Gresley Society Chairman speaks out against statue campaigners

We now have nearly 1,600 signatures on the petition to reinstate Sir Nigel Gresley's mallard - thank you for your support. The campaign continues despite the Gresley Society's apparent implacability. The Society's Chairman, David McIntosh, has broken a lengthy silence on the matter with a rather contemptuous attack on statue campaigners, and on an early contributor to the statue fund who expressed his disagreement with the decision to remove the mallard from the statue. Mr McIntosh is already on the record as saying children are not a target audience for the Gresley Society's efforts. It seems from his latest pronouncement that the Society is in fact solely concerned with 'long-term supporters' (whatever that means), and 'the family' (aka Gresley's grandsons - he has perhaps forgotten that another branch of the family made a substantial contribution to the project before the mallard was axed). It is difficult to see how this stance can be reconciled with the Gresley Society's charitable objects: THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN PARTICULAR BY THE PROMOTION OF INTEREST IN THE LIFE AND WORKS OF SIR NIGEL GRESLEY IN THE FIELD OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. Campaign supporters have pointed out that the Gresley Society appears to be in breach of the 'public benefit' rules within charity law by acting in the interests of a few individuals over and above those of the wider public. We are pursuing this. More details on the campaign website: http://www.gresleyduck.org/gresley-society-chairman-slams-public-interest-in-statue/ In other news, four eminent railway artists (Malcolm Root, Jonathan Clay, Matthew Cousins and Philip D. Hawkins) are supporting the campaign, and have all offered examples of their work, which will be featured on the Sir Nigel Gresley Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sir-Nigel-Gresley/1549224832004990 As ever, please keep your suggestions and ideas for the campaign coming (email libbyranzetta@gmail.com) Best wishes Libby #savetheduck