MEETING OF SENRUG COMMITTEE, 11.02.08
Present: Dennis Fancett, (Chair), John Earl (Secretary), Ken Allott, Trevor Watson, Colin Patmore, Adrian King, Ronald Hunt, John Brierley.
Minutes agreed.
Dennis – thanks to Adrian for alerting us to the grant possibilities for the ABT trip, and for steering us through it. Dennis had called the committee as soon as he knew that we had the grant, but was hoping it was not premature as he had not yet heard from Northern about the arrangements. He reiterated that we had asked for three trips around the system, preferred route Morpeth-Newcastle-Ashington-Choppington-Morpeth. Have allowed six hours, which means that the train crews can do it without needing a statutory break. Trevor felt that if any layover time was necessary however, they could use the siding at Morpeth. Suggested times 9a.m., 10.30 and 12.00 ( the first one was for visiting dignitaries primarily). Timing will be tight, and the contingency was that they would do two trips if they could not do three. We have agreed to use the Wansbeck logo.
Booking Process. Adrian wondered whether the papers would help with free publicity. Calculated 160 tickets per train. Some discussion about reservations, and on the whole we thought this would be a good idea, but Dennis would need to ask Northern about a seating plan. Trevor – what if, as sometimes happens, the tour has to be cancelled due to track problems or anything? Dennis – failsafe is taking addresses for all tickets. Colin offered to process tickets, and would provide his address for postal orders – after some discussion we also agreed that it would be a good idea to have outlets in towns on the route. John would try Morpeth, Colin would try Ashington, and Dennis Bedlington. Ronald agreed to have the tickets printed, and suggested different coloured card for different trains to save confusion. Agreed we needed volunteers on the train doors to make sure people do not get on the wrong train and to answer questions. We needed to make clear that tickets are Morpeth-Morpeth. People may board at other stations, but the seats would only be to Morpeth, where the train would start and finish.
Extended discussion on pricing ended with a vote – £6 for adult, £4 for children.
Name of train: Ashington Future.
VIP train –would have a trolley service (provided kindly by Northern). Who to invite? Dennis would find out Wansbeck wards to ask councillors. Then there was the Northumberland County Council, Blyth, Morpeth, Bedlington, MP`s, Senntri, NE Assembly, GONE, Nexus, and possibly Tom Harris of the DfT. Also Wansbeck Hospital, Woodhorn Museum, Northumberland College, and the press. Q. Does Wansbeck have an official photographer?
Publicity – we were going to produce a colour leaflet to hand out on the day, with a map of the whole line and commentary on points of interest. We would use the Graphics firm who had done the exhibition map so well for free. Some discussion of what we wanted on it. Did we want to say anything about the opening phases for the future? Richard agreed to design tickets and posters. Adrian mentioned that we could get into In Touch magazine, which went to every house in Wansbeck.
Peripherals – Ronald asked could we have a colliery band playing at Ashington to add to the event? People thought it would be a good idea if it could be arranged. Ronald would look into it. Volunteers to steward asked for, and the committee agreed to provide these – Ronald kindly volunteered to produce name badges.
Other concerns. Welcome expressed for news that Morpeth was on DfT list for level access, but some doubt as to a timetable – some thought the money was for a feasibility study only, and that the project itself might be a long time coming. We agreed to keep a watching brief, anyway. Some discussion of National Express timetable proposals –some felt this was positive, allowing for earlier meetings in London, others not. Trevor thought that the earlier train left a big gap between 7 and 8 o`clock, then there was a CrossCountry train five minutes later. Could Northern or CrossCountry fill the gap? Dennis asked for more information on National Express, and wondered whether the kind of meeting that had just been held at Alnmouth RUG was the sort of thing we should be doing – all three rail companies at a question and answer session. John Brierley, who had been there, said initially he had thought so, but on reflection the floor had been dominated by some points that the assembled company could not really throw much light on, which led to some expertise on the panel being under-used, and he felt that in some ways the discussion was unbalanced. We agreed that it was a format we could look at in the longer term, but that on the whole at present it was more important for us to establish a proper relationship with the companies who were only now just becoming established, which meant giving them a single platform and answering questions on their own behalf. However, John did feel that there were lessons for us from the format of the meeting, e.g. the care taken to get names and addresses at the door of people who might join the membership later. Agreed to follow this up.
Date of next meeting. We agreed to defer arranging this until we had heard back from Northern about dates for the ABT trip, when there would be further details to discuss.
John Earl, Secretary, March 2008
