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Peter's Waterways Blog
This is to invite all IWA members to support me in the Trustees' 2019 election. I have been proposed by (alphabetically): Chris Howes - Trustee Helen Whitehouse - Trustee Paul Strudwick - Trustee and Deputy National Chairman Follow my tweets @peterjohnscott for expansion and further details of the topics here. Details on completing the ballot will be in the Autumn edition of Waterways which is delivered to all members. |
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Strategy Let’s use 2020 to improve our campaigning, better engage with our members, and modernise our organisation. Campaigning I have been a trustee since 2009 and I’m best at our navigation campaigns. Each year Elaine and I add at least a thousand canalling miles across almost all the connected system, to the forty thousand miles we have navigated since 1970. We need more, and younger, people to enthuse similarly about their own navigation; and the Navigation Authorities need to focus more on supporting them in completing their journeys, within the time that their work commitments allow. Canal closures and restrictions, however temporary, disrupt and deter those we most need to care about the Inland Waterways for the future. |
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Engaging with our Members As IWA approaches our 75th birthday, many of our members are achieving a similar milestone. While many of us may therefore have declining energies for volunteering, we need to encourage and value a continuing involvement with IWA decisions, and better engage with our members’ accumulated expertise. Let’s concentrate on sharing this with all those new and younger members we need to recruit for our centenary in 2046. We need to show why it’s worth joining a large and vibrant Association, with relevant help and expertise available to new members: modern media can provide the tools if we can find the enthusiasm. It’s not always easy; my own modest tweets are through @peterjohnscott and contributions to doing it better are always welcome. |
| Modernising the Organisation It is the trustees, elected by the members, who are accountable for everything the IWA does. During the last turbulent year we have used a lot of energy in making and unmaking decisions, and recovering from other unnecessary distractions. The trustees elect a National Chairman each year, and for 2020 we should concentrate on having confidence in discharging the leadership role alongside the necessary competences of guiding us towards decisions, preferably by consensus, and ensuring we all know what we are deciding to do. |
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It was on my proposal in 2013 that we limited trustees to twelve years in the job, and this has contributed to us having some new volunteers: it also means that this is the last time that I will be seeking election to the trustee board, and I invite your support for this old-hand in bringing continuity and continued enthusiasm alongside those with new and different expertise. Any comments to peter.scott@waterways.org.uk Thank You. Peter Scott Sheffield |