ABOUT EAST LOTHIAN COMMUNITY RAIL PARTNERSHIP

Community Rail Partnerships (CRP) were first established in England in the 1990s as a formal mechanism to reinvigorate local and rural railways. CRP status provides a framework for community involvement in strategic planning, development and operation of a specific railway line.

Since 2014, the East Lothian Community Rail Partnership has been pulling together a wide range of local organisations with an interest in communities and sustainable transport, to fix the link between railway stations, town centres and the surrounding areas, and realise an integrated transport network accessible to all. We work with four train operators (ScotRail, LNER, TransPennine Express, and Cross Country), Transport Scotland, East Lothian Council, the Regional Transport Partnership (SEStran), local businesses and community groups towards the following aims:

• Supporting the local economy by promoting rail use and rail facilities
• Actively promoting the use of rail and other public and low carbon-emitting transport
• Supporting safety, security and access initiatives relating to railway use
• Working with ‘station adopters’ (individuals and groups) to provide a more pleasant environment within the station areas.

ABOUT THE VACANCY

Harry Barker has been chairing East Lothian CRP since its inception in 2014 and is now preparing to pass on the reins of a well-established and respected organisation. In addition the time is right to expand the Board and also appoint a vice chair. Examples of projects completed to date include:

• restored the murals at Prestonpans Station (best community project 2023)
• improved signage to stations
• provided information boards for display in stations promoting local attractions and historical information
• supported many local events in the North Berwick and Dunbar areas
• producing a line guide and leaflets to encourage tourism
• working with bus operators to improve integration between bus and rail

Projects have always been dependent on external funding which to date has not proved problematical, and, as such, the incoming Chair will have the flexibility to pursue their own agenda. The CRP is financially sound and new ways of operating are being explored by The Community Rail Network and the new Chair will be well placed to provide input to these.

East Lothian CRP has no paid staff, and projects are led by volunteers under direction from the Board, and therefore the amount of work involved can vary but can be expected to be around 10 hours per month for the Chair.

DUTIES OF THE CHAIR

Responsibilities include:

• Ensuring that the CRP is run in accordance with the constitution
• Guiding and encouraging projects that will be undertaken from time to time
• Ensuring that the Action Plan is kept up to date
• Chairing four meetings per year, including the AGM (normally held in November)
• Producing an annual report for the AGM
• Ensuring that the activities of the CRP are within the guidelines produced by the Train Operating Companies in all respects particularly including safely

BENEFITS

You will receive a ‘staff’ rail pass from ScotRail permitting free rail travel throughout Scotland when travelling on ScotRail trains.

Reasonable expenses will be paid if required to travel on other rail services and/or stay overnight.

REQUIREMENTS

The successful applicant will be expected to support public transport in general, with a keen interest in integration between modes such as buses, active travel and rail.

A willingness of Board members to attend committees and conferences is essential (expenses will be covered) and these will give valuable access to professional railway staff and management on the front line, where your views can be heard. These include:

• the local ‘Rail Forum’ involving MSPs, Councillors and Train Operating Companies - twice a year, usually virtually
• in-person or virtual annual conferences of the four local Train Operating Companies (ScotRail, Cross Country Trains, TransPennine Express, and LNER) which may be held anywhere in the UK
• An annual event in Scotland sponsored by Modern Railways magazine which is attended by many high profile railway managers and senior representation from Transport Scotland
• Virtual attendance (via Zoom) at the national Community Rail Network meetings
• In-person Community Rail Networks Awards ceremony, if the CRP is short listed for an Award – this year’s was in Swansea over three days
• Six Community Area Partnership ‘On the Move’ groups consider local transport in East Lothian – CRP representation on one or more of these groups is important for a full appreciation of issues surrounding each station. Each On the Move Group meets every two months

A knowledge of railways and their workings is desirable but not essential.

Living in East Lothian and using the county’s rail services from time to time would be advantageous.

You will be expected to liaise with the station adoption groups from time to time. They have a separate relationship with ScotRail.

You will be expected to be pro-active in instructing the website to be kept up to date via the CRP’s appointed webmaster, and in responding to public enquiries which come via the website. You will not be required to answer complaints from the travelling public but direct these to ScotRail for attention.

From time to time it may be necessary to communicate with the local Press (East Lothian Courier and occasionally Edinburgh Evening News).

Are you passionate about supporting young people – especially those who have experiences of care or need extra help to make the transition to adulthood, parenthood, employment and education?

Dean and Cauvin Young People’s Trust is one of Scotland’s oldest charities – working in Edinburgh since 1733. Today, we exist to be a place of hope for vulnerable and care experienced children, young people and families in Edinburgh and the Lothians and we do this via our interconnected services which include:

• 2 residential houses for young people aged 15-21 and young mums and babies

• Our Community and Transition team which delivers support to young people and families in the community

• Our Wellbeing Hub and outings, breaks and activities

• Room 4U our teenage fostering service.

We have been working hard in the last few years to redesign our services to best meet the recommendations of The Promise. We are now looking for new trustees to join us on the next stage of our development as we seek to deliver high-quality care and support with the voices of young people at the heart of all we do.

Join us

This is an incredible opportunity to make a difference with young people and build your skills alongside our other trustees. Our Board will always contain those with experience in key areas of work with young people including social work, education and fostering as well as finance and organisational governance. As a part of our origins, we also have representatives from:

• The Sheriff Principal of the Lothians and Borders

• The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

• The Royal High School of Edinburgh

• The Presbytery of Edinburgh of the Church of Scotland

• The Councillors of the City of Edinburgh Council

• The Faculty of Advocates

Skills and experience

It is important that we continue to build and diversify our board to ensure we have a range of voices and experiences represented to help us reflect and understand the needs of young people in Edinburgh today.

We are recruiting for Trustees in the following areas:

• Leadership roles in children and families and child-protection focused services (i.e. social work, residential care, family support)

• Charitable / third sector – delivery and governance

• Fundraising and income generation

• Those with lived experiences of care/care-experienced

• Those from ethnically diverse and ethnic minority groups

• Young people aged 18-26

No previous board experience is necessary as full support and training will be provided.

What we do need is someone who is committed to our values and has an understanding of the current issues affecting young people, of high-quality practice approaches as well as the opportunities and challenges of the third sector.

The most important attributes of trustees joining us include:

• A willingness to ask questions

• A shared belief in our values, aims and objectives

• Energy to be an active and engaged trustee

• Desire to be a champion for young people and our organisation

Your responsibilities

Being a trustee requires a time commitment to the role. Duties/tasks include:

• Attend 4 board meetings a year (quarterly)

• Take part in our annual Development session with staff and/or trustees

There are additional opportunities to attend and contribute to our Finance sub-group and/or Care & Support sub-group. These meet 4 times per year (1-2 weeks before a Board meeting).

If this sounds like an opportunity you can bring your time, skills and passion to – we would love to hear from you.

Do you share our vision of creating a better world and our passion for providing long-term solutions to the world’s biggest challenges? If so, and you have the values, experience and passion you could play a crucial role in one of our governance positions that could help shape the future and build the resilience and reach of SCIAF.

About SCIAF

SCIAF is the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund - the official relief and development agency of the Catholic Church in Scotland. Around the world, SCIAF works with people of all faiths and none. We believe all God’s children are our sisters and brothers, and that everyone must be treated with dignity. We work in partnership with local and church organisations, supporting communities across the world to bring about lasting change. We are inspired by the Gospel to tackle the causes of poverty and injustice.

OUR POSITIONS

Chair of the Finance, Risk, Audit and Compliance Committee

The Finance, Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee plays a key role in the oversight and monitoring of the work of SCIAF and thus strengthens its accountability. The Chair of this committee serves on our Board of Directors.

The specific skills required for this position are accountancy, and specifically experience in any or all of financial reporting, management accounting delivery or oversight, auditing or general financial management. Fulfilling an existing role or a recent past role in any of these domains is required, and any experience of using your financial specialism in the charity sector would be particularly beneficial.

Trustee position (with International Development Experience)

One of the newly appointed trustees will provide knowledge and experience of international development on our Board of Directors. This trustee position will also serve on our Integral Human Development Committee, that plays a key role overseeing and advising on our international development and emergency work. In doing so, they will contribute to the quality and effectiveness of what SCIAF does and they will increase our accountability to our partners, the communities we serve, our supporters and our donors.

Extensive international development experience is required for this position, ideally combined with senior management experience of running a development organisation

Trustee position

We require trustees who can bring a range of skills and expertise to our Board of Directors and who possess strategic vision and good independent judgement. We are particularly keen to identify a skilled individual with experience in the one or more following areas:

• Legal
• advocacy
• Sustainability/ climate change
• Investment/finance
• HR and change management
• Property
• External communications
• IT/cybercrime
• Fundraising
• Safeguarding
• Marketing

As a Trustee, you will play a crucial role in guiding SCIAF through new challenges and leveraging new opportunities.

Integral Human Development – Committee Member

We are currently looking to appoint a new Committee Member for our Integral Human Development Committee. This Committee plays a crucial role at SCIAF by monitoring and guiding our international development and emergency work. The ideal candidate will have:

• extensive development experience, ideally with international cooperation
• understanding of the Catholic Church and its role in emergency response and development
• understanding of Catholic Social Teaching and integral human development
• a partner's understanding and perspective of development needs and appropriate practices in one of SCIAF’s priority countries.

Time commitment

• The term of office for each of our governance positions is 3 years which is renewable, normally only once.
• Both our Board of Directors and various committees meet 4 times per year. In addition to this, Trustees and Committee Members are sometimes requested to attend other SCIAF meetings to offer their advice and support.

Safeguarding/Code of Conduct

SCIAF undertakes to ensure that all staff, volunteers and relevant others, whose work might involve contact with children and vulnerable adults, will have completed additional recruitment procedures and in addition have obtained a satisfactory PVG Check from Disclosure Scotland.

All staff and volunteers are expected to adhere to SCIAF’s Safeguarding Policy and a Code of Conduct which specifies the attitudes and behaviours that all staff and volunteers are expected to maintain.