| Jools Townsend, Chief Executive, Community Rail Network Posted by grahame at 10:38, 23rd April 2026 |     |
Just received ...
Dear Community Rail Network member,
I am writing to let you all know that, with heavy heart, I will be leaving Community Rail Network at the end of June, after nine and a half years in post.
I am so proud of everything we have achieved together over the years, and the incredibly impactful and influential place that the community rail movement has landed in, thanks to the efforts and passion of everyone involved. I know that community rail, and Community Rail Network, has a brilliant future ahead.
However, the time is right for me to move on to pastures new and fresh challenges. I am moving on to become chief executive of the Institute for Social Value, taking an array of enriching experience that I’ve gained influencing a more socially minded and beneficial railway, and growing a national membership organisation. I do hope we will stay in touch and that there will be opportunities to work together again in the future.
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I am writing to let you all know that, with heavy heart, I will be leaving Community Rail Network at the end of June, after nine and a half years in post.
I am so proud of everything we have achieved together over the years, and the incredibly impactful and influential place that the community rail movement has landed in, thanks to the efforts and passion of everyone involved. I know that community rail, and Community Rail Network, has a brilliant future ahead.
However, the time is right for me to move on to pastures new and fresh challenges. I am moving on to become chief executive of the Institute for Social Value, taking an array of enriching experience that I’ve gained influencing a more socially minded and beneficial railway, and growing a national membership organisation. I do hope we will stay in touch and that there will be opportunities to work together again in the future.
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Searching back on the forum, I'm amazed to find so few references to Jools - only half a dozen public threads. An odd time, on her departure, for me to start a thread, but never mind ...
The time that Jools came on board was the time the organisation moved from ACoRP to CRN, and from its original objectives to the four pillars. As an organisation that was set up in the 90s to get bums on seats on lines that were struggling, it had been so successful that it had worked itself out of the need for that role - look at Barnstaple or Exmouth then, and today.
