The Board held its sixth Board meeting for calendar year 2019 on Tuesday 1 October.
The focus of this meeting was finalising the preparations associated with our forthcoming Annual General Meeting.
AGM 2019 planning
The Board reviewed and approved the following AGM agenda items for voting on by members including:
the Life Membership nominations as ranked by the Life Membership Nominations Review Group.
the recommendations by the Collections & Curatorial Committee for deaccessioning a number of THNSW Collection items in accordance with our Collection Policy
The Board also approved the:
Notice of AGM, Ballot Form, and Proxy Form for mail out to voting members; and
THNSW Financial Statements for FY 2018-19 as presented by THNSW’s Auditor.
A first draft of the Annual Report for FY 2018-19 was circulated to the Board for review, ahead of the final being subject to the Board’s approval at its next end-October meeting. The full THNSW 2018-19 Annual Report, including the audited financial statements, will be available on the THNSW website by no later than 1 November 2019.
All eligible to vote members should have now received the Notice of AGM, ballot paper and proxy forms by postal mail and supporting information papers are also available on the THNSW AGM 2019 page.
Board’s Charter review
The Board has determined to review its Charter to confirm that our purpose and values are aligned to the new Strategic Plan (released in July).
As part of the review, the Board is keen to explore opportunities to improve the organisation’s culture and behaviours. As part of this process, the Board will be conducting a workshop with The Ethics Centre following the AGM.
Future electric rolling stock acquisitions
Transport for NSW (TfNSW) are currently planning the future retirement of C, K and V sets. As subject matter experts, THNSW was asked to make its recommendations to TfNSW on what should be retained for the NSW State-owned Collection. Our THNSW Collections & Curatorial Committee has recommended no C or K sets be retained, however that a four-car interurban V set be set aside for future heritage operations and one trailer car for static display.
The recommendations were endorsed by the Board and will be submitted to TfNSW who will make a final decision on the future of these sets in the near future.
Locomotive 3801
The Board received an update on progress of this project and congratulated everyone on the successful static steam test on 14 September. The next major milestone is to achieve its ‘boiler ticket’ which is expected to take place in the 2nd half of October. Further updates on the Locomotive 3801 project are available at the Locomotive 3801 project page.
Member Information Forum
Over 70 members attended the member information forum, including Chullora site visit, on Sunday 29 September. Board members enjoyed meeting with many members at this event. Feedback received indicated that members appreciated the opportunity to hear from some of the candidates for election, view the Heritage Hub and see the progress on Locomotive 3801 first-hand.
Our next and final member information forum for 2019 will be held in conjunction with the AGM at the NSW Rail Museum at Thirlmere on Saturday 30 November. I look forward to seeing many of you there.
Rob Mason
Chair