Christmas Newsletter.

December 2019

                Another Christmas is here and of course all the cruise ships are arriving on the Coast on a regular basis. There are cruise ships on Christmas Eve and again on Boxing Day, so I hope you have a good break with your families on the 25th.

                Thank you to those who turned out for the special general meeting and then the annual meeting of the Trust .The annual accounts are on the Trust’s web site, however to briefly summarise the Trust, had an operating surplus of $3,301 but with the Trust’s proportion of the trading loss from Dunedin Railways our deficit was $26,699 compared with a deficit of $66,593 in 2018. At the Executive meeting following the AGM the following appointments were made: -

                Chairman:                           David Wood

                Deputy Chairman:            Murray Schofield

                Committee:                        Diane Nader, Brian Crabbe, John Chapman, John Pritchard           

Pat Beman

                The positions of Secretary and Treasurer are held by Murray and David respectively and as always, we would welcome offers from any member to take on either of these two positions. Our representatives on the Board of Dunedin Railways are Graeme Smart and David Wood.

                At the 2018 Special General Meeting, the outcome was to request repayment of shareholders advances totalling $326,149 and shares valued at $610.907.  This was put to DCH and the only outcome was that DCH agreed to have the shares independently valued and this was inconclusive.  The third train proposal was withdrawn, and further capital was going to be required for some major work on the track and rolling stock.  At the 2019 special general meeting DCH had put forward a proposal for a restructure of the capital and for OETT this meant conversion of the shareholders advances to share capital still leaving some $46719 in the shareholders advances account. DCC through DCH also increased their shareholding so there is no change in the 72:28 ratio.

                By now you all will be aware of the DR proposal to cease running trains between Pukerangi and Middlemarch and the OETT is endeavouring to be part of the discussions on the possible future of that part of the line. This request is still to be answered as this message is being put together.

                Santa Train 2019 – a very successful day at Hindon and special thanks to all those who helped

on the train and setting up at Hindon and not least Father Christmas

                My special thanks to all the volunteers for their very hard work as the season really gets under way, to the Executive for their support and to finally wish you all a marvellous Christmas and all the very best for 2020.

David Wood

CHAIRMAN.