It's that time....

[Sybarite]

RNLI 2017 accounts highlights :

All figures are in £m.

Income is up from 197.8 (2016) to 202.4 (2017). In this, legacies increased by 4.6 but donations are down by 1.9.

Operating expenses are down by 1.2 mainly due to a fall in fund raising costs of 4.4

Net gains on investments represent 10.5 compared with 20.6 last year.

Finally actuarial gains on the pension fund total 22.8 compared with a loss last year of 67.9

The net addition for the year to funds is therefore 53.7 bringing the year end funds total to 766.3.

Paid employee costs increased from 75.3 to 80.2

FTE non seasonal headcount increased from 1608 to 1631.

Directors earning more than £60K per year increased from 51 to 54.

The investment directly in completed lifeboats totalled 17.9.

 

[BelleSerene]

So what?

 

[Poecheng]

Well
A) Sybarite is entitled to post it if he wants to. Not everybody wants him to but more surely would not want him to not be able to post a matter of importance to him and others; and
b) Criticism of the RNLI - once a simple no-go to right thinking people - is now centre stage. As another thread has identified, Libby Purves wrote an article in today's Times on the main articles page. She is a very sensible, erudite woman and a dedicated sailor and would have thought long and hard about 'posting' that article.
Some might think that the RNLI does not have too long to mend its ways - a longish time, yes but not too long. It took a very long time to get where they are financially and if they lose the plot.....

 

[zoidberg]

"....54 directors earning ....er, being paid.... more than £60,000 p.a....."

What do they all do?

They do very well from legacies, due in part to their exemplary 'sales team'. One other way in which they generate substantial funds is via their 'Free Wills Service'.

https://rnli.org/support-us/give-money/leave-a-gift-in-your-will/free-wills-service

This excellent idea is used by several charities - we've used it ourselves - and, despite the contemporary concern about 'Snowflake Management', it remains a very good way of achieving a 'Win-Win'.

I recommend readers to have a look.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Another case in todays news a skipper with 34 years service sacked for an unauthorised training exercise.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ears-Royal-National-Lifeboat-Institution.html

As said the RYA are in danger of alienating a large number of those that would donate and leave legacies.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Another case in todays news a skipper with 34 years service sacked for an unauthorised training exercise.

I get the impression that he took a couple of non-crew pals out for a jolly on a training exercise without permission. I doubt that any organisation anywhere would be happy with that.

A recurring them of these news tems seems to be local crews thinking of their lifeboats as their own toys.

 

[Sybarite]

I get the impression that he took a couple of non-crew pals out for a jolly on a training exercise without permission. I doubt that any organisation anywhere would be happy with that.

A recurring them of these news tems seems to be local crews thinking of their lifeboats as their own toys.

In defense he claims that he was often instructed to take out charity donors.

 

[Caer Urfa]

interesting post as a long standing member and supporter for the RNLI I like many of us will have had the RNLI lottery tickets to sell which I have no problem with.

BUT I do have a problem with so called pen pushing 'so called managers' many who have probably not even served on a lifeboat, plus after reading the sacking of a very
experienced skipper with over 34 years experience may just have ended my fund raising efforts for next year.

 

[JumbleDuck]

In defense he claims that he was often instructed to take out charity donors.

Instructed to do is one thing. Taking a couple of mates out without authorisation is quite another. A bit like the difference between towing in a vessel while tasked by the CG and launching on your own authority to save a mate the cost of a commercial tow into harbour.

 

[BelleSerene]

I do have a problem with so called pen pushing 'so called managers' many who have probably not even served on a lifeboat, plus after reading the sacking of a very
experienced skipper with over 34 years experience may just have ended my fund raising efforts for next year.

Which part of this behaviour do you consider is even remotely OK? Why would it not be entirely appropriate for managers to discipline it? You're employed to drive lifeboats, you take one out to give some people a jolly, you leave its crew behind and you don't tell the CG that the asset is now unavailable for rescue duties?

https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2018/april/13/statement-regarding-former-scarborough-coxswain

When the CG calls the RNLI out to save your life, would you be content to be told that someone had taken the boat out for some fun but they'd ask him to return to his station, pick up his crew and put to sea when he was ready?!

 

[Kurrawong_Kid]

The 3 extra “directors” paid more than £60000 a year having to justify their existence? Discipline a long standing crew member, others resign in sympathy. Plenty of work arranging application forms, volunteer (job) descriptions, interviews, training etc. Justifies their position.
The tradition of many of the seafaring fishing communities was self reliance, initiative and courage, not compliance with rules, regulations and beaucracy. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the troubles are at Whitby, Scarborough and Arbroath (still) with fishing fleets); or perhaps a particular area manager?

 

[JumbleDuck]

The tradition of many of the seafaring fishing communities was self reliance, initiative and courage, not compliance with rules, regulations and beaucracy.

How many of them run their own lifeboats? I know about St Abbs.

 

[Caer Urfa]

Which part of this behaviour do you consider is even remotely OK? Why would it not be entirely appropriate for managers to discipline it? You're employed to drive lifeboats, you take one out to give some people a jolly, you leave its crew behind and you don't tell the CG that the asset is now unavailable for rescue duties?

https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2018/april/13/statement-regarding-former-scarborough-coxswain

When the CG calls the RNLI out to save your life, would you be content to be told that someone had taken the boat out for some fun but they'd ask him to return to his station, pick up his crew and put to sea when he was ready?!

I am 100% sure that any lifeboat Coxswain of 34 years experiance would never put any lives at risk, and he did not take a couple of mates out for a so called jolly but was rewarding some long standing fund raisers
with a quick trip, even if he did do wrong is that an excuse to totally sack him,sorry give me a good experienced Coxswain anyday.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Another case in todays news a skipper with 34 years service sacked for an unauthorised training exercise.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ears-Royal-National-Lifeboat-Institution.html

As said the RYA are in danger of alienating a large number of those that would donate and leave legacies.

RYA? I think you’re getting your nautical organisations mixed up

 

[Fr J Hackett]

RYA? I think you’re getting your nautical organisations mixed up

Don't know where that came from but obviously meant RNLI.

 

[Boreades]

I wonder how many of our YBW inmates are actually volunteers for the RNLI? Or in fact any of the major charities in the UK?

The lifeboat skipper might well have done wrong. But should he have just got a reprimand? Or even a written warning? By dismissing him, the "senior management" have sent a chilling message to all their volunteers that will loose them a huge amount of goodwill that might never be recovered.

Within my own circle of family and friends, there have been volunteers for several well-known charities, some for several decades. Like Oxfam, WI, Meals On Wheels, and some hospices.

In every case, there has been a slow-but-sure shift from an organisation whose main aim was always something like "Caring For Others In Need" to something much more corporate, with a plush head office, and loads of "senior managers" being paid "competitive salaries", often £60K+

The general public, putting their cash into the collecting boxes, often have no idea how little of their donations actually pays for the "front-line" services, and how much is increasingly spent at HQ.

There's a petition to reinstate the coxswain here:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/reinstate-scarborough-rnli-coxswain-tom-clark

 

[JumbleDuck]

I am 100% sure that any lifeboat Coxswain of 34 years experiance would never put any lives at risk, and he did not take a couple of mates out for a so called jolly but was rewarding some long standing fund raisers with a quick trip ...

The RNLI says does not say that they were fundraisers and does say that he put lives at risk. Are you saying that you know better or that they are lying?

... even if he did do wrong is that an excuse to totally sack him,sorry give me a good experienced Coxswain anyday.

A good experienced coxswain isn't much use if the lifeboat is unavailable because he has taken his mates out for a joyride. A friend of mine is a retained firefighter here and I am pretty sure would face sanctions if she gave me an unofficial trip in the fire engine.

The lifeboat skipper might well have done wrong. But should he have just got a reprimand? Or even a written warning? By dismissing him, the "senior management" have sent a chilling message to all their volunteers that ...

Lifeboats are not their personal toys?

In every case, there has been a slow-but-sure shift from an organisation whose main aim was always something like "Caring For Others In Need" to something much more corporate, with a plush head office, and loads of "senior managers" being paid "competitive salaries", often £60K+

I agree completely. The balance between altruism and commercialism is difficult to get right, and many large charities seem to be managed by people for whom it's just a business which can use guilt as a marketing tool and doesn't have to bother about shareholder oversight. On the other hand, there are many charities which are run very well indeed. I hear nothing but good about Water Aid, for example.

Disclaimer: I have worked as a paid (seconded) CEO for a small educational charity and also run a small educational non-profit which I founded myself.

The general public, putting their cash into the collecting boxes, often have no idea how little of their donations actually pays for the "front-line" services, and how much is increasingly spent at HQ.

And in the case of RNLI donors, they probably don't realise how much goes towards providing a free RAC service for yachtsmen who can't be bothered to service their engines and how much goes on giving the coxswain's friends trip round Scarborough ...

There's a petition to reinstate the coxswain here:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/reinstate-scarborough-rnli-coxswain-tom-clark

Blimey. What a torrent of words. His case is not helped by saying (I paraphrase) "They say the launch was unauthorised but I told everyone who came along that we were going to go". That suggests a fairly shakey grip on the concept of "authorisation".

 

[steve yates]

Well
A) Sybarite is entitled to post it if he wants to. Not everybody wants him to but more surely would not want him to not be able to post a matter of importance to him and others; and
b) Criticism of the RNLI - once a simple no-go to right thinking people - is now centre stage. As another thread has identified, Libby Purves wrote an article in today's Times on the main articles page. She is a very sensible, erudite woman and a dedicated sailor and would have thought long and hard about 'posting' that article.
Some might think that the RNLI does not have too long to mend its ways - a longish time, yes but not too long. It took a very long time to get where they are financially and if they lose the plot.....

which thread please? I can't find it.

 

[Poecheng]

which thread please? I can't find it.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?500024-Libby-Purvis-rant

 

[zoidberg]

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?500024-Libby-Purvis-rant

There was a 'failure of understanding' somewhere, and the full text of Libby Purves' article in The Times Online - complete with attributions - was deleted hereabouts on stated grounds of 'Breach of Copyright'. One didn't query the thought processes that led to that ( of course not! ) but it was confirmed definitively by relevant staff at 'The Times - Licensing' that they considered no breach of copyright had occurred - they had included symbols for 'Sharing' the article in social media - and, for the avoidance of confusion, that they 'granted consent' for re-publication provided the publisher ( The Times ) and the author ( Libby Purves ) were both attributed. Further, YBW.com Editor Stef Bottinelli has agreed/consented/encouraged that a URL link to the article be posted, so that those interested may read it.

"In a unique and precious service, common sense and respect for tough, practical heroes must outweigh modern prissiness"

clicky...

Should that not work for anyone, I'd be pleased to provide the full text by PM, if wanted.

Libby Purves is, as most will know, an accomplished and widely respected broadcaster and journalist. She is certainly no stranger to the 'YBW' empire, having contributed a valued monthly column to Yachting Monthly for yonks. Her common-sense views on this and other 'boaty' topics are worth a wide airing.