boating groups. What boaters lack right now is a unified voice A good candidate would be using their own time to find the common ground so that a unified voice could be found.

 

If that person then went to council meeting, armed with the backing of boaters and boating groups from across the country, CRT would be much more likely to listen.

 

There is only one candidate that I can see who has even mentioned an intention to engage with individual boaters and suggested (vaguely) a mechanism for doing so. That's Stella Ridgeway.

 

Since the last lot of council elections (4 years ago?) I've had no direct contact with any boating rep whatsoever. Judging by the candidates we have this time, I don't see that changing.

Just wanted to bump this up,I think most of us would agree with the first paragraph.

[alan_fincher]

I quite agree.

 

So now we have a long statement that does not tell us what the candidate stands for...but I cant vote for him.

 

The boating candidates that I can vote for I still know virtually nothing about apart from the 2 that have made comment in this thread.

 

This shambles does not encourage me to vote at all.

 

Well if you are interested there is much you can do to unravel at least some of the other better known candidates............

 

Try either of the following search terms in Google, for instance......

 

"Phil Prettyman" boater

 

or

 

"Vaughan Welch" boater

 

and you will learn quite a lot about at least these two. Maybe try replacing "boater" with something different like (say) CRT, and so on.

 

It isn't hard.

 

Depending upon how you view the world Googling for Vaughan Welch should pretty rapidly make up your mind whether he is worth a vote or not. (In my view he most certainly is not, because even if you ignore the rubbish he has previously spouted, I have yet to see any evidence that he did anything useful in his current term of office as a Boater representative.)

 

If however Googling for some of the other candidates produces almost noting about their involvement in, or views on, boating, you can of course decide why you think that might be......

 

I still don't think I can find 4 I want to vote for.

[alan_fincher]

There is only one candidate that I can see who has even mentioned an intention to engage with individual boaters and suggested (vaguely) a mechanism for doing so. That's Stella Ridgeway.

 

I believe that one thing that has changed since Stella Ridgeway put in her nomination is that she may now have been co-opted to the Council of NABO.

 

(Her nomination only requires declaring roles like this prior to 14th Oct 2015).

 

If I have this correct, then some will think this a good thing, others possibly not.

 

However a quick look at NABOs own site fails to confirm if Stella is now a NABO Council member or not - maybe it is there somewhere but I failed to find it.

 

Perhaps Stella (StarUKKiwi) could confirm one way or the other, please?

 

EDITED: To acknowledge I may have this wrong, as I can not find a single reference to it now!.....

Edited November 21, 2015 by alan_fincher

[jenlyn]

I think these council positions have now become a bit of a non event.

What real value is there to the position? That's what I suspect most are thinking. Hence the disinterest.

I think the candidates are the only ones who think the role has any value, or for that matter importance.

There are only a couple of really knowledgeable boaters standing (one of them sadly being Vaughan Welch).

NABO will now obviously do an IWA, and get a committee member elected, and again we will have no independent representative.

 

All in all, a bit of a farce this time around. Not helped by the quality of some candidate's.

 

I believe that one thing that has changed since Stella Ridgeway put in her nomination is that she may now have been co-opted to the Council of NABO.

 

(Her nomination only requires declaring roles like this prior to 14th Oct 2015).

If I have this correct, then some will think this a good thing, others possibly not.

However a quick look at NABOs own site fails to confirm if Stella is now a NABO Council member or not - maybe it is there somewhere but I failed to find it.

 

Perhaps Stella (StarUKKiwi) could confirm one way or the other, please?

EDITED: To acknowledge I may have this wrong, as I can not find a single reference to it now!.....

Stella was elected to NABO council last Saturday.

[alan_fincher]

There are only a couple of really knowledgeable boaters standing (one of them sadly being Vaughan Welch).

 

Without fully studying the form, I would think that none will actually be more knowledgeable than Phil Prettyman, who has owned the same boat for some 43 years, and is certainly still very active in his use of it.

 

I doubt any of the others come close to that, but, as I say, I have not read them all up yet.

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

As it appears to be being asked for here, so I have attempted to provide a longer

manifesto.

My name is Ian McCarthy and I'm standing as one of the three

candidates for the Volunteer constituency, for the Council of the Canal and

River Trust.

If you had stood as a boater I would have voted for you

[Thorfast]

Surely the candidates should be telling me what they are hoping to achieve, rather than me spending hours googling for snipit of information.

 

I may well decide not to bother voting at all.

[Ian Mac]

In reply to Thorfast's comment, the candidates when elected can do very little. Their main function as I tried to explain earlier is to hold the "Nuclear button", which they can use to dismiss some or all of the trustees. It is the Trustees who hold the power, they set policy, they are the company directors to whom the emplyees report and take there instructions. The Trustees are only accountable to the Council, who place them in this none paid job. The council can offer guidance and perspective to the trustees, however this is only guidance it is not instructions on policy, that is the trustees job. This structure is very similar to both the NT and the RNLI both of which have been trusts for a long time, so it is probably a good tried and test way of doing things, as it disconnects the council from the legal obligations of the trustees. They the trustees are the directors of the company and are held so in law, which means they are personally liable under some legislation such as H&S and finance laws. Should I be elected, I will be attempting to improve the way the trustees and the council work together, whoever because of the required legal seperation between the two bodies this is no simple task. I am no lawer, and I will have to take guidence myself on this legality. I suspect it is very easy to sit in my desk chair and think and write these thing, the reality of the post will I suspect be far hard. I hope I get the opertunity to find out and contribute.

 

Edit to add - please do some research and vote for at least one person, then you have taken part, which as I also previously explained does matter.

Edited November 21, 2015 by Ian Mac

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Does anyone know what is happening regarding the Black single mum who apparently has been

overlooked,it would be good to perhaps offer her some support and solidarity,in fact does it not

call the whole process into question?I know of course she was trying to represent a different sector

so to speak.Has there been any canvassing of CRT to see what they intend to do if anything?Is the

Electoral Commision involved?please excuse my ignorance.

I am not sure 'overlooked' is the correct word.

 

To date CaRT has provided no explanation as to why she should not be appointed unopposed.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Allan(nb Albert)

[jenlyn]

 

Without fully studying the form, I would think that none will actually be more knowledgeable than Phil Prettyman, who has owned the same boat for some 43 years, and is certainly still very active in his use of it.

 

I doubt any of the others come close to that, but, as I say, I have not read them all up yet.

 

 

Is he not the chap you stated a few months ago "hated widebeam craft"?

[roggie]

Roger Stocker here - one of the candidates (see small photo on the left). Tim, yes it was good to speak to you at last weeks London Partnership forum and I'll post some observations in a separate post (don't forget the photos of our boat at Cavalcade - see https://youtu.be/nZ1BpRS-ivI filmed by C4 news). I'm not as negative as some as to what future Council representatives might be able to achieve, certainly they will be limited at the 2 meetings a year but the fact that they are on this body should (might) mean that issues/questions/problems brought up by them to CRT officials are addressed in a acceptable timeframe. One lady I spoke to at last weeks Partnership meeting rows on the Rive Lea near Springfield Marina (Hackney) and has had ongoing problems with some boaters, shall we say, not being aware that this section is often used as a course for racing/training. I remember suggesting that CRT placed warning notices at the 3 nearby locks making boaters aware that the section of river they are about to join could have fast moving rowing boats there and to keep a watch. Not sure what happened to the suggestion but it hasn’t happened. I would hope that representatives on the Council could take this up locally (not just the private boaters rep but whoever represents other sporting users of the waters). I’m sure whatever is done to address these types of issues are repeatable elsewhere on the system so reps reporting back to their ‘constituents’ could address this. Just as important as years of boating experience is the ability to represent the views of, in my case, private boaters and ensure their views are known about internally at CRT – and then feedback in as many ways as possible. It also given council reps a great opportunity to work together outside the meetings.

 

So what do I want to do – represent the views of private boaters, of course you need to know the issues that they think are key, organisations who already ‘represent’ many of these, IWA/NABO/NBTA/AWCC will have their views but there are many private boaters out there who might not want to join one of these organisations (perhaps they have historical views about who they think they represent, mistaken or not). When the 4 people are known I would hope they would contact each other to see how they can best gather the views of as many private boaters as possible – be it via social media/websites/magazine articles/festivals and then work out how they can feedback to those who voted for them. Just doing this via organisations such as the IWA isn’t really enough – good start though. The article in the 2012 AWCC ‘Alert’ was another good way but needs to be a regular feature rather than a one off.

[alan_fincher]

 

Without fully studying the form, I would think that none will actually be more knowledgeable than Phil Prettyman, who has owned the same boat for some 43 years, and is certainly still very active in his use of it.

 

I doubt any of the others come close to that, but, as I say, I have not read them all up yet.

 

 

 

 

Is he not the chap you stated a few months ago "hated widebeam craft"?

 

I can't recall any reason for saying that about Phil Prettyman, but have a vague memory of making such a reference about somebody.

 

Where do you think I said anything like this - I can't find it any mention I have made of Phil on the forum? (Most of my refrences to Prettyman are crediting photos taken by his wife).

[jenlyn]

 

 

 

I can't recall any reason for saying that about Phil Prettyman, but have a vague memory of making such a reference about somebody.

 

Where do you think I said anything like this - I can't find it any mention I have made of Phil on the forum? (Most of my refrences to Prettyman are crediting photos taken by his wife).

I seem to remember you stated this about someone who had recently taken a job somewhere. Am not sure it was him, hence the question mark, but yes, you did make such a statement on this forum.

[alan_fincher]

I seem to remember you stated this about someone who had recently taken a job somewhere. Am not sure it was him, hence the question mark, but yes, you did make such a statement on this forum.

 

I'm not saying I didn't say it about anybody, but I genuinely don't recall who I was referring to. If it was an historic boater, I would expect it to be one of those that regularly boats on broad canals, as I think people like Phil Prettyman seldom have to deal with wide beams on canals they visit most often.

 

I would also imagine a certain hire boat operator is not a fan of them (!), but again, I can't recall naming him either, (although it is perhaps far more likely!).

 

A general Google search for the search term "hates wide beams" doesn't turn up anything posted by me anywhere, so I doubt that is the exact phrase I used if I said something like this, (anywhere).

 

[jenlyn]

 

I'm not saying I didn't say it about anybody, but I genuinely don't recall who I was referring to. If it was an historic boater, I would expect it to be one of those that regularly boats on broad canals, as I think people like Phil Prettyman seldom have to deal with wide beams on canals they visit most often.

 

I would also imagine a certain hire boat operator is not a fan of them (!), but again, I can't recall naming him either, (although it is perhaps far more likely!).

 

A general Google search for the search term "hates wide beams" doesn't turn up anything posted by me anywhere, so I doubt that is the exact phrase I used if I said something like this, (anywhere).

 

It was someone who had been elected to a position this year.

[alan_fincher]

It was someone who had been elected to a position this year.

 

Elected - or put into a non democratically elected role?

 

You have me wondering who it was now (!)- I do believe I made a comment a bit like this about someone.

 

Could it have been one of the new "appointees" to NAG?

[jenlyn]

 

Elected - or put into a non democratically elected role?

 

You have me wondering who it was now (!)- I do believe I made a comment a bit like this about someone.

 

Could it have been one of the new "appointees" to NAG?

Not sure. I can't find it on the search either. Anyway, it's not that important if it was not prettyman.

I didn't want to vote for him if it was he. I just wanted to check with you first.

[alan_fincher]

Not sure. I can't find it on the search either. Anyway, it's not that important if it was not prettyman.

I didn't want to vote for him if it was he. I just wanted to check with you first.

 

I don't think it was Phil Prettyman - I can't imagine why it would be.

 

There are officers within the Historic Narrow Boat Club that I would have reservations about if they were going for this role, but Phil Prettyman is not one of them - given the otherwise generally fairly lacklustre candidate list, he is likely to get my vote, probably knowing far far more about boating and boating issues than any of the others, I think.

 

 

[jenlyn]

 

I don't think it was Phil Prettyman - I can't imagine why it would be.

 

There are officers within the Historic Narrow Boat Club that I would have reservations about if they were going for this role, but Phil Prettyman is not one of them - given the otherwise generally fairly lacklustre candidate list, he is likely to get my vote, probably knowing far far more about boating and boating issues than any of the others, I think.

 

 

Cheers.

[GUMPY]

As I can't make up my mind about most of the candidates anyone want to secure my vote by taking me down the pub and buying beer

 

No you are right I can't take it seriously >.......

[ditchcrawler]

As I can't make up my mind about most of the candidates anyone want to secure my vote by taking me down the pub and buying beer

 

No you are right I can't take it seriously >.......

Now why didn't I think of that, but I think Julian is right, they wont be able to achieve anything, the dice is loaded against them, no mater how hard they try. Its only 2 meetings a year and what is going to be on the table, not the rowers on the river, more likely a presentation or two on how well we have all done, I wish the candidates luck and I am sure their intentions are good but I feel in 4 years time they will look backl and say just one word, Why.

[alan_fincher]

I wish the candidates luck and I am sure their intentions are good but I feel in 4 years time they will look backl and say just one word, Why.

 

Well one presumes Vaughan Welch must thing something useful has come out of his last term of office, or he wouldn't be standing again.

 

He seems in no great hurry to tell us what it is though!

 

He is apparently a forum member who has previously had posts by me taken down because I have named him, so here is his perfect opportunity to update us on his record from his first term in role, and tell us why we should vote for him to serve again!

[ditchcrawler]

 

, and tell us why we should vote for him to serve again!

But I haven't and I have been an IWA member for 20 years, I didn't vote for him last time ether.

[roggie]

Loddon, let me know when you are cruising past Cowley - before 11th December ideally, always happy to share a bottle of Belgium beer or two. I prefer to think of glasses being half full not half empty and you may well be right thinking it's all pointless but there is only one way to find out, doubt it will take 4 years to come to a conclusion. Something tells me that a guy like Allan Leighton wouldn't want some individuals coming out saying it's all a waste of time (40 people on the council so not unlikely), perhaps the same for Tony Hayles. Of course it could by rose tinted glasses.