BE BRAVE, BUT PREPARE TO QUIT WHILE YOU’RE AHEAD
Volunteers are a vital commodity for preserved railways and, as the Nene Valley Railway’s General Manager SaRah PiGGott explains, they’re an asset that needs to be cared for.
It’s been an exciting time for the Nene Valley Railway - we’ve just emerged from one of our most successful Santa seasons to date, on the tail end of a year of increased passenger and visitor numbers, and straight into 2017 - our 40th anniversary! But resting on our laurels wouldn’t keep us successful for long, and it’s left me pondering some big questions. What really made 2016 such a successful year for us? What was the secret? What makes a quaint little railway set in the heart of the Nene Valley quietly attract a 15% increase in passenger numbers? Equally as important, what did we learn from 2016 that will help us achieve our best this year? First and foremost, teamwork played a big part. Excruciating clichés aside, the fact is that a preserved railway cannot be successful without it. As a registered museum and educational charity, as well as one of Peterborough’s biggest tourist attractions, there are so many different departments and teams that simply must work together to provide the best service to our visitors. The various departments are vital, but who are the people who make up these teams? Almost all of them are volunteers and, as we know, most preserved railways would be absolutely lost without them. The Nene Valley Railway is no exception. We have 15 paid members of staff, and over 250 working volunteers, and they all have the railway’s best interests at heart. It’s infectious, and you can’t help but want the railway to succeed, whether you’ve been there 40 years or six months, as I have. There were some big changes at the Nene Valley Railway last year; some staff comings and goings, a new board and some fresh ideas put into practice. Our volunteer booking office manager, David Hickling, suggested we try an open day to reach out and attract some new visitors from the local area, and it was a resounding success. We trialled a latenight shopping evening using our Santa Specials marquee, which we’re now hoping to develop into a two-day Christmas market this year. ADAPT AnD sURVIVE The key to evolving is being brave enough to try new things, while being sensible enough to know when to cut your losses on something that isn’t working, and being flexible enough to adapt to changing situations. Change can often be scary, but without it we remain stationary - and eventually stagnate. The 2016 Santa season was the most successful with our current model to date. I was warned by many volunteers that I would not believe how busy the railway gets over Christmas, but when we welcomed over 2,000 more visitors than in 2015, even the most experienced of Santa’s helpers couldn’t believe it. Through the power of reputation, word of mouth and some carefully planned advertising from our marketing manager Jerry Thurston, we ended up taking the decision to close ticket sales at around 20,500 tickets for fear of running out of gifts in Santa’s grotto, as well as drinks and mince pies on the train! These are good problems to have, but it was just that - a problem. The phones rang non-stop with people wanting to buy tickets, but it was important to evaluate potential sales against how we could actually handle them. We made the decision to stop ticket sales because our reputation, which had garnered this success in the first place, needed preserving and it would have been all too easy to keep selling, hoping for the best with stocks of gifts and mince pies, only to come unstuck and let the unthinkable happen: Father Christmas running out of presents for the children. We had to take a step back, recognise our limits and act before we reached them. The decision to stop selling tickets wasn’t just about the stock levels either; we had to consider the volunteers. Our volunteers do a fantastic job all year round, in particular carrying out all the duties involved over the Santa Special season, but everyone has their limits. Therefore, we needed to
We had to take a step back, recognise our limits and act before we reached them
ensure we delivered the event with volunteers who were still relatively ‘full of beans’ and Christmas cheer. Everyone was reaching their limits the closer it got to Christmas and we needed to make sure we looked after them and didn’t push them too far. A key factor in keeping your volunteers and staff loyal and giving so much is such a simple thing it can easily get overlooked… but you really can’t beat the power of two little words - ‘thank you’. With that in mind, I’d like to take the opportunity to PLANNING IS KEY say a big ‘thank you’ to all NVR volunteers and staff for their hard work over the 2016 Santa season - I’m immensely proud of all of them. So, what have we learnt from a whirlwind 2016 that we can repeat this year? Planning is absolutely key; without it you cannot run a smooth service, offer passengers the best value for money, or ensure a top experience for visitors and volunteers alike. We have seen a rise in the popularity of cream teas, and we’ve identified things from last year that we can change to make them easier to put on, while still ensuring a ‘five-star’ experience. Their popularity is such that we now have dedicated ‘Cream and Afternoon Tea Trains’ running throughout the warmer months, and are putting together a team of volunteers who will be dedicated purely to the setting up and serving of these on such days. We’re going into 2017 having already held a ‘risks workshop’, where some key members identified what our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were. I recommend this process to any railway, as it focuses on certain projects and results in a clear plan. We all know there is a massive list of vital jobs that will need doing, but there is only ever a finite amount of time and money available. We learnt a lot from this session, not only identifying key areas to work on but also standing back and realising our many strengths, and the opportunities we have. We also plan to work a lot more with our fellow local charities and trusts - Railworld and Nene Park Trust to name just two. It is so important to work with your neighbours, particularly those in similar industries as your own. You can learn from them, and join forces to achieve common goals. And while we know the year will throw up some unexpected challenges, we are prepared for them.