TOPIC:

I lied about my age on a forum once, but it was to stop all the adverts for Saga insurance and holiday cruises, rather than to groom young women to coming around to my way of thinking about how they should relate to men of their father's age - not that I am suggesting your motives were any more sinister than mine. It didn't do any good though - they found me out, and now I am still being offered Viking cruises.

I wish I could be condemned to obscurity by Facebook, but - like the Hotel California - you can check out but you can never leave.

I too am sorry this Forum doesn’t get used so often. At least it’s still here in case we DO have something to talk about.
I look in occasionally - as I suspect some other board members do too - to see what if anything is being talked about. I don’t always dive into the conversation, I’ve found that’s better, I have opinions just like you do, and sometimes letting them run away with themselves on a forum isn’t the best thing for me to do. I’m trying to thicken my skin and not jump everytime I encounter a sharp comment, that can be the best thing too. And try not to look at the forum after I’ve been in the pub ;-> .
I’m sorry if feels lonely out here - especially on the general forum, not even the members’ one (no there’s nothing much happening over there either). Members needing an answer to something in a hurry would currenty do better to write to the Bell Community EMail (as some do), or tackle one of the board in person, tho’ I appreciate that’s not possible for those outside Bath. The forum is for conversation, and. well, some members have been having a conversation. Just it’s a slow one.
I know you’ll have heard this before, and will groan when you hear it again, but you’d probably say the same in your own specialism: no-one who’s not been through this process knows how much work has gone into it. We really have been spending hours week on week looking after your interests regarding the pub, and, well, some things just weren’t as plain sailing as they might have been. We think we’re heading into a patch of calmer waters (maybe still storms on the horizon, but will they head this way?) and we ought to be able to get some neglected tasks done.
Toilets are one of those. I’ve seen some people with a plan, there on-site, and heard talk of an estimate. Someone closer to the work thinks it’s not going to be as expensive as we feared, which could be good. I’m genuinely expecting some action soon. Not been confident to say that before, which is why I haven’t.
And then, what about a Members' Secretary…?

More news when we have some. Really!

Sorry, but that response is not only way too late, but it also reads like the upcoming band reviews you pen as well - virtually incomprehensible to anyone who does not know what is going on inside the world of pub music.

Why don't you get a grip and either disband this forum, or say something useful on it in the future?

There are 536 (in reality about 6) people hanging on your every word, so as a Board Member, I think you need to come up with something better than this sort of excuse.

There. I said it.

And, by the way, we DO actually have things that are worth talking about, whether you think so or not.

well good, that's what it's for. QED etc. Carry on, don't mind me...

It doesn't seem fair that Steve H should take all the flak just because he's the only Board member who posts to the forum, so allow me to contribute to this feast of wit and wisdom. (I'm assuming that when I press the submit button this message will be tagged with my name and picture, but just in case I haven't yet got a firm grip on the technology - I'm John Revell, and I'm Secretary to Board).
If Alistair is a member of The Bell then his share application form certifies that he has read the “Rules of The Bell Inn (Bath) Ltd”, and that he’s happy with them. They haven’t changed since last year, so I’m surprised by his sudden concern over the Board’s retirement cycle. Anyway, thanks to Spine and Spooley for pointing him to Rule 76 and alleviating that concern, and if Alistair has mislaid his copy of The Rules he can download another copy from the Document downloads section of this website. When he does so he’ll also find that Rules 5 and 108 are entirely supportive of the ideas in his “cash cow” homily. We’re all on the same wavelength really, which is nice. In future though, if we’re going to bicker about the Board’s self-serving political ambitions (WTF?!) it would be better done in the Members section of this forum. Here in the Main Forum we’re in the public eye, and who wants to look foolish in public?
I can’t be so flippant about John Anderson’s comments, because he’s got a point. We try to let our members know what the Board is doing by posting the minutes of our Board meetings in the Document downloads section of this website, but that’s probably not well advertised. Mea culpa (Lat). We’ve had nine of those meetings since May, which is an appreciably greater workload than any of us anticipated when we volunteered for the job, and being hit on day one with the need to replace our General Manager came as a bit of a shock. It meant that it took us longer than we would have wished to focus on improving (but not changing) The Bell. However, now that Arron is in post things will start to happen.
As to why the Board doesn’t participate (much) in these discussions – see above re the calls on our time, and see this topic for what happens when we do. Spine and John mock my minute writing (I like “totality of communications”!) and Bushy trashes Steve’s contribution. If you prick us, do we not bleed? (Although, on a more cheerful note, if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?).
Here’s my proposition. I’ll set alerts on my calendar to check this forum every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning and if there’s a question for the Board I’ll undertake to provide some sort of answer the same day. If I don’t know the answer, and I can’t bluff or lie convincingly enough, then I’ll sub-contract it to another Board member. See if that works.