Trust Triad in Third Sector pact with BW

British Waterways has announced its move into the 'third sector' and piloting the craft on this very doubtful journey will be the The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust Triad made up of of absentee Chairman, David Rees, General Manager, Mike Rodd and their 'blagging-blogger', former BW employee, Terry Kemp who between them continue to steer the Trust into ever deeper financial chaos.

Speaking from his bunker in deepest Devon, Chaiman Rees said: "A key feature will be the drive to attract more volunteers to the canal. We can achieve this by offering new opportunities and demonstrating that it's worth getting involved because there is a real chance to make a difference".

This man has no knowledge or interest in the K and A — or canals in general and in the few months that he has been Chairman he has already overseen the abandoning of the 'volunteer model' in two of the Trust's tea rooms which they now let out to the highest bidder because they could not run them at a profit with unpaid volunteers as staff.

You have to ask the question that if the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust cannot run a tea room at a profit — what chance is there of them running a waterway successfully? The fact is that the only volunteers they can get are those that want to play on trip boats or with the two pumping stations and they manage to succeed despite the interference of the Trust administrators in Devizes.

The new trip boat, The Kenavon Venture, that unlike the Trust's other three boats, has to operate within interfering distance of Mike Rodd and is not attracting very many paying passengers has, in the short time they have been running the boat, already managed to overheat the engine which has made major repair work necessary.

As with other major changes at the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, the membership will not be consulted — and this unelected and unrepresentative Triad will make fundamental changes to the role of this Charity and the membership will be presented with a fait accompli.

Unelected — surely not! Well the fact is that none of these three are elected members of the K and A Canal Trust Council. Mike Rodd is a paid member of staff, David Rees was parachuted in to become the new Chairman without any reference to the membership and he was co-opted on to Trust Council and immediately made Chairman. He will not actually be an elected member of Trust Council until the Trust AGM.

Terry Kemp's is a very interesting case because he resigned from being a Trustee at the beginning of this year — so that he could do two months paid work on a 'volunteering strategy' for the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust — and then — surprise, surprise he was co-opted back on to Trust Council immediately the paid work came to an end. I am reliably informed that this is not inline with the spirit of the Trust's constitution that specifically excludes Trustees from being paid for work for the Trust. But then this is not the only area where the Triad, presumably with the support of the rest of Trust Council, pay scant regard to the K and A Canal Trust contstitution ... of which more later.

K&A Canal Trust - not very enterprising

K&A Canal Trust Enterprise - a sad, sad journey into financial ruin

Although the K&A Canal Trust are still advertising on their website for volunteers for their cafes - the truth is that they do not need volunteers for the cafes because they have already let their cafes to commercial operators.

So incompetent is "Enterprise Ltd" - the trading arm of the K&A Canal Trust - that they cannot make a profit with a staff of unpaid volunteers. So they have let the cafes to commercial operators - who they describe as commercial partners. One can only assume they have done this to 'get round' restrictive lease agreements that preclude sub-letting.

So both the Trust Cafe on Newbury Wharf and the Bradford on Avon Wharf Cafe are being run by commercial firms who have no connection with the K&A Canal Trust and the K&A Canal Trust is now planning to allow a commercial business to open up a cafe in the upstairs rooms of the K&A Canal Trust office building on the Wharf in Devizes.

This is particularly interesting because the K&A Canal Trust does not, at the moment, have a lease agreement on the building.

They did, in the past, have an agreement with the now departed Kennet District Council (who themselves sub-let the premises from WCC) for them to be used for 'recreational and allied' purposes).

There is no record of the K&A Canal Trust negotiating a new lease agreement with Wiltshire Council - so one would have to assume that the same restrictions exist on use of the premises — and they will continue until Wiltshire Council and the K&A Cannel Trust negotiate a new lease agreement. Any plans to sublet space in the building would have to form part of a new lease agreement for the building - an agreement that yhey do no have at the moment.

There a question mark over the validity of the agreements that the K&A Canal Trust have entered into at BOA Wharf and Newbury Wharf with commercial operators As far is BOA is concerned it it believed that BW are the landlords and - as we are rapidly moving to the situation where BW and the K&A Canal Trust are one and the same - it probably does not matter - even if the existing agreement precludes sub-letting.

As far as Newbury is concerned the landlord is probably West Berks Council - but it could possibly be Newbury Town Council - anyway it is highly unlikely that it was the intention of the council that they would want to let the building at a peppercorn rent for charitable use - for that charity to then let it out to the highest bidder to a commercial operator.

There is much more to this sorry saga - of which - more later...

Canal Trust cash crisis

The latest issue of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust magazine, The Butty, is now on the news stands and it paints a desperately sorry picture of its Council's ability to organise itself and the Trust's finances.

The magazine reports that before Christmas they sacked the office manager in a desperate attempt to balance the books and they set up a committee who's sole aim it would seem was to get rid of The Butty (a magazine enjoyed and respected by users of the canal) to further this desperate quest to save money.

A committee was formed chaired by unelected Trustee, retired hack, Charles Reiss, diminutive general manager, Mike Rodd a paid member of staff and Terry Kemp, who's risible ramblings on his Vodafone blog are bemusing all who can be bothered to read it.

This terrible trio produced a report that managed to insult and alienate Trust members and Reiss justified their refusal to consult with Trust members by saying that the committee had decided what they were going to do and so any consultation with members would have been as he said, 'at best a pretence'.

So if you are a member of the K and A Canal Trust take note - the people on your Trust Council don't actually care what you think. They want your money but they don't want your opinion. Do not make the mistake of thinking that there is even the 'pretence' of democracy in the K&A Canal Trust.

Not many members of the K&A Canal Trust know that they now have a new chairman. Not before time some will say. But what a very, very strange choice they have made for this vital position.

After ousting the last chairman, Brian Poulton, a couple of years ago with a vote of no confidence they were unable to find a replacement from within their own ranks. An extremely well 'spun' story in the national press said that it was a deliberate decision to run the Trust without a Chairman but it seems clear that they were unable to find someone from within their own ranks who was able to take over the job - how sad is that?

After looking around for two years or so they finally found someone to take on the role — they parachuted in David Rees. I am reliably informed that he lives in Devon and he has absolutely no interest in the K&A Canal or any other canal for that matter.

So you would have to ask what his motivation is in taking on the Chairmanship of the K&A Canal Trust and why the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust Council is so desperate to get someone to take on the job with such a background.

I am looking into this man's background and connections and I will let you know what I find out. It all seems very odd.