Page 17 - November December 2014

Some of the Awards at the Convention
Above left: A very surprised John Firth receives the Freedom of the Region NMRA British Region 2014 Convention at Bournemouth
Above right: Alan Crooks receives his Certificate of Appreciation from President Mike Arnold NMRA British Region 2014 Convention at Bournemouth
Left: Alain Kap receives his MMR award from Keith Webb, outgoing President
Chewing the Convention Fat
Once again I have just come back from a very well-run conven- tion at Bournemouth and a big WELL DONE to the folks who took the time and trouble to organise it. Thank you very much from all of our group who attended.
While we were there, there was a lot of the usual chat about the ups and downs of membership, probably more about the downs than the ups. Here I would just like to express my own obser- vations with regard to these matters. First I must agree with the consensus that computers and now tablets, and mobile phones have been our arch-rival for quite a long time and to some extent we have managed to hold our own. Although over the years membership has slowly declined, we really have not done too badly.
In the past our publicity has not done us too many favours, leaving much to be desired, but since Mike Hughes and his team have grabbed that nettle, things are beginning to brighten up, and with some very good results I am sure on their way. The other thing that is also beginning to happen, is that the hobby is slowly being more accepted by the media, thus meaning that we are not quite so lowly thought of as we used to be (grown men playing with trains), this from the folk who don’t know the difference between a train and a loco. This needs pushing more to indicate the skills and dedication required to build something or anything even.
We definitely need more exposure, which means getting more people in front of our layouts, without any “keep off” signs, and please do thrust a controller in their hands at every opportunity. We have all got to remember when we started out; I for one didn’t know a point from a switch or a manifest from a com-
Allan Dobson
bine. I had to try to learn a new language and so have others, so we really do need to talk to them. Our group have been talking to the public over 12 years and grown a group from two to 34. We lose members just like everyone else, and the reasons are probably just as valid as we have heard from the NMRA.
We even persuaded nearly 20 of them to join the NMRA, which was quite a good effort on our part at the time, but the NMRA hasn’t managed to hang on to them all. Some have said, “What does the NMRA do for me?” We know about the Standards and the good works, but they see that all in the past, not really realising that that’s what makes our trains run so well now. Then we hear about elitism; a lot of folk view it this way, examples offered are the Awards and the Competitions, both with loads of paperwork.
We don’t have anything small for cutting one’s teeth on; the Diorama Competition last year was the first chance for the novice to start and finish something that didn’t cost a lot, and get some satisfaction. What happened, not repeated, another chance lost, I am sure that a year later if it had been pushed again you would have had far more entries. This could be the first step for the newcomer, then why not a small layout or module, second step, then perhaps something a little better. Then on to the Award Scheme? Just a few small steps instead of having to climb scaffolding before you can start.
Just one view, but at least it exercised my brain for a while, and at least with all this writing I get to put letters after my name and Martin gets a bit more grist for his mill.
DEcEmbER 2014 17