Railfuture Severnside - evening meeting, 4th June 2020, Westbury

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Thursday  4th  June  in  Whitehorse  meeting  room,  Westbury  station,  6.30  pm  with  guest  speaker  Paul  Johnson.

[grahame]

Thursday  4th  June  in  Whitehorse  meeting  room,  Westbury  station,  6.30  pm  with  guest  speaker  Paul  Johnson.

As one of the very few (meeting) diary dates in our diary before the summer, I dropped a note to our Railfuture branch secretary to get an update, and to add my own apologies already - "... and (sorry, [name1]) I'm not travelling at present and in likelihood would send my apologies ..."

For members younger, fitter, braver than me ... no decision yet on the meeting.   I would hope it would be able to go ahead online; certainly the existing venue would be difficult is current social distancing rules are applied to it.

Graham,

After the lockdown review later this week, I'll discuss with [name2] and [name3] whether the meeting on 4th June is viable.

[name1]

[bobm]

An issue might be the readiness of the White Horse meeting room.   The structural work was almost complete by mid-March but there is still a small amount to do.  It is thought some of that can be done by one person so distancing would not be an issue but then fixtures and fittings need delivering.

[ChrisB]

THe pub will be shut until at least July 4th, according to Boris's timetable.

[grahame]

THe pub will be shut until at least July 4th, according to Boris's timetable.

Yes ... but original plan to meet in pub got changed by Branch Committee and TransWilts Board to be a meeting in their (TransWilts) new White Horse Room on the platform.   

I think chance of it going ahead there is virtually zero but have been asked to wait until a decision is made which will be sometime after Boris's Sunday talk ... so should be in the offing. I hope the delayed decision means that John, Nigel, David, Paul and Sophie are going to pull an online rabbit out of the bag rather and want to have that ready when they make the "not at the White Horse Room" announcement.

[grahame]

Meeting cancelled for 4th June.  Branch secretary writes:

The 4th June meeting has now been cancelled. In due course, probably after the next lockdown review, I will negotiate a new date ....

[grahame]

Thursday  4th  June  in  White Horse  meeting  room,  Westbury  station,  6.30  pm  with  guest  speaker  Paul  Johnson.

The meeting - as you will see upthread - has been cancelled. Zero surprise bearing in mind the Coronavirus issues.   However, work on the new room has been completed ...



... and details are posted on the TransWilts site at ...

https://transwilts.org/2020/05/28/new-transwilts-westbury-white-horse-crp-room-book-now/

We are delighted to announce the completion of our new Westbury White Horse Room located at Westbury station.

This is a community based room open to bookings and we are very pleased with the end result. Please see before and after pictures attached.

Our concept and aims for this project were to transform the disused room within the grade 2 listed building to work both as a community space and a workable office area whilst being sympathetic to the station heritage.

Westbury is an ideal location for meetings used by Community Rail Partnerships, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)/Train Operating Company staff, local groups/establishments and schools. We hope that this room will strengthen the relationship between community rail, local authorities, CRPs^▸ (Community Rail Partnership), Wiltshire Council, SWLEP, station adoption groups, schools and bring stations back in to the heart of the community.

The sustainable benefits to the community include; local and affordable meeting room facilities. The room delivers benefits to local people, such as through local volunteering, community events and we have aspirations to use the space as an Education Training Center.  We hope to strengthen our partnerships with schools, community groups, other Train Operating Companies, Wiltshire groups and organisations. This collaboration with the rail industry and others will help to deliver improvements to the community and assist in overcoming challenges, helping to build trust and confidence back in to public transport.

[grahame]

The "White Horse Room" features in the new TransWilts Community Rail triple-fold leaflet.    Also sections on "What is community rail?" and "Want to get involved?"

https://transwilts.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Community-Rail-Information-Leaflet-FINAL-June-2020.pdf