Meet the teams - Finance

 MEET THE TEAMS - FINANCE

A newly formed team (as of November 2022) now that Jeff, the Finance Officer for Carriage & Wagon, has been joined by Phil J. Phil is currently Jeff's understudy but in the longer term he will be his full time back-up and able to take on any of the activities concerning our Works finances and where we sit within the Railway's financial state as a whole.

Phil and Jeff enjoying an afternoon tea break ...............................

........................ before the training begins.

Jeff writes: 

"My volunteering started in C & W as spare time became available in 2012.  As with all new recruits, the question is asked as to one's life experiencies and after being quizzed by Richard J., the then Head of C & W ( now PLC chairman ), the finance officer job was mine. Yes, it would only take the odd hour per week I was told.    Hmm.    OK, easy I thought, and set about the raising of purchase orders ( POs ) from a hand written pad with carbon paper for copies, based upon requests and quotations sought by the working teams.  Since then the process has been overtaken by the inevitable technology, but the principle is similar in the responsibility for the issue of POs against a pre-determined annual budget and refusing such issue if questionable or leading to over expenditure. But that one hour per week is more like six hours per week if the truth be known!!  Excel spreadsheets are used to log a monthly cashflow and to assist in controlling expenditure against the budget allocated.  All in all, it has proven to be quite a satisfying way to volunteer, and regular workshop attendance is a must to keep abreast of the status of POs before they are signed off as OK to pay suppliers by way of the HOPS system employed by heritage railways."

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Thank you Jeff.

As with Jeff, Phil is also in the Painting and Preparation Team, but we are very pleased that he has taken on the additional role as Jeff's deputy. As Carriage & Wagon continually develops with expanding skills, the financial needs similarly grow and become more complex.