Fancy Being a Volunteer?

TrueBlue

Well-known member
Joined
30 Apr 2004
Messages
4,476
Location
Sussex
Visit site
Don't get me wrong, I support the volunteer option, yes it makes economic sense to exploit willing, enthusiastic people with time on their hands. All I am stating is how things used be, it seems there are a diminishing amount of people (and many thousands of others that don't use the media of this forum to express their views) that remember how well things used to be run on the Thames when things were busy, don't forget there have been other serious economic slumps in history during boaters living memory, (including mine!!!!!) The four day week of the 1970s, the 1980s with over 4 million unemployed, the market crash of the 1990s and the Thames still managed to weather these storms, and still keep the family Jewels (lock Houses, dedicated staff etc) I thought we were supposed to learn from history. It would be interesting to know how budgets were once spent in previous economic decline and compare them to today.[/QUOTE]

Running a serious risk of being taken to task (again...) for probable historic inaccuracies :)o :eek: ), my interpretation is that when the River was managed by an organisation whose sole task was to run the Thames - The Thames Conservancy. Being a "local" enterprise it was able to focus on getting local support and its funding was local as well.

Then it got gobbled up by
Thames Water who was gobbled up by
The National Rivers Authority who was gobbled up by
The Environment Agency who was gobbled up by
DEFRA

Thus it is a very tiny part of an huge organisation with many, many layers of management and "our needs" are insignificant in the scheme of things. I'm not attacking what the local EA team are doing (per se), just pointing out that they are well down the pecking order..

I hesitate to say this, but I wonder whether the transfer to CART might not be a bad thing; it might have more scope to raise funds than EA do.
However, seeing that the BW takeover is to be hugely underfunded (getting half what they need just to keep the infrastructure running) - so perhaps not......
 

boatone

Well-known member
Joined
29 Jul 2001
Messages
12,845
Location
Just a few cables from Boulters Lock
www.tmba.org.uk
Here's a radical idea....... how about apprenticeships for lock keepers ?

Maybe funding from the Department for Work and Pensions could be forthcoming for such an enterprising approach ?

On the other hand, long term employment prospects might not be too appealing..... :(
 
Last edited:

mlines

Active member
Joined
31 Aug 2009
Messages
2,038
Location
Finchampstead, Wokingham, Berks
www.sportsboat.org.uk
I got an answer from EA about why you had to be 18.

It is all around the craziness surrounding the non-alignment of age classifications.

This is a summary of their answer:

At 16 you can leave school and work.
Under 18 you are a "child" and the legal aspects of Child Protection apply.

Anyone working with someone under the age of 18 has to be cleared (CRB etc.) to work with children.

Therefore EA believe that anyone under 18 has to never be left unattended and always accompanied by a certified adult. Therefore they cannot be in the volunteer scheme as it becomes too difficult to administer However they do put these measures in place for ther under 18 employees.


So EA have perhaps over interpreted what is a silly law anyway. Its not silly in that children need protecting, its silly in the age it has set for the limit - 18 and its misalignment with the other factors of 16 and 17.

At 16, you can work, get married and have children...but you are classed as a child by EA and have to be accompanied by a certified adult at all times.

Do Driving Instructors have to have CRB clearance, after all a significant number of their pupils will be 17?

Martin
 

boatone

Well-known member
Joined
29 Jul 2001
Messages
12,845
Location
Just a few cables from Boulters Lock
www.tmba.org.uk
Do Driving Instructors have to have CRB clearance, after all a significant number of their pupils will be 17?

I believe they do.

Bear in mind that your son is offering to work part time as a volunteer and that opportunity arises because the agency are short staffed and need to find some way of providing us boaters with a better lock service. It doesn't make sense to negate the saving by having to get lock staff crb checked for what is mainly an occasional part time requirement.

The real problem here is not of the EA's making - well, not the Reading crew. They have to abide by the law, even if it is an ass.
 
Top