Bugler
I appreciate that you are a member and full of gung-ho for this to succeed and want to fight in their corner But to clarify a couple of points.
The name was a shoo-in at the first AGM. Brian openly said he had canvassed by phone members this choice ( iwouldn't be surprised if it was his idea) This is an action that is if not illegal,is certainly frowned upon by the Charities commission. However i do not think it had been registered as a charity at the time, (2012 IIRC) and during the AGM any attempt to put forward other names was shouted down
There was not an opportunity for members, who for whatever reason, could not attend,and therefore could not voice their opinion, or offer alternatives. So On the say so of an unknown number of members,the sole suggestion by the Chairman was agreed.
In fact When i said we should approach Buckingham Palace, as NO engine had been named that and that with the Jubilee coming up would be a great PR coup, one chap behind me said, and i quote ' Why name it that? It isnt in East Anglia' A rather myopic and sad retort seeing as several of the original class were named after places outwith of Norfolk,Suffolk and Essex. I realised then that there would not be much of catchment area if that was the limit of their fund raising. Even now there are only three groups in Swedieland Cambridge,Southend, Norfolk and Suffolk, and North Midlands being the 'foreigner'
Despite that attitude i did take up the plea for people to assist and offer help at that AGM, and put my name down to do talks in the south and west of the country to raise the profile, and to take some of the workload off Brian doing it on his own. Unlike the A1 group who had several regional speakers who regularly got updated slides and information so they all spoke the same thing. Rather like the Yeoman Warders at the Tower who give exactly the same talk word for word.
Despite being promised to be contacted in 2-3 weeks I never heard a thing. and so after 12 months decided that they didn't want any help. and stopped donating. It took Brian months to phone and ask why i had cancelled my standing order.
Looking at upcoming speakers of the regional RCTS groups Brian is still the sole talk giver on the project, and also the sole point of contact shown on the Website. What impression does this give out? Even the AGM minutes just gives the names of the trustees and apart from guessing who is the Treasurer and Secretary,only the Archivist is noted. No other posts/contacts at all.
Check out the P2 loco website to see the plethora of contacts on there
I notice that on the P2 webpage that 7 years after launching the project they have hit 2.5m and that is with the vast resources and goodwill built up from the A1 project. They still need another 2.5m and are looking at a completion date of 2021. 800k per year,realistic? possibly.
And finally the 75k pa is still a pipe dream, however it may occur next year judging by the last three accounts of the B17 groups income
2016 46k
2017 49k
2018 60k
The cash in hand , and i am not an accountant, seems to total 300k with the tangible assets ( frames etc?) at 100k So after 7 years it is running at just 50k average
Put the estimated build cost at upwards of 3m ( Tornado cost that 10 years ago) and even giving a generous increase in donations etc at 15% pa they are looking at a project completion date of 2035 at the earliest.
I wish the group well in this dream and i for one will be delighted to see a B!7 in steam once again, but as i have already said, it will be my grandchildren who will then be in their 30's witnessing it and not me.
I appreciate the request to rejoin, but i respectfully decline your invitation
Kind Regards