16 May 2025

Agenda

1. Restoniversary itinerary
2. Welcome Week activities
3. Website and privacy notice
4. Committee group chat
5. #political-discussion incident in the Discord server
6. Any other business

Attendance

Introduction

• Meeting starts at 18:06.
• Liam welcomes those present to the inaugural meeting of the 2025–26 committee.

Restoniversary itinerary

• Options for the morning train are limited to 09:33 (arrive in Reston at 10:14) and 11:33 (arrive in Reston at 12:14). We will take the 09:33 train, which we expect will still be suitable for most attendees.
• We will travel onward from Reston to Berwick-upon-Tweed. The soonest option is the 253 at 10:58. The next option is 12:58.
• In good weather, we can take a bus for part of the distance and walk along the coast for the remaining distance. The ECML can be crossed at Lamberton, Loughend, or Marshall Meadows. 
• In poor weather, we can travel straight to Berwick-upon-Tweed.
• We will travel back to Edinburgh from Berwick-upon-Tweed. If we decide on a return service, we can advertise this alongside the announcement, so attendees can book TPE advances with student discounts if they choose to.
• We will make members aware of the walking component and encourage them to bring appropriate footwear.
• Eyemouth and St Abbs were also noted for onward travel from Reston. We can consider them for future Restoniversaries.
• Liam will make Jamie aware of the arrangements, for graphics.

Welcome Week

• Last year, the Society hosted a welcome talk, a coffee morning and walk, and a day trip to Glasgow. These events were very successful but the trip to Glasgow was noted as being difficult for the committee to keep on top of on the day. This was partly attributed to attendees leaving without informing committee.
• This year, the Society will host a welcome talk, a coffee morning, and day trip to Dunfermline.
• For the coffee morning, we plan on visiting Black Medicine Coffee, as the Society did last year. It’s a student society-friendly location and worked well last year. It could be followed by a similar/the same walk as last year or a visit to Waverley station.
• Options discussed for the Welcome Week trip included Glasgow, Dunfermline, Wemyss Bay and Rothesay, and Stirling. Wemyss Bay and Rothesay will be considered for a potential second September trip. Stirling will be held for later in the year, when first-years are more likely to have obtained a Young Scot card (i.e., to access Stirling Castle). Of Glasgow and Dunfermline, the latter was preferred by the committee members present. It was also noted for incorporating a journey over the Forth Bridge.
• The Students’ Association imposes a maximum number of tickets, but the Society will not further restrict ticket availability. This is to minimise the impact of someone claiming a ticket and not attending on the day.
• The Borders Railway tenth anniversary being on 6 September was also noted, but will be considered separately for a pre-Welcome Week or informal trip.

Website

• Seb presented a prototype version of the RailSoc website, which will be accessible at www.railsoc.eu.
• A self-hosted instance of the Ghost content management system will be used for the website. The Society will not incur server infrastructure costs, as Seb already has access to a server for personal use with sufficient leftover resources to run the Society website. This arrangement remains feasible for the foreseeable future.
• Any committee member who would like access to post content on the website will have an account set up for them by Seb.
• Seb presented a privacy notice that would allow the Society to send its newsletter using the website. Members’ personal data will be processed under the legal basis of legitimate interests. Seb has completed a legitimate interests assessment, which was approved by the committee alongside the privacy notice. Both documents will be available from the website. The legitimate interests basis means that data can be retrieved from the Students’ Association dashboard without members needing to explicitly opt-in.
• There is no scheduled release date for the website at present. Content from the old blog, plus other information from previous years (e.g., previous committees) will be added in due course.

Committee group chat

• It was noted that not all members of the 2025–26 committee use Discord and that a WhatsApp group chat would be a suitable alternative that includes all committee members.
• Seb will access the RailSoc Instagram account and ask Eli and Cal for their numbers for the group chat. Phone numbers can be obtained on the Reston trip, if necessary, too.
• Access to the WhatsApp group chat will be restricted to current committee. Liam will consider whether to continue providing access to committee channels for ex-commitee members on the Discord server.

Political discussion

• The committee agrees that, given the sensitive nature of this item, notes concerning individual members, their complaints, or disciplinary considerations will be redacted from the minutes. Seb will produce an unredacted, committee-only copy and a redacted, public copy.
• It was noted that a conversation held on 15 May 2025 in the #political-discussion channel became uncivil and veered into topics the committee were unwilling to facilitate the discussion of in their Discord server, i.e., trans rights in relation to the Supreme Court judgment given on 16 April 2025.
• Liam intervened to lock the channel. Seb later made the channel inaccessible to non-committee members and it was archived.

10 items redacted

• The committee noted that, while the #political-discussion channel was created with good intentions, it may have encouraged members to discuss political topics that otherwise would have been withheld from the #off-topic channel.

1 item redacted

• The committee agreed that people of all political views and affilitations may wish to engage with the Society and that they should be welcome to, so long as they respect the Society’s rules and Constitution.
• The committee agreed on the importance of the Discord server being a safe space for all its members, and that steps should be taken to reaffirm this. The committee were split on how best to do so, with some favouring a specific announcement and others concerned that this may implicitly single out individuals. The exact approach will be determined following the meeting. The necessity of the Discord being a safe space for trans people was also reaffirmed.

1 item redacted

• The committee regretted that the incident occurred and agreed that the #political-discussion channel would not be reinstated. It will be deleted in due course.

Any other business

• The Treasurer and the Secretary meowed.
• Meeting ends at 20:06.

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