Out and About — Archives

National Group AGM, Rolleston on Dove, Staffs, 16 June 2007

Words and photos by Heather Kavanagh

For a change, the weather was not bright and sunny for an S7 meeting. The dark clouds, occasional torrential downpours, and the previous day’s flooding in parts of the UK, didn’t seem to bode well for attendance at this year’s AGM in the Scout Hall.

Regardless of the weather, we arrived shortly after 9.30 to find the car park brimming and lots of activity around the hall.

The East Staffs Area Group had set up their exhibition layout Ellerton Road, which was available for running sessions all day. Tony Wright, Assistant Editor of British Railway Modelling magazine, had been invited in order to take the layout’s official portraits. Rob Thompson was also there with Tinkers Green Sidings. Trade support was from Laurie Griffin and Peter Hunt. Len Newman was unable to attend this year.

The catering was once again provided by Carole Stokes, with assistance from a family friend. The spread was excellent, and was much appreciated by the members who attended the event. Thank you, Carole, for your hard work, both in preparation and on the day.

The AGM business went off well, with a new committee member being elected. Emma Eatwell will take over the duties of Newsletter Editor in due course. Important news was given about the S7 loco wheels project, which should soon be taking off in a big way. Members will learn more about this in Newsletter 69. Publicity was also discussed, and various high quality display items were shown.

As ever, an enjoyable day out—even if your correspondent began the day with a stiff neck and ended it with raging toothache! It’s always good to meet up with old friends, make new ones, and to see what the members get up to with their modelling.

The 2008 AGM will be held at a new venue. Full details will be provided nearer the time.

National Group Meeting, Newport, South Wales, March 2007

Words by Heather Kavanagh

The Chairman and Secretary set off from Chatham at around 7am, and after what can only be described as a pretty tedious but essentially uneventful journey around the M25 and along most of the M4, muttered about the expense of crossing the Severn (£5.10, but at least they let you back into England for free!), and arrived at the St Julian’s church hall in bright spring sunshine (there’s a theme developing here!) shortly after 10am.

The hall was already bustling, with two layouts being assembled, and various demos being organised. For a change, we only brought a small amount to show, and set up a table in a corner nestled against the fiddle yard end of Peter Drost’s Tanat Valley layout. In the opposite corner, Rob Thompson was setting up his Tinkers Green Sidings layout, with a little assistance from Dave Nicholson. The latter had settled on demonstrating track construction, as opposed to DCC, only he’d neglected to bring any rail with him. Undeterred, he spent the day showing various techniques he uses to build S7 track—the emphasis being on “it’s really quite easy”.

Alan Benson brought along various beautifully finished models, and an almost-completed GWR steam railmotor. He settled down to demonstrate wagon building, but was so busy talking to everyone that as far as I could tell nothing was actually done to his demo piece. The railmotor found a home on Peter’s layout, where it trundled back and forth eliciting comments about smooth running.

It was pleasing to see Bill Bedford showing off some of his etched work. I don’t know how much business he did, but he certainly spent a lot of time in deep conversation with various people. Later in the day he was found playing trains on the Tanat Valley.

Heather spent the day taking detailed photos of the layouts, and “studio” shots of the various models on display. Just after lunch, it became obvious that a wedding was taking place in the church next door. The warm spring sunshine couldn’t have been better.

While the attendance was somewhat down on previous meetings at this venue, the day was pleasant, with lots of interesting things to see and talk about. As ever, the catering was excellent. We made our weary way eastwards along the M4, having had an enjoyable day out. Our thanks to Peter Drost for organising an excellent meeting.