Support and Fundraising
On This Page
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WRA eShop
Wear your heart on your sleeve.... or your cap
WRA branded merchandise at the eShop
A great way to tell the world about the WRA and that you support its aims.
Available exclusively online, the WRA eShop, in association with Spreadshirt.net, offers a range of clothing and giftware personalised with the WRA logo.
Each purchase (no minimum order requirements) benefits the WRA and secure payment may be made by Visa, American Express and Mastercard.
Please remember that these items are not available in the WR station shops nor by mail order from the WRA.
Items currently available include 
T-shirts, polo shirts, casual shirts, baseball hat, cooking apron, tote bag and mugs.
All normally shipped within 1-2 working days.
Click on the T-Shirt to enter the WRA eShop
The "Small Print" : Your order contract is with sprd.net AG (known as Spreadshirt) and they are solely responsible for accepting payment and shipping your order. Click for full terms and conditions.
Track Appeal
Our track appeal has been re-launched and full details including the different ways in which you can make a donation are now on the Home Page.
Meet the Management Team
Click on the name to see a profile of each member of the WRA Ltd Management
Board.
 Ken Monkman Chairman | |  Robert Whitehouse Vice Chairman |
 David Haxby General Secretary |  John Mazzucchi Treasurer | |
 Peter Guy |  Angus Maude |  Amanda Pearson |
 John Thompson |  Paul Warren |  Tim Williamson |
WRA Membership
By becoming a member of the WRA, you will be supporting this exciting and unique railway reinstatement project. You may wish to join one of our local branches and attend meetings and social events; you will also have the opportunity to play a more active part by becoming a volunteer (working on the trains, the track or the stations). A subscription to the regular WRA Magazine "Relay" is included in the membership fee.
Please join now to help us :
- promote the line and increase passenger numbers and revenue
- increase the frequency of existing train services
- extend operations East to Northallerton and West to Aysgarth
- complete the reinstatement of the entire line
- provide a lifeline for residents without cars
- offer a choice of travel modes
- reduce congestion and pollution
- provide a fully integrated bus and rail service
- offer an opportunity to remove freight from the roads
Membership Rates 2010
Individual Annual £15 Individual Junior Annual (min age 14 max age 18) £9 Individual Five Year £75 Individual Life £400 Joint Life (2 named adults at same address) £600 Household Annual £22 Household Five Year £110 Corporate (organisations/businesses) Annual £60 Corporate Five Year £300
Click here to download and print an Application Form
Click to read the Memorandum and Articles (as amended June 2009) of Association.
Email for further information or write to WRA Ltd, PO Box 159,Richmond,DL10 9AA.
Members' Travel Concessions and Other Discounts
WRA Members can currently benefit from the following :
Driver Experience Days |
Members can book a Driver Experience Day for the reduced price of £200 |
Member Concessionary Fare |
Offered on the basis of "buy one, get one free" (subject to conditions) |
Other Discounts |
Advertisers in Relay Magazine frequently offer discounts to WRA members. |
Relay Magazine
Relay, the WRA magazine, is normally published three times per year and is mailed to all WRA members. Copies can also be purchased at the Wensleydale Railway sales outlets at Leeming Bar and Leyburn stations and from the Northallerton station kiosk.
 | Relay 54 (March - June 2010) |
The Editorial Team welcomes articles, photographs and letters.
Contributions for Relay 55 should be received by Friday 14 May 2010.
Relay Back Numbers
Relay Back numbers
(except issues 3,4,5,7 and 8)
are available from the Leyburn Shop
for a minimum donation of £1.
Or you can contact Paul Kenyon on 01748 824249. 
Shop or Search Online and Support the WRA
 | If you shop online there is now a simple, easy and FREE way for you to support the Wensleydale Railway Association. Best of all, you can even save money ! |
We've teamed up with easyfundraising who provide a shopping directory listing some of your favourite online stores. Over 500 popular retailers participate including Amazon, Play.com, Toys 'R' Us, Dell, John Lewis, Woolworths, HMV, Comet and Vodafone.
All you need to do is use the links provided on the easyfundraising site whenever you shop online and, at no extra cost, we will receive up to 15% of every purchase you make. It's that simple !
It doesn't cost a penny extra to shop and raise funds in this way and you can even SAVE money as many retailers give exclusive discounts and savings when you shop using the easyfundraising site.
If you shop online anyway why not help raise extra funds for us by using this completely FREE service.
Visit easyfundraising and when you register select Wensleydale Railway Association as the organisation you wish to support.
You can also raise money every time you do an online search with easysearch. Make easysearch your search engine of choice!
As at 31 January 2010, WRA has received £1,336.72 (via 96 supporters and four referred organisations) from easyfundraising and easysearch.
EasyFundraising Referral Scheme
The WRA can raise extra money by introducing other groups or charities to easyfundraising. The WRA will earn 20% of whatever the other group raise without this in any way affecting the amount raised by that group. So both the WRA and the other group benefit.
To refer another group in this way please ask them to join easyfundraising by using this WRA link.
The money raised from our referred organisations is included in the total amount shown above.
Coin Challenge - 40 Miles of Coins
The WRA has embarked on a challenge to collect 40 Miles of coins which is 70,400 yards. All UK coins are counted in our totals.
45p of one pence pieces = 1 yard
£39 in £1 coins = 1 yard.
Why not save your spare copper coins and donate them to the WRA. This can be done by taking coins to Leeming Bar office, or Leyburn Station, please mark your package Coin Challenge.
As at 31 January 2010 |  |
WRA 250 Club
The 250 Club is a long term fund-raising project, established on the initiative of the Northallerton Branch, and operated by the Branch on behalf of the WRA Ltd Management Board.
Fully paid up members of the Association, who are over 16 years of age, may apply for membership of the Club. By making an annual payment of £12 you purchase 12 Units with the same number.
There is a monthly draw into which these numbers are entered giving you 12 chances per year to win a prize. Click here to see the recent prizewinners.
(February winners added)
The Club year runs from 1 October until 30 September the following year. At the beginning of each Club year the gross takings are equally divided between WRA Ltd and Prize Money after a deduction for administration purposes.
Click to read a report on the first year of operation with details of money raised and how it has been used to benefit the Railway.
Donations
Money
Donations to either the WRA or the Wensleydale Railway Trust (WRT) to help progress the reinstatement of the railway are welcome at all times. The WRA is not a charity and may use donated funds in line with the aims of the Association on any project of its choosing. The WRT is a charity and is permitted to spend money only on activities relating to its charitable purposes (see below). Donations made to the WRT may qualify for Gift Aid.
A "Development Fund" has been created to support major projects on the railway, such as permanent maintenance/workshop facilities. These projects would be in co-operation with the plc. A minor works fund has also been created.
Goods
The Association also accepts donations of items for re-sale by auction, normally either in arrangement with Tennants Auctioneers, Leyburn or online through the WRA eBay team. These are important and proven fund-raising mechanisms.
Goods do not have to be railway or transport related and will be appraised and categorised for specialist sale if appropriate. Please contact Richard Tinker on 01765 698068 or email for auctions at Tennants ; contact the WRA eBay Team or telephone Stuart Thompson on 01904 750058 for eBay donations(WRA).
For FOLS eBay donations please contact Sandra Ward by email.
Current items on the WRA eBay pages can be viewed here (WRA) or here (WRA-FOLS).
Cash for cartridges
The WRA can receive money by recycling empty inkjet printer cartridges.
Most inkjet cartridges can be accepted except Epson and Brother. Laser toner cartridges cannot be accepted. The Cash for Cartridges website gives full details.
You can leave these cartridges at the following locations :
(1) in the collection box just inside the signing-on room at Leeming Bar Station.
(2) The Computer Shop in the Gartway Arcade, Northallerton
Or if these are not convenient for you then you can post them in a suitable box or envelope free of charge to
Cash for Cartridges , FREEPOST RLZL-EUJG-ZYEL, 13 Main Street, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5AA
quoting Account Reference R00553.
Without the account reference the value of the cartridge cannot be credited to the WRA account.
This is an environmentally- friendly scheme which could make us a lot of money if everyone co-operates. In the first instance the money will help to defray the cost of the toilets for the disabled at Leeming Bar.
For more information contact David Haxby by email or on 01845 526893.
Wensleydale Railway Trust (WRT)
The Wensleydale Railway Trust Ltd is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee, without share capital, established by the WRA in October 2000 to support and promote educational, heritage and other charitable aspects of the Wensleydale Railway. The Trust was set up, in part, to facilitate the acceptance of donations of money or materials from individuals or organisations only able to gift to a charity. In such circumstances a "mile of track" (ex-Settle and Carlisle line) was donated by Railtrack NorthWest in September 2001 to the WRT which has managed its use and incorporation into the railway.
The Trust can own assets in its own right (which it can permit to be used on the railway) and has purchased rolling stock (1929 built "Walrus" ballast hopper) which awaits restoration. The costs of public displays and exhibitions (which help to educate the public about the past and present of the railway) are also a legitimate charge to the Trust's resources. The Trusts’s objects enable it to support the training of volunteers, and it has met training costs, both by paying fees when external training is needed and by supporting in-house training, particularly by buying training equipment and furnishing the Training Room at Leeming Bar.
The most significant project managed by the Trust has been the acquisition and restoration of the North Wootton Signal Box. David Walker managed this project on behalf of the Trust, and successfully applied for a substantial grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Trust’s next major project will be the restoration of Scruton Station. The preliminary work on this project is already under way.
In March 2009 The Trust revised the Objects in its Memorandum of Association, so that the Advancement of Heritage is now an object alongside its educational objects, and its power to restore and maintain rolling stock has been clarified.
The Trust is run by a Council of six trustees. The Chairman is Angus Maude, Secretary Philip Smith and Treasurer Mike Alexander. The other trustees are Colin Brown, David Haxby and David Walker. Individual membership of the WRT is available on payment of a subscription (minimum £10 per year). Although careful not to compete in any way with the WRA, the Trust is keen to enlarge its member base and as its income increases it intends to play a more prominent part in the development of the railway than hitherto.
Further details about the Trust are available from the Company Secretary of the Trust and leaflets about the Trust are available in the Railway shops.
Enquiries specifically about membership should be addressed to David Haxby.
The Foundation Fund
In issue 48 of Relay there was a reference to ‘the newly launched Foundation Fund’. What is this?
The Trust relies for most of its income on donations. It can, of course, apply for grants, and was recently successful in obtaining a grant from the lottery to help with the restoration of the North Wootton Signal Box. But after the work on the box has been completed it will remain in the ownership of the Trust and will have to be maintained.
It became clear to the directors of the Trust that to enable it to take on longer term and more substantial responsibilities, whether buildings or other commitments, it needed a more predictable income from invested funds which is additional to its fluctuating income from donations.
The Trust’s Council therefore resolved to establish a Foundation Fund. Money placed in this Fund would not be available for immediate use, but would be invested to provide income for future use. Donations totalling £3,000 have already been received to enable the Fund to be opened.
In order to attract money for investment in the Foundation Fund, the Trust has established a new category of membership. A Foundation Member may be an individual or a corporate body making a single donation of at least £500. An individual Foundation Member will be a member of the Trust for life with the same rights as other individual members. A corporate Foundation Member will be granted membership for 10 years, and at the end of this period a number of options will be available (see detailed terms).
The names of all Foundation Members will be listed prominently in the Annual Report of the Company (unless anonymity is requested). The support given by Corporate Foundation Members will also be publicly acknowledged whenever it seems appropriate, unless the member requests no publicity.
Anyone considering becoming a Foundation Member is invited to contact David Haxby, by phone on 01845 526893, by email or by post to 1 The Croft, Sowerby, Thirsk, N Yorks YO7 1NZ.
Full details and an application form will then be provided.
Gift Aid
A charity is able to recover tax on money donated through the Gift Aid Scheme.
If you wish to make a donation to the WRT during your lifetime please contact the Company Secretary of the Trust to request a Gift Aid Declaration Form. If you are a taxpayer, completion of this form will enable the Trust to reclaim tax you have paid and will significantly increase the value of your gift by 28p for each £1 donated. Cheques should be made payable to "Wensleydale Railway Trust Ltd".
Please note that the Gift Aid Scheme cannot be used for WRA membership subscriptions or WRA donations. Similarly WRA subscriptions and donations cannot be made with "charity cheques".
Will Provisions
Suitable provisions can be made in your will to leave money to the Wensleydale Railway. If you nominate the WRT as the beneficiary then the bequest is free of Inheritance Tax. Click here for leaflet which includes sample wordings.
Disclaimer : This area of the law is complex. Neither the WRA nor the WRT accept any liability for actions taken or not taken in relation to the issues addressed in this section and you are strongly advised to seek independent professional advice.
2009 Conference and AGM
Posted 15 June 2009 Updated 16 June 2009 (Originally located on Features Page)
Conference
The WRA held its second Conference on Saturday 13 June in Northallerton. There were three main presentations. Ian Sesnan 
new Chairman of the WRplc
presented
"The Way Forward for the
Wensleydale Railway"
Click to view Ian's presentation
[PDF File 5Mb]
Tom Bridges, from Arup, gave a talk on the socio-economic study he is conducting for the Railway in regard to the benefits of the line extensions. The study is due to be fully completed in July and Tom gave an interim report on the findings.
[Tom's slide presentation will be available here as soon as possible]
David Walker gave a presentation with videos outlining the successful Signal Box project. A final summary of the project with pictures will appear in Relay 52.
[David's slide presentation will be available here as soon as possible]
AGM and EGM
The following were elected to the WRA Ltd Board : Ken Monkman (Chairman), Robert Whitehouse (Vice Chairman), David Haxby (General Secretary), John Mazzucchi (Treasurer), David Gibson, Peter Guy, Angus Maude, Amanda Pearson, John Thompson, Tim Williamson, Paul Warren.
Pictures and profiles of each Board member can be found in the "Meet the Management Team" section on this page.
The motion to remove the "unwaged" category for new members was approved.
At the subsequent EGM there were several special resolutions for various changes to the Articles of Association. These were all passed with the exception of Resolution 6 regarding the Board selecting the Officers. This was defeated in the hall and the Board decided to take this matter back for further discussion.