The next general meeting of TravelWatch SouthWest takes place in Taunton on 7th October 2017. These general meetings are the coming together of a representative from each public transport and specialist user and campaigning groups and individuals, together with key rail industry, political and government (local and central) people - to help us network and keep each other informed.
With over a hundred people at each of these (twice a year) meetings, each representing a distinctly different group of viewpoint, it's an immensely valuable opportunity to learn, network, and take co-ordination between groups forward. User / community attendees get a rare chance to listen to and talk with industry and governmental gurus in a logical, realistic and pragmatic way, and to look at (or start looking at) current issues and future directions in a way that's going to forward everybody's objectives in a sustainable way.
I initially attended
TWSW» -
http://travelwatchsouthwest.org - early in the days of "Save the Train" when our objective was to ensure continued train service to an "appropriate" level on the Swindon to Westbury line via Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge. Lessons learned and contacts made via TWSW played no small part in helping us plan the way forward, and start conversations with key players; we're not competing with other lines / services for passengers (we might be for rolling stock - we've managed to get just ONE coach so far!) and we're all very much a part of the same travelling network, so the degree of help and information available has to be seen to be believed!
More recently, I was invited to join the board of TWSW, and I'm proud to be there; there's just under 10 of us, volunteers with paid part-time secretarial support. Each board member has very different backgrounds indeed and I have to admit I feel very much under-educated and under-experienced in many/most areas compared to my colleagues on there. But then, I guess that they're not quite so happy in some of the spheres / things I naturally do.
The following is - as yet - my personal attempt to capture what TWSW is about in a montage of images. Each reflects an element of TWSW member's interest subjects. Note people travelling features strongly - not any prevalence of one mode over another, nor any specific technical interest in the class of train, the colour it's painted, or pretty scenes as buses pass through.
Comments / thoughts from forum members here very welcome as to whether I have the balance right, and whether I've missed anything or indeed included anything I shouldn't have. TWSW is very much member lead - and there's a wide view of "member" in that we welcome newcomers / new groups with open arms, even where they're not formal groupings. Indeed - get in touch with me, or with the TWSW secretary (via the group web page) if you're in a group (even a group of 1) that isn't yet represented.
Suggestion - in discussing the pictures, please help me and others by referring by row (1 to 5) and column (A to F). If you "view image" on your browser from any individual picture, you'll see it much larger. And if the whole thing is ugly on your viewing device, there's a single montage copy at
http://www.wellho.net/pix/twsw_montage_1.jpg .
Although I'm specifically concerned with TransWilts in my headline role away from TWSW, our board members leave most of the specifics at the door and take a much more general approach to groups and travel right across the South West. Definition of "South West" is Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Dorset and counties west thereof - as far as the Scilly Isles. Travel is about place to place, so there's no hard border as you head east or north and indeed you'll spot (I think) three pictures in my montage taken in counties outside our "South West".
Speakers in October include Giles Fearnley, M.D., First Bus; Mike Watson, Regional Director England & Wales, Stagecoach; Nigel Blackler, Service Director Transport and Infrastrucutre at Cornwall Council. The March 2017 had a strong rail bias; October's going to have a counterbalance towards buses, but that won't stop there being an awful lot of value for rail groups.
