Page 4 - March April 2015

President’s Car
The year has started with a bang. Although we did not have our Winter Meet at Benson this year, we have had one at Northampton where we also had a BOD Meeting (more of both later). I have also been to a meet of my local group at a member’s home in the Medway Towns when he entertained 22 of us between his lounge and his layout in the garage. I also visited the Bearwood Group in February where an even larger number of members attended their monthly meet at the Bearwood Community Centre. You get the impression from them both that Groups are on the up and up. That is a great sign and very encouraging. I hope to get to many more Group meets across the Region during the course of the year. I have promised to drop in on Western Union and Red Dragons; more will be planned.
At the Spring Meet at Weston in April there will also be a meeting with the Region’s officers and Group representatives in order to share thoughts and ideas on how we can improve what we offer our members. Although things might seem very rosy around the Groups there is one area that all Groups should consider – what happens when things do not go well. It was reported to me in January that a group of four railway modellers, not NMRA members, had got together to build a layout and each chipped in with equal amounts of cash to buy all they needed for it; they owned the resulting layout jointly and equally. One of those members subsequently wanted to leave the group – the reasons are irrelevant. He asked the other three members to refund him his share of investment in the project but they refused. He took legal action to recover what he saw as a debt.
Rumour has it that he won his case; another rumour is that he lost. In some respects it does not matter who won for the purposes of this tale. The only winners were the solicitors who charged fees for taking the appropriate offensive or defensive action. The point is, what documentation do you have to support the position you believe you are in? This is only a personal view, but it may become a formal recommendation from the BOD. It makes sense, at least to me, for any Group to have a constitution that sets out, simply, what the objects of the group are, what officers there shall be, how the assets of the Group are held and what happens if the Group is disbanded. It lessens the scope for a disaffected member to make a claim against the Group or its officers or individuals over matters arising from the Group’s activities. It does not guarantee there will never be legal action taken or threatened, but it does improve your chances of agreeing a large proportion of the facts. In most cases you will need a constitution if you want to open a bank account.
Informality is great as, of itself, it poses no obligations on anybody, but it can come at a price. We do hope that there is never such an instance as one member making a claim against his group of friends, but being prepared through a simple constitution may help mitigate the effects were it to happen.
I do hope that attending the two Region Meets this year will also be a time to meet up with members who are not in Groups to find out what they get from membership and what more they would like. I have always been in a group, so it is hard to imagine what benefits a member derives when he does not get involved in a Group. There are some members who join and ask for no contact and give no
Mike Arnold
phone details or e-mail address. I would like to hear particularly from them so that we can better understand what their expectations of member- ship are and how we can better serve their needs. My door is, metaphori- cally, always open.
The Northampton Meet
was, I thought, a great
success, especially if you
wanted to watch trains
running, to be inspired by
some superb modelling and had some money to spend. Well done, Nobby and team. It was a time to catch up too with members from all points of the compass, from Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, East Anglia, East Midlands, West Midlands, London and the Home Counties, Kent, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon (and points in between). Whilst I do not have numbers, I could see it was well attended.
At the BOD Meeting we agreed that three more Certificates of Appreciation should be given: Nobby Clarke for arranging so many meets and conventions for our enjoyment; Richard Maxwell for his leadership of Bearwood D&H Group and his support for Region events down the years; and Ron Gager for his unstinting assistance to Mike Hughes on marketing and his attendance on the Region stand at many events across the South over the past three years. Without volunteers like these and all the others we would be the poorer. Thank you and well done.
We have been advised of an offer to re-establish the Region Library. A member has volunteered to be Region Librarian once he retires. It will be located in the East Midlands, so very central. We will post more information about this later in the year when he has provided us with information on how he will wish to operate it.
There are also indications that there are three groups wishing to hold Region Meets in 2016. Whilst it might appear to be competition for two slots, Winter and Spring, there is no reason why we could not hold three, or four or . . . and who remembers Summer Meets? We could have a Winter Meet, Early and Late Spring Meets and a Summer Meet perhaps? Gavin Fry as Meets Officer is juggling the possibilities and will report back in due course.
In contrast, we have received no proposals yet to host a 2016 Convention but we are looking into a number of possibilities including setting up a core team of experienced organisers to mentor and assist any Group of members who might want to give it a try. However, if you are thinking of putting on a convention, please do not be put off by our thinking and please let us know your plans. No convention just happens – it needs volunteers to do it.
Finally, with the meeting of Region Officers at Weston coming up and thoughts about recognising a number of special interest groups (SIGs), there is much scope for members to share ideas, thoughts and suggestions. Expect more, much more, next time. In the meantime, enjoy the hobby the best you can.
4 ROUNDHOUSE