Council Report - 3 September 2005

Wharf redevelopment seems to be stimulating visitor numbers and spending. Up to Friday 2 September passenger bookings were up by 5% (public +6.8%, members -3.1%), but expected traffic revenue was up 16.1% reflecting in part an increase in round trip ticket sales and earlier invoicing of the Rotary Club for Race The Train, public catering takings up by 36% (a whopping 79% at Wharf and 9.6% at Abergynolwyn), and shop takings up by 7%.

Volunteer catering takings are down by 9.7%. A working group appointed by Council has proposed that volunteer prices be set at 60% of the public price on most items, which in general will cover the cost of the materials and make a small contribution towards other costs. A formal proposal will be put to the October Council meeting. Whilst on catering, from 1 October Ed Lund our current Catering Manager will become Facilities Manager for Wharf New Building, Abergynolwyn and Dolgoch but will retain certain catering responsibilities especially for special events catering, with Lesly Hunter becoming Catering Manager. Council sent its best wishes to Lesly for her new responsibilities and its grateful thanks to Ed for all the hard work he has put in during the last 15 years. Applications have been submitted for licences for Wharf and Abergynolwyn refreshment rooms.

Wharf cafe, shop and Museum will be open each day for 4 hours until Christmas. This will be advertised to hotels and coach operators and monitored to see whether it is viable. We do not intend to open during January 2006 (apart from the 1st & the 2nd when we will be running trains)..

New railway safety regulations come into force on 19 October and instructions are being prepared for controllers on reporting certain types of accident. The annual health and safety audit will be taking place on 19 September, but we are concerned that formal reports have not been received for the last two audits - these are required to show that we are going through the process. A first aid course is to be held for staff and it was suggested that Museum attendants and regular volunteers be invited to attend.

From next February, disabled passengers will be charged full fare instead of the roughly 10% off senior fare, but carers will only pay half fare. Council also agreed with one abstention that all trains should become non-smoking from a date to be decided by Management with volunteers to be requested to comply with the decision. An offer by Dale Coton to replace or refurbish the Dolgoch Station finger boards with bilingual wording was accepted, whilst the August Bank Holiday Monday Duncans Special Day will be moved to the previous Thursday in the hope this will attract more visitors, who tend to be going home on the Monday. Suggestions were also made that the Wharf Booking Office window be modified or provided with a mini-amplifier to make it easier for booking clerks to converse with their customers. Still on Traffic matters, the nomination of Ian Grayston as a signalling inspector has been accepted.

Council agreed that the AGM collection will be for improvements to Abergynolwyn playground.

On the engineering side, winter workshop priorities were agreed, and the Outdoor Foreman reported that almost a mile of fishplates had been oiled over the August Bank Holiday weekend - however more help is urgently needed for this unglamorous but essential task.

Traditionally the Boards of Talyllyn Holdings Ltd and the Talyllyn Railway Company have met four times a year just before the December, February/March, May/June and August/September Council meetings. It was suggested that it would be preferable for the Boards to meet after Council meetings so that better account could be taken of the views of Council. Also, with the world becoming more complex, four meetings a year may prove inadequate in future. It was also suggested that the Shop and Catering Managers should be invited to attend Council in the way that the Engineering and Traffic Managers already do, but this proposal was lost on a vote.

Finally we still need a Society Publicity Officer - this is now becoming urgent with a requirement to reprint the membership leaflet if the AGM approves changes to subscription rates.

Philip Sayers
6 September 2005