"Steaming Up" - Issue 8 - February / March 2003

Saturday 22nd February 2003

It seemed like it would never come, but as they say, good things come to those who wait! Well, we must have waited well, because Saturday saw the first public steaming of “President” since the autumn of 2000, almost 30 months. As befits such a momentous occasion I thought I would rush out a copy of steaming up for those members who were unable to attend. For those with web access there is another treat – but more of that later.

I will review the seminar day in more detail in due course, but I don’t think the time should pass without a thank you to both David Powell for organising the day and of course to Dave Stott who has been down to Dadford’s at least three times a week for the last four or five weeks.

There are some important changes to the way we operate detailed in this issue, please read this item carefully. This year will be a wonderful FoP year and I look forward to seeing you out on the cut.

I have been able to take the website to a new level and include a few short movies, or at least Malcolm Nixon has. They also include sound. The thought behind this was to allow members who could not make Saturday to see the sights and sounds of the new engine. At the moment I am just getting to grips with all the camera can do, so intend to have another go next time she is in steam. In the meantime, log on, click down and enjoy the sound of a single! [Smells not available, but I can assure you top quality].

Happy Steaming

Simon Nuttall

[ Note from the webmaster - Simon, as editor of the newsletters often puts snippets into other peoples text. Well, I'll do the same and just say that the bulk of the material for the website now comes from Simon, Dave Powell & Dave Stott. That just leaves me as editor the job of converting it to the format for the site and making minor editorial changes to suit the web]..

Easter Training

The museum is making the return of President it’s major attraction over the Easter period. We have been asked to steam the boat from Good Friday over the holiday weekend and the following week. We are going to use this as our major training effort. It is important that if you are intending to crew this year you make every effort to attend at least one day. We also need to make sure that the boat is available in steam for museum visitors. If you are able to do days other than the bank holidays then please volunteer for those. This will give space for those who can only attend over the holiday.

Seminar Report 22nd February 2003

With a total of sixty members indicating that they were planning to attend and 22 giving formal apologies the response to the seminar day was truly astounding. The day was made up as follows:-

Introduction and welcome – David Powell
Presentation on the history of President – Richard Thomas
Draft crew manual – David Powell
Black Country Living Museum introduction and goals – Ian Walden
Lunch (kindly provided by BCLM)
Group session on draft crew manual
Feedback session
Visit to Dadford’s Wharf

The aim of the day was to discuss and consider the operation of the boats in the future and to prepare members for dealing with the public. In his introduction David noted that this country was becoming ever more litigious and unfortunately FoP must move to protect both itself and the boat’s owners the Black Country Living Museum. This was not to say that our practices have been incorrect but that it is necessary to codify and document our procedures. It was stressed that the open and informal nature of FoP would be retained but this would be woven around a more formal training environment.

The meeting was presented with a draft crew manual, this sets out the skills needed by the various levels of crew member. One aspect of this is that we need to set out in writing the informal structure that always existed when considering the experience of a particular crew member. The document included the following suggested levels:-

Trainee crew, Steerer, Captain

Trainee driver, Assistant driver, Driver