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Innkeeper

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  • Occupation
    Sales Director/Gen Sec NABO
  • Boat Name
    Elysium
  • Boat Location
    Rufford Arm, L&L

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Gongoozler

Gongoozler (1/12)

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  1. I am very encouraged that at some point during this evening the comments become balanced and quite sensible - well done! We are very conscious that there are many things about our attempts at publicity that can improve and some of the more sensible ones aired here in the past few days will be looked at and hopefully acted upon. I would however just like to say that most of the critism we seem to be getting is from non members who seem to have long term grievances and much of the comments that have been made about how we have run ourselves for the past 21 years are a bit unfair. Pretty much all we do is actually fully available to members including minutes of meetings at any time. I receive an average of a dozen communications from members through the web site every week on a variety of subjects but as has been muted before we are all doing this as enthusiasts and there are only so many hours per week that we can give to it! I also feel that casual readers of the topic will have been bemused by some of the silly stuff between a very limited number of contributors, its certainly one reason why I dont feel inclined to get involved with comment happy that as I am directly involved and know the facts we are as democratic as we can be, as dedicated as we can be and a pretty good cross section of Boat Owners to boot. We do have the ear of the powers that be and do our best to represent as many views as we can from boat owners. Oh and we do carry out various surveys of our members both on ,line and by questionnaires, to make sure what we say has a consensus. Oh, a couple of other things that have been aired - I must admit, when I moved from a member to be getting more involved I found the use of the term Council a bit odd but thats what the people who formed NABO decided 21 years ago so thats what we are - think it might have been to distinguish themselves from IWA Trustees for it was a breakaway from there at the time I think. Anyway does it really matter except to those that want to have a bit of a sly dig? So at our meeting this weekend all those of you who are not members will be happy to know that some of the sensible comments aired here in the past few days will be discussed and are on the agenda and like everything else the decisions made will be communicated on the site and in the next newsletter. Sadly though not here unless it is deemed we need our PR person and he or she decides to come here. Also on the agenda will be the annoying announcement on the Lee and Stort moorings policy which appears to have been done without any consultation, Visitor Mooring policies in general and our reaction to all Consultees being ignored on the subject of licence charges, in particular the hideous imbalance for short term licenses. We will continue to discuss our "Ultra Vires" actions and receive reports from members who have attended various meetings concerning the direction the NWC will take, how the hell the new Trustees expect the system to be run on the limited funding models being proposed and with the reliance on volunteering from a very sceptical boating fraternity. And yes, just in case anyone reads this that doesn't know, I am this years Hon Gen Sec of NABO!
  2. Just thought that those that have been reading this thread might like to know that the webmaster for NABO has taken a well deserved few days off to celebrate a rather special birthday. Sods law that the site has had a problem on the membership form and a couple of other links - something to do with the software we use and the contact needed to update and amend. As I receive all applications for new members that chose to join on line I can confirm that this is only a problem in the last few days and will be put right. In defence of the webmaster I would also ask that those who seem intent on picking out faults stand back a little as only six months ago the site was no more than a dozen pages, with hardly anything available, even to members. The task of putting quite vast amounts of archive material onto the site for members has nearly been done - another labour of volunteering love. We should have had our constitution available to all and we slipped up on this - thank you for those that wanted it - its now there. Some of the other comments I have read here have been fair and we will address them - not on here I am afraid - but where they should be discussed - at our Council meetings. We are very aware that we need to present ourselves better and to a wider audience but again must run out the old mantra - there are just not enough of us with the time to do everything - we don't have any staff like the IWA who employ a full time Press Manager for example. So its all down to the ten to fifteen people who attend meetings, handle countless consultations, seek members views and report back to them - all on a voluntary basis. We will do our best in the coming months to perhaps tell the story of what what we have achieved over the years - it was enough to persuade me to join a few years back. As somebody said earlier in this thread its pretty easy these days, and of course everyones right, to comment and say what they want, thats free speech. However some of these comments are pretty hurtful if for no other reason they seem to be uninformed much of the time, or just a bit of mischief perhaps? We will be discussing the feedback we have had from this forum at our Council meeting on Saturday and review how we go about things in terms of communication - this will include the possible appointment of a member to ensure any views or policies are better communicated. However, frankly its impossible to have the time to spend on here or the other forums and carry out the tasks we assume when joining Council so I am sorry if some contributors (Chris Pink nags me all the time!) don't feel we are responding - would love to have some banter but other things to do! Oh, and just to clear something up. As I am currently the custodian of all our records going back to 1991 when NABO was formed I am in a position to inform those that might be interested that The Constitution had a small makeover in 1993 but is largely unchanged since the original. Its not a Club -as someone seemed to suggest - its an Association that tries to represent boat owners on inland waterways which are National. The present membership number including its associates is very slightly less than at the turn of the century but has never been huge (as again someone has intimated in this thread)and despite efforts year after year at promotion remains around the same. The feedback we do get seems to indicate that those that join are pretty happy with the efforts we make, we are resigned to the fact that the vast majority of boat owners are not very active on "the issues" and in the main will number all those we see in marinas who perhaps only cruise for a few weeks at best every year. I have only ever received correspondence from a couple of members leaving while commenting that they don't agree with policy, the majority of leavers tend to be people who have left boating either due to age or due to the ever rising costs. (There are some who just don't communicate of course without telling us why but we do seem to have kept at a pretty even level over the past few years). So thats a load of words for some of you to pick to pieces as thats the nature of forums it seems but hopefully readers who don't comment much will hopefully see we are a hard working bunch who have been prepared to try and do a bit as honestly as we can. Oh and just so everyone knows I am the present (3 years) General Secretary and like pretty much everyone else had to be arm twisted into taking the role. Fortunately we get a lot of good will and thanks for what we are trying to do - but try explaining that to the missus!
  3. Help is needed on a special challenge that takes place on Saturday 11th September at Castlefield Basin in Manchester. A quite inspiring man, Justin Hansen, together with some friends, will be kayaking from Manchester to Perivale on the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union in aid of his project Gutless Kayaking. You see, Justin has no guts but plenty of them! Check out www.gutlesskayaking.com for a bit more information but Justin is doing this challenge to raise funds for the hospital that treated him and to raise awareness of its work in the fields of intestinal disease, bowel cancer, Crohns, colitis and in particular to inspire sufferers to make more of their lives following treatment. Justin has to be feed intravenously for 20 hours per day but fulfills a full and very active life! Richard Carpenter, General Secretary of the National Association of Boat Owners and Trevor Roberts, Chair of the Community Boats Association are providing boats and crew to assist the three week trip down the Bridgewater, Trent and Mersey, Fazeley, Coventry, Oxford and Grand Union Route. Crews will be made up of candidates from the Dream Achievers project in Bradford that aims to provide new challenges for young and disadvantaged people. Help we need is to follow our progress on the gutless web site and the NABO webs sites (www.nabo.org.uk) , and if we are passing through your stretch perhaps a bit of locking or more important a contribution to feeding the rest of the group - about 8 people on average four crew and three or four support kayakers - (sadly Justin himself has to watch us eat - cruel arent we?) bake us a cake perhaps, do us a hotpot. Its a great way for the canal community to help - the fund raising is being done elsewhere. Let Richard know if you might help - he's on the nabo address as is the full itinerary and approximate timetable.
  4. National Association of Boat Owners www.nabo.org.uk The National Association of Boat Owners is dedicated to promoting the interests of private boaters on Britain's canals, rivers and lakes, so that their voice can be heard when decisions are being made which might affect their boating. Its Council includes specialists in BSS, continuous cruising, ownerships, rivers, live-aboards and NABO is represented at all National and Regional User Group levels and on all BW and EA consultative committees and forums. Contact : Richard Carpenter, General Secretary
  5. Good rant John and hard to disagree. The reason NABO undertook the survey I have explained above, (and perhaps because we had a chance of reaching a good number). The advice we are getting however is that instead of worrying, as you quite rightly say, about this forum and the canal world in general we need to somehow reach all those that basically dont care at the moment. The General Public each of whom will have their own issue. Hence headlines about a possible catastrophe if maintainance is not done - rather than how much harder it is to work a paddle in Huddersfield! Oh and it was 370 specific to BW Water - there were a further 88 on non BW waters.
  6. Two separate PR agencies - one a boater - advised on this - at worst a response of this size will give a real indication of general views and weight to an argument.
  7. The survey was instigated following general comments made by boat owners and users that the oft repeated mantra by Robin Evans that “the network is now in better shape than at any time in decades." was not generally accepted by this section of its users. NABO felt that a properly thought through set of open questions that basically asked boaters who quite apart from normal taxation also actually pay for the use of their waterways, might be useful. This was publicised not only by NABO but by TBA, RBOA, IWA, DBA and via SOW as well as the Waterways press. Of the responses 38% were NABO members, 26% belonged to RBOA and 45% to the IWA. 23% of the replies came from boaters outside the core 5 invitee groups - interesting that more than half of all responses were from people who were members of at least one other group. So the aim was to try and elicit a response from boating users about their experience during the last boating season. It goes without saying that any survey will generally get response from those who are perhaps more "keen" and we all know that numbers and percentages published can often be interpreted how the reader wishes to interpret. What is undeniable is that there are enough responses to give at least a debate to the claims made by RE and that prior to its publication initiatives have begun with and by BW on a local basis all over the country to discuss repair priorities with boating users. Whilst sceptical that they will deliver, its a start! None of the detail is hidden on this - the complete surveys reports for BW and other Agency's waters (all 150 plus pages) can be found at http://www.nabo.org.uk/current/survey.htm My own personal take is that cosmetically the canals have looked in reasonable shape this year. However paint and cut grass at points where other users might see it do not hide (for long) the broken assets and serious potential for collapse seen when travelling on its waters. Interesting that EA in particular have done a better job on this user group.
  8. John my dictionary defines a survey as "to take a general or comprehensive view of or appraise, as a situation, area of study, etc." and a questionnaire as "A form containing a set of questions, especially one addressed to a statistically significant number of subjects as a way of gathering information for a survey." So the answer is one and the same! And the responses were from a range of organisations I believe less than 50% were NABO. (Sure that will get updated officially bfore the day is out!)
  9. Think john was a bit disappointed he hadn't had time to publicly thank all respondents himself - the report hit the web page before the official press release went out - Alan passed on the thanks! John has lived with this for the past months and a lot of midnight oil burned during that time! On the subject of the responses - NABO did check with specialists who indicated that a survey response of this size (and the figures quoted above were only the one from BW Waters) is very good as a guide - Mori and the like do less than a thousand people to give voting intentions from the whole population? I sat last week with one Waterway Manager who showed me a list of more than 7,900 repairs, faults on her (clue) canals alone. Mr Evans keeps telling us the system is better than its ever been - we all know its very dodgy in fact!
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