Page 5 - November December 2007

due to the change to GMT from BST), but the Train Show stayed open, with a fair few members wandering the floor until around 12:30.
Next year’s Convention is returning to Kegworth; followed by Swindon in 2009. We are now open to bids for the 2010 Convention.
The Reorganisation of the Region
The BOD has been working on over- hauling and reorganising the British Region, to streamline and improve its operation. We also became aware recently that National has decided to ensure that all Divisions comply with strict rules and regulations with regard to officeholders etc. This is very oppor- tune timing, assisting the development of our ideas. The precise details of this will not be known until the National BOD meeting in January. We shall con- tinue to develop our future plans for the region, but we cannot release the potential changes in detail until we have confirmed that the new structure will conform to any requirements being set down by National. To give an overview of the plans to date, we are intending to change the structure in a small way; as discussed at the AGM, this may need to remove the title of Division and Sub- Division from the name of the group. The new title is still under review. The main reason behind this is to break with the old structure and draw a line in the sand, and then we can easily move for- ward into the future. Name notwith- standing, the idea is that where a group of like-minded people, whether NMRA members or not, gather routinely to
further their modelling aims, this shall be called a modelling group with the new name, which might be, say, a ‘District’. These Districts will manage themselves however they wish, and home location shall not make, or pre- vent, a member from joining this District. If a District has an NMRA membership of more than 50% and a management team of more than 50% NMRA members, they will become recognised by the Region and could receive benefits, which are yet to be fully identified, but might include the overall liability insurance scheme cur- rently being instigated. We shall also split the country into several ‘Areas’ for publicity and initial contact purposes. We are unsure as yet how many, but it is likely to be in the region of six to eight. These areas will have a representative appointed by the BOD, who will have the responsibility of looking after the needs of the members, prospective, new, or established, in their area – an Area Contact if you will. Further news will be forthcoming in the next few editions of Roundhouse.
Dues Payments
The BOD has investigated various methods of improving the way the members pay their annual dues. We have decided to instigate two new methods of payment; hopefully one or the other could be available for use by April, but it us highly improbable that both will be available this year. Essentially these new methods will be direct debit, where after completing the required form we will be able to
approach your bank to pay the Region directly each year. This will ensure your membership never lapses accidentally; this is the preferred method and will result in ease and convenience for both parties. We require a minimum of 100 members to accept this method before we can instruct our bank to collect the dues this way, and we therefore need to survey the membership in order to confirm we have the minimum number necessary to instigate Direct Debit pay- ments. The other new method will be by PayPal. All of you who are regulars at eBay will know this system, and if you are on-line it is a convenient method to pay,butofcourseitwillnotautomatically pay your dues each year, so you will still need to instigate this personally each year. Where this method will score, is for our overseas members, and new mem- bers who discover us on the web and will be able to join instantly. Of course the good old cheque method of paying will remain for those who prefer to pay this way.
Grants
Just a reminder to Divisions out there – the Grants Policy for next year is now open for applications. For a complete set of guidelines please see the website.
Now that the clocks have gone back, and the dark winter nights are drawing in, we all now have time to model again. I look forward to seeing the results of your efforts at future meets and conventions.
HaveFun
Contest Results from the Convention
Terry Wynne – Contest Chairman
Steam Locomotives
Kathy Millatt
On30 0-4-0 Porter
89 pts (Merit Award) and Best (model) in Show
Diesel & Other
Robin Arkinstall
O scale Pair of GE 70t Diesels
71pts
Freight Car
Eric Belshaw
B&O Boxcars #s 12 & 45
75 pts
Caboose
Patrick Cook
HOn3 1940s Caboose
54 pts
Structure Off-Line
Peter Laxton
Eureka Springs Boiler House
88pts (Merit Award)
Photograph
Lindsay Beare
Milwaukee Road #261
First Place & Best (photo) in Show Prototype Colour Print
Photograph
Mark Ward
‘Roundhouse’
First Place Model Colour Print (Alton Meet)
Ladies’ Contests
Noleen Park
Flower Colour Prints
First Place
Hannah Wain
Long stitch & Cross stitch Tapestry
First Place
december 2007