Date set for West Somerset Railway Association extraordinary general meeting

The WSRA has been in turmoil following a report from an Independent Expert Panel stating that all six members on the board of trustees should step down with immediate effect.

But following little action the WSRA reform group managed to get 400 members to sign a petition calling for an extraordinary general meeting.

It looked at one point as though the WSRA were reluctant to hold the meeting, but this week a date has been set, and the eGM will take place on Saturday, February 27 at Crowcombe Village Hall at 11am.

Members of the reform group are encouraging those who cannot attend in person to fill in a proxy form to register their vote on the recommendations in the Coombes report.

If the resolutions are passed by members, the current trustees David Williams, Peter Chidzey, Michael Thomas, Nick Nicholls, Ian Aldridge, Nigel Bruce-Robertson and Paul Johnston will be removed from their positions with immediate effect.

Within two weeks applications will be taken and up to eight people will be chosen as temporary trustees until the group's 2016 AGM.

The criticisms the reform group have of the six trustees include failing to hold the voting process properly at meetings, expulsion of members for asking legitimate questions and selling WSRA shares in locomotive 4160 without consulting the membership.

Earlier this week Susan Kaufman, the WSRA Company Secretary has resigned her post for personal reasons.

According to the WSRA Reform Group website the six original WSRA Trustees met informally on Tuesday without inviting acting chairman Frank Courtney and trustee Michael Rowe.

The statement on the reform group website reads:"They decided to revoke Frank Courtney's position as chairman, and to suspend both Frank and Michael as trustees. They have appointed Ian Aldridge as chairman and Paul Johnson as vice chairman. These actions have no legitimacy since the meeting was not properly convened as a trustee meeting."