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apollo

apollo

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Some interesting reading can be found here...

http://www.atyc.co.uk/default.asp?m=library

ATYC guys are spending a lot of their spare time meeting with the EA and writing it all up for us to keep up to date with whats happening.

There does seem to me to be a lot of delay on responses to items due to EA reorganisation. Lets hope the latest reorg is the last and they get on with the job now.

Some references to "article in MBM this month" giving negative press so maybe its rattled a few cages...
 
Maybe thats their plan, bore us into submission with reorganizations, R.T.A and other new committees and other waffle until we all give up.

I still say they could lose one of the top levels of management and nobody would notice (and they would save a fortune)...
 
I was not referring to one side or the other - in fact I could say that both sides time and energy could have been better spent.

This argument will never be won because it has no beginning and no end. There are no shareholders or commercial pressures to demand improved performance. There is not enough money to achieve major change nor are salaries high enough to attract movers and shakers. Government is too engrossed with much more serious issues than a few boaters on the river. Yes, serious flood affecting peoples homes will grab attention but you or I complaining over a bit of dredging and 10% on licence fees, no chance.

On the other hand Le Boat and some others seem to have increased boat hire traffic this year and MDL and Benson are presumably seeing some increased income from that. A good example of astute operators finding new ways to use the river 'as it is'

Better hope they are not too successful or there will be more boats competing for what mooring space there is - let's face it , less boats on the river is an advantage to those of us that stick with it.

What have I learnt this year ? Try and get out during the week, much quieter and easier to find a spot - and find a spot on Friday and its yours on Saturday as well if you play your cards right.
 
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My favorite section was the recruitment of the new director from.....the health service and that she was to be taken out on a boat to view the river..

I wonder if the job advert included "must have absolutely no connection or qualification related to rivers or inland waterways..."

Funniest thing I have read all week.
 
apollo said:
My favorite section was the recruitment of the new director from.....the health service and that she was to be taken out on a boat to view the river..

I wonder if the job advert included "must have absolutely no connection or qualification related to rivers or inland waterways..."

Funniest thing I have read all week.
Click to expand...

Sometimes having a clear mind does help as the person is not biased towards one area over the others, often experience in a completly different field can be used to effect.

Possible the EA needs lots of bandages or is it just a bed pan?????
 
apollo said:
My favorite section was the recruitment of the new director from.....the health service and that she was to be taken out on a boat to view the river..

I wonder if the job advert included "must have absolutely no connection or qualification related to rivers or inland waterways..."

Funniest thing I have read all week.
Click to expand...

The EA are mugs. Their Advertising Agency should have told them to advertise the job solely in the appropriate yachting press. The cost for all magazines combined would still be less than one advert in a National. The advert would then have reached the right market.
Of course it may be that the EA didn't use an advertising agency. In which case they should be reprimanded for gross stupidity, the expertise exists and it's free.
 
byron said:
The EA are mugs. Their Advertising Agency should have told them to advertise the job solely in the appropriate yachting press.
Click to expand...

Here we go again, I'm not sure we even know what job it is that Apollo is referring to, and I have so far been unable to find the reference he refers to. I very much doubt that, if its a Directors position, it directly carries any line management responsibility for the Thames. The EA is much bigger than our little area of interest.
 
Text from the TUGN minutes...

Chris Poupard advised that Ruth Hall (EA Main Board Director) is too assuming responsibility for navigation.

1. It was understood that she has worked for a health agency but would not have been appointed unless she had the necessary qualifications.

2. It is expected that she would be taken afloat on the Thames with Lady Warner very shortly by EA.

:- From "despair of buckinghamshire"
 
apollo said:
Text from the TUGN minutes...
Click to expand...

Ah, so that was in a different document to the one you referred to in this thread?? Gee....thanks Mike :D

Do you really think an EA main board director would be employed on the basis of 'must have' river/navigation experience?

Think I might give up posting on here soon....we seem to ignore any need for accurate information and informed discussion in favour of emotional punch-ups
 
boatone said:
Ah, so that was in a different document to the one you referred to in this thread?? Gee....thanks Mike :D
Click to expand...

I rather assumed that all the documents on there would be of interest not just the first one you came to...

boatone said:
Do you really think an EA main board director would be employed on the basis of 'must have' river/navigation experience?
Click to expand...

Well I had hoped that it would not have been for wearing the right school tie?

boatone said:
....we seem to ignore any need for accurate information and informed discussion in favour of emotional punch-ups
Click to expand...
I think thats unfair, seems pretty accurate to me.

"Emotional" - nah just seriously depressed.

Just for a change it would be nice to see them make a good decision, but like you close to giving up.
 
>>>
Do you really think an EA main board director would be employed on the basis of 'must have' river/navigation experience?
>>>
No I don't. Not "must have" but "experience of would be of material relevance" could be appropriate. Even directors get areas of focus, so hard luck us if the appointee is targeted on flood and sewage issues in the Midlands:-)
 
Andrew_Fanner said:
>>>
Do you really think an EA main board director would be employed on the basis of 'must have' river/navigation experience?
>>>
No I don't. Not "must have" but "experience of would be of material relevance" could be appropriate. Even directors get areas of focus, so hard luck us if the appointee is targeted on flood and sewage issues in the Midlands:-)
Click to expand...

Agreed - but I suspect the reality is that the key qualifications called for would be more to do with administrative experience of large public organisations than any front end experience of any one particular area of operations.

Fact is, we dont really know what that particular job entails or how it was recruited so all meaningless conjecture really.

Now, if we had some declared Service Level Agreement setting out what the EA Thames Region is required to actually do/achieve it would be much easier for us boaty folk to challenge what goes on.
 
Keep up the good work Boatone

boatone said:
Think I might give up posting on here soon....we seem to ignore any need for accurate information and informed discussion in favour of emotional punch-ups
Click to expand...

For goodness sake don't do that. I for one really appreciate your measured, common sense and realistic approach to these issues.
 
Seems her background is quite clearly in the medical proffesion.


Prof. Ruth Hall
Significant interests included:
South West Region Director, Health Protection Agency.
Member of Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee, National Institute or Clinical Excellence (NICE).
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health.
Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and of the Royal Institute of Public Health.
Visiting Chair in Public Health at the University of the West of England.
Founder Member of the Environment & Health Section, European Union Public Health Association (EUPHA).
Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Freedom of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London.
Former appointments include:
Chief Medical Officer for Wales.
Council Member, Medical Research Council.
Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety.
Member of the National Anthrax Advisory Committee.
Member of Wanless (NHS) Advisory Board.
Executive Director (Public Health) of Clwyd and subsequently North Wales Health Authorities.
Medical Officer of Environmental Health and Proper officer of six local authorities.
Co-founder and secretary, the Welsh Collaboration of Health & Environment.
 
Thats quite a list....

...of positions/accomplishments/achievements......

When I see someones CV that well occupied I often wonder how much they actually retained or acquired of detailed experience in any one role.

Bet she can't make a cottage pie or do Fray Bentos with Veg on a boat hob :D
 
boatone said:
She is listed as a main board director with no specific area of responsibility.

If you would like to while away an hour or two this chart will show you just how wide ranging the EA is and how insignificant the Thames is:

http://publications.environment-agency.gov.uk/pdf/GEHO0409BPRW-E-E.pdf
Click to expand...

I guess me and others tend to be blinkered. I certainly never think of EA in any other terms than the river. Which is wrong and your post Tony is a well deserved slap on the wrist for me.
 
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