Peter Lawrence was elected chairman of RDS with 697 votes, beating David Redgewell who received 226 votes.
Thank you for your support and confidence in electing me as RDS chairman. I look forward to a constructive 12 months with your co-operation and assistance.
Communications have concerned me for some time and I would welcome any views which can help RDS to improve the situation.
We cannot do without the branch newsletter but information in some newsletters can be out of date by the time it reaches members because of issues having moved on. In August 1999 the East Anglian branch, as an experiment, produced an electronic news bulletin, commencing with just 10 members. Each of the members received an email which contained snippets of information about the week’s rail happenings and any associated news which had relevance to rail.
Today, 38 issues later (roughly one week intervals) and covering some 273 individual items, the electronic news bulletin is received by 35 branch members and the number of recipients is set to increase. This news service is not intended to replace the normal branch newsletter but rather as a supplement.
Getting rail news to members more quickly is the object. As a bonus, 10 of the 14 branch committee members are also connected to email which has speeded up decision making and saved telephone calls and the cost of postage and stationery.
Email can of course be ridiculously cheap. Thirty five weekly newsletters for the price of one phone call. A big saving on postage! How is your branch communicating? Does your branch have a web site? I would welcome views, news and comments on how to improve communications between the branch and members. Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Peter Lawrence, 75 Marl Pit Lane, Norwich NR5 8XN Tel: 01603 743446 (any time before 21.00 hrs)
Email: peter.lawrence@paston.co.uk
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