Every cloud has a silver lining in Market Deeping

[Railwaygun]

The DAily M ail link I posted has a section on PD Marsh - he lost all his stock and demo models. ( 20 yrs worth) . I wonder if the club will support him?

Paul Andrews, 58, owner of P&D Marsh model railway suppliers, who lives in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, estimates the vandals caused more than £20,000 worth of damage to the model railway gear he sells as a business.

The vandals smashed more than 500 or Mr Andrews' 600 display items, featuring trains and train set accessories such as cars, animals, people and telegraph poles.

'I make trains and things like cars, animals, people and telegraph poles,' he said.

'About 90 per cent of these are smashed beyond replacement.

'It might take me two hours to replace each one, so at least 1,000 hours of my time.

'If I value my time at £20 an hour, it's £20,000 of my time.

'I have to buy the materials as well.

'If they had just come in and stole a few pieces, then you can deal with it.

'But t's just mindless. It's depressing. It's frustrating someone has destroyed a big chunk of my business,' he added.


I wonder how the club will cope with sudden wealth - choccie biscuits every meeting?

They will need a watertight constitution and management to safeguard it for the future. I pity them.

N

[Claude Dreyfus]

Could that be a way of keeping the fund open, bearing in mind the original target was just exceeded, but completely smashed? My reading of the situation was the original £500 was simply 'well, let's put a figure down, because we have to'. I suspect this was to cover the various sundry costs and losses to the club that would not be covered by insurance; show guide printing, food, advertising. I don't believe they expected to get anywhere near that amount. Just a few quid to lessen the club's losses.

This does, of course, take the club into the realms of the unknown (being the secretary of a club myself, the initial vandalism would be stressful enough, but the responsibility and expectations around this amount of money and publicity would send me over the edge!). This situation is completely unprecedented and in some ways the huge response, including some high profile names, is going to be a curse for them.

The 'easy' bit was the giving of money, now for the difficult bit. The support the club needs is how to deal with a situation which has got completely out of their control...these are not professional fund raisers, just a bunch of guys who have been thrust into the limelight at a traumatic time for them.

I'm sure there will be more questions as time goes on the the money keeps stacking up, but I honestly believe the club don't really know what they are going to go with this amount of money...they need time and support for this to sink in.

[Buffin]

Surely traders like PD Marsh have their own insurance.

[Bealman]

Surely the plug can be pulled?

"Donations have exceeded expectations, and no more are required at this time. Thank you to all who donated. Details of the way the funds were channelled to be forthcoming, when these are finalised. Once again thank you"

Or something like that?

Sorry, I'm a scientist and never been good at legal stuff 

[PLD]

Surely traders like PD Marsh have their own insurance.

Any reputable  trader will have third-party and product liability cover (as an aside, exhibition organisers should think carefully about inviting any trader who doesn't as any liability could fall back on them) but traders won't necessarily have cover for loss/damage to 'stock in trade' - that is a calculated gamble on their part and I know a significant minority, particularly small volume 'cottage industry' manufacturers and second-hand dealers don't...

[Lawrence]

I don't think it's the cost of the stuff traders lost as I am sure they have policies in place to cover that but as Paul said PD Marsh make many of the items they sell and you can't get back those hours. Mind you, I wouldn't mind being on £20/hr, I'd go and make telegraph poles for Paul for that.

[njee20]

It's less than £40k p/a assuming a 37 hour working work, hardly a king's ransom, and I imagine chosen for illustrative purposes more than anything.

I agree though, it's people like Paul and the layout owners who I'd argue have lost significantly more than the actual hosting club. I would hope the funds are distributed appropriately.

[Malc]

According to the Metro, Rod Stewart has donated £10,000 and asked Roger Daltry and Jools Holland to stump up similar amounts. I knew Rod and Roger were enthusiasts, but didn't know about Jools Holland.
Good on 'em.

[The Q]

It's less than £40k p/a assuming a 37 hour working work, hardly a king's ransom, and I imagine chosen for illustrative purposes more than anything.

I agree though, it's people like Paul and the layout owners who I'd argue have lost significantly more than the actual hosting club. I would hope the funds are distributed appropriately.

or well over the national average and nearly twice my before taxes  pay. However, that £20an hour will have to include over heads such as running equipment, payments for taxes and pensions which would normally be covered by an employer. Plus a myriad of other extra expenses.

[Bealman]

According to the Metro, Rod Stewart has donated £10,000 and asked Roger Daltry and Jools Holland to stump up similar amounts. I knew Rod and Roger were enthusiasts, but didn't know about Jools Holland.
Good on 'em.

Didn't you see the Jools RM, Malc?

[njee20]

It's less than £40k p/a assuming a 37 hour working work, hardly a king's ransom, and I imagine chosen for illustrative purposes more than anything.

I agree though, it's people like Paul and the layout owners who I'd argue have lost significantly more than the actual hosting club. I would hope the funds are distributed appropriately.

or well over the national average and nearly twice my before taxes  pay. However, that £20an hour will have to include over heads such as running equipment, payments for taxes and pensions which would normally be covered by an employer. Plus a myriad of other extra expenses.

I think more likely it was a figure plucked largely out of thin air to illustrate the point, but I know what you mean.

[Doc Pye]

I keep reading this thread and I get the impression that some people are doubting the fund raising campaign, and how it will be used. I agree that the funds should be distributed equitably to all those that incurred losses. And to be honest, the sum's raised may not cover it in terms of people's time spent. Don't look at the lump sum but rather focus on what actually went into making all these things. We all do this and we know that this hobby - like many others - is time and resource intensive. I just don't think we should be making suggestions that seem to doubt the fund raising efforts and how it will be used....

Instead we should be focusing on those useless _ _ _ _ _ that caused all this unnecessary and senseless destruction. We should be hold them to account, and if they are 'youths' as reported, their parents who have legal responsibility for them. There must be consequences for such graven destruction...not just of property but people's hopes and dreams.

Just my thoughts.

[Newportnobby]

@Doc Pye
Sorry, but we've already locked a thread in which various punishments were suggested and to whom they should be applied. The youths concerned have been released on bail and the collections started so we'll have to wait to see what the justice services hand down.
Let's not bypass the huge result so far by going over old ground please.

[daffy]

Just to clarify, my 'rates' of Doc Pye's post are for his first para.

[Skyline2uk]

All

I thought long and hard about sharing this link (and if mods don't approve, I apologise), but on balance I want to, because:

1) I sympathise with the headteacher. I know a bit (a bit) about education in modern Britain and believe she has got herself a right hornets nest here. Imagine your school being thrust into the limelight in this way?

2) There is a ray of hope to be found in it. The description of her students reaction is encouraging.

Overall I feel it is a well worded and considered response.

I have seen some responses on various online platforms that, whilst perhaps understandable, don't quite sit well with me. As a civilised nation we are surely defined by how we react to adversity.

https://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/vandalism-of-model-railway-head-teachers-letter-to-parents-9071205/?fbclid=iwar2vehxgjfaf58tzoagiysfiwhsu4vjaq-agtszdeaga0rxcfj3wjx1xyiw

Regards

Skyline2uk