Here’s a CART “catch up” with regards to proceedings – or lack of them. Call it a comparison as to where “they’re at” now as opposed to where they were before April. Aside from the big fanfare about gaining charitable status, all’s gone quiet & nothing’s changed…
- We were originally informed (via BW) that the start of CART would be the first of April. Of all the days in the annual calendar it had to be April Fools day…
- Then we were told 6th June.
- Now it’s “sometime in June.”
Bet it’s not…
The biggest delay is the “Transfer Order” from BW to CART, which still has to be ratified by Parliament. [Terms & conditions apply] Until then, even though CART is now an official charity with Prince Charlie as patron, it remains tied up in red tape…
Meantime BW still hold the keys to all the locks & (all hail) Tony Hales is still promoting himself to the media as both Chairman of BW & Chair of CART…
And a recent, poorly informed report in Towpath Talk headed “High calibre nine chosen to protect waterway heritage,” claims Robin Evans is now, quote: “Chief Executive of The Canal & River Trust…”
I mean when they announced April Fools Day as the start date, (& we’d all stopped laughing) it came & went as predicted. In hindsight I find it hard to believe none of them had thought about:
- The legalities involved before announcing a date.
- Or how long it would take to wade through all that before making an announcement about anything.
- Or did they just not know about it till they came across each obstacle as they fumbled along…? Thereby giving “Dear Tony” plenty of time to proclaim himself as GOD of the canal system…
Then there was the “election” of independent boating representatives, which also turned out as predicted. A complete whitewash of the same old organisational representatives taking the seats. An “authoritarian” takeover by the IWA, who come in a poor second to the same people responsible for cocking up the system in the first place…
What a farce,, so far they’ve shown us what? Incompetence, bias, & a complete disregard for the boating community…
Basically, for the foreseeable future of the canal system only time will tell, & who knows when CART will actually START?
I’m a positive person, & really hope it works once “Dear Tony Hales” has buggered off. But given the facts thus far, I can’t see it at all…
Some advice to the trustees: If, in your opinion gaining more interest from the general public for funding is what it’s all about. (Certainly appears to be). Then get local councils “on board” to arrange events on the canals in their area. Target any areas that up to now haven’t been particularly interested, it’s beneficial to them & you…
Every town that has a canal nearby should be included in your promotion, in order to give the canal system a higher priority amidst the general public. Big task,, big ask,, but don’t be relying on those same people to clean up the towpaths before you’ve engaged enthusiasm…
7 comments:
I'm not related or a personal friend of Tony Hale but I recently spent a long weekend with plenty of people who have previously worked with Tony and know him socially and there was very genuine warmth and affection for his efforts at work and him as a person. It's always worth remembering not everything you read and hear is all that makes a person!
Jane
Why don't you give us, poor Tony and the IWA a break.
Peter Ormerod
Hi Jane & Peter,
This blog post includes my own satirical opinion based on the facts.
The factual content above cannot be denied. Tony Hales is responsible as "chair" & has consequently lost all credibility.
How nice he is as a person has nothing to do with poor work performance & results.
H
I agree with Heth,
If Tony Hales was such a nice, caring person he would've invested his bonus back into the canal system.
He's worse than a banker, paid himself out of our licence fees, did nothing to improve our canals except pose for the odd photograph with 3 or 4 people. (Who'd done all the back breaking work themselves.)
And we're supposed to trust & respect him???
Give US a break
Chris
With ref to it being the media's fault for getting his status wrong. In general it involves about 3 canal boating magazines who should know better. He must find out about this but does nothing to inform them otherwise.
Perhaps he should get his PA to contact them & correct his status. Let's face it she can't have much else to do. If they were calling him anything less than an executive they'd soon be told.
Chris
Well said Chris,
And the longer he stays on as a BW exec, he's still getting paid a big fat salary. With a bonus relative to as long as the transfer takes. No wonder he's taking his time with arranging the transfer process.
Can't do a good job of that, but he's doing a dam good job for himself..
H
TH is so far up his own arse he can't see anything else.
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