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I have been co-opted onto the BCNS Council and have been asked by the Council to be Chairman. Because I have not been elected to the Council by the members of the Society, it is appropriate that I should be known as Acting Chairman.
I am 60 years old, married to Caroline and have recently retired after a career as a Biomedical Scientist in the NHS and overseas. My last post was at Russell's Hall Hospital in Dudley. I am a past Chairman of Coombeswood Canal Trust and am currently Honorary Secretary of that Trust. I have been involved with boats, either by hiring, cruising, sailing, racing or building them for about the last 45 years. I came rather late to canals in 1988 and have owned narrow boats since 1991. My current boat is Nelson moored at Hawne Basin. I live in Stourbridge.
I an doing my best to get to grips with how the Society functions, getting to know my fellow Council Members, finding out the Society's obligations under leases, making contact with British Waterways personnel and getting to know BCNS members at our meetings. There's a lot to do but I'm getting an enormous amount of help from my fellow Council Members.
As I am new to the role, I would like to know the views of the members regarding all aspects of the Society. What do you think we should be doing? Are there any projects that you would like us to be concerned with or initiate? Are you happy with the way that the Society is run? Would you like to help with running the Society, not necessarily as a Council Member but perhaps taking over a specific role reporting to a Council Member as required? Please contact me with your views. Contact Graham by Email on :-Graham Whorton
One thing is already clear. In common with many societies, most of the work is carried out by a small number of dedicated volunteers. For the BCNS this amounts to no more than 5% of the members. Because the work is done by such a small number of people, individual workloads can be very high, which in turn may give rise to difficulties in recruitment and retention of volunteers who are willing to serve as Council Members or to help with the work of the Society. If we are to continue to function properly this problem must be addressed. To this end I would like to recruit two new posts:
This person would be responsible for helping to recruit volunteers and would keep a register of those who would be willing to volunteer for various tasks, liaising closely with the Work Party Coordinator, Rally Organiser and Sales Organiser to ensure that there are enough volunteers to enable the Society to carry out its obligations.
This person would be responsible for coordination of all aspects of Health and Safety for the Society, helping with production of risk assessments and helping to ensure that the tasks performed by the Society are carried out in a safe and responsible fashion.