Page 4 - November December 2014

President’s Car
The dust has now settled after this year’s Convention and we now look forward to the year ahead. I hope I can inspire and enthuse all members to share their knowledge and expertise both in these pages and in the groups and meets across the Region. For those who are relatively new to North American model railroading (or railroad modelling), I hope you find the information you are looking for and receive the encouragement to seek out more. In short, I hope I we deliver.
My aspiration for the period of my term in office is that I can lead by example and also encourage many others of you to volunteer your time in one way or another. Although part of me believes there is a volunteer in every member just waiting to get out, you always need the right encouragement to do it. At the AGM there was overwhelming support for the “Back to Basics” project of producing a four-page insert every issue of Roundhouse on various aspects of our hobby. We will need a veritable army of authors to share their know-how of the different scales/gauges; how to layout plan; implement oper- ations on your layout; baseboard construction; modules; wiring; DCC; scenery and so on.
Although there is some concern about the drop in member numbers, it is also important to find out why they are not renewing. Sometimes there is little or nothing we can do about reasons such as a change of modelling interests, old age and infirmity, ill health etc. However, when someone says they did not get value for money or membership was not what they were hoping for, we do need to get more details and find out where we can improve. Sometimes the members themselves have not helped by requesting no contact and giving scant details about their interests. That said, we must always strive to do better and avoid complacency.
One member not renewing actually said that he found Roundhouse disappointing throughout his first year until the recent October issue – I think this was a reference to its in- creased modelling content. I asked another member who is on basic membership what it would take to re-subscribe for Region Services, and he said that he would like to see more modelling content in Roundhouse and less “This is what I did on my holidays”. In contrast to all of this, there was a vote of thanks from all present at the AGM to Martin Boyask for making Roundhouse the fabulous read that it is. It just goes to show that we will never please everybody all of the time. But there is a message for us there.
The BOD picked up Jim Dickinson’s suggestion and have begun to make it a reality, at least for part one. But we can only make it a permanent reality if we collectively offer our assistance in writing about the expertise we have. In addition to the “Back to Basics” series, how about more articles on our layouts? Let us move on from how we got started to what we did once we got into it. When I see you at Region Meets, Conventions and Group Meets I may well ask you to produce an article on your group, your layout, your plans, how you built something on display, how you organised the clinics you run, etc. If the response I have had over the past few weeks either side of Convention is anything to go by, there are a number of articles coming to Martin for publication, two new volunteers for vacant roles and a new group about to start up. Please do not run away if you see me coming!
From Keith Webb
I wish to thank all those the members who expressed their gratitude and thanks to me for my two years as President. Many thanked me at the Convention, and others by email and on Facebook. It is your appreciation that makes the investment worthwhile. Thank you.
Also, as I said in my report, it was very much a Team Effort, and would not have worked as well but for the hard work put in by the other members of the Team, not just limited to the BoD, but
Mike Arnold
On new groups, having
been instrumental in
helping start a number over
the past 15 years, I can only
say that most members are
just waiting for someone
near them to say, “I am
having a session on my
railroad on such and such a
date, who would like to
come over?” If you look at a
map of where our groups
are, you can see large gaps;
whilst some members drive
or take a train a long way to
attend some groups, most
members are increasingly
reluctant to travel too far. Something more local, perhaps using the round robin hosting like the SWANS or the Kent & East Sussex groups, is a way of reaching out. I firmly believe in the phrase from the film Field of Dreams: “Build it and they will come.” Decide a date for a meet at your place (or somewhere) and then publicise it – they will come. Perhaps not a lot, but some will respond. That is how many of the existing groups today got started.
For those who do not want to get involved in groups, or can’t due to lack of transport or mobility, what else can we do? We are limited by two factors – our imagination, and members willing to make it happen. Assuming we could fulfil both re- quirements, we have a very dynamic model. So as an example of this, I wonder if we can put together a sort of Member Aid Plus package of members who are skilled and willing to go out to other members and help them plan, design and even con- struct a layout, or visit and resolve wiring issues, explain decoders and DCC?
Team Phoenix is not dead; I plan to have a meeting or two with Ant Quinlan and Steve Scott to discuss their findings and recommendations to date, based on discussions with members through the website forum and at Meets. From this I will take to the BOD a list of projects where further work can be done to explore ways of enhancing membership value.
Finally, the Convention was a time of celebration, as well as fun, education and retail therapy. We celebrated:
• the award this year of two MMRs (Master Model Railroaders)
to Alain Kap and Kathy Millatt;
• Martin Boyask received his Fellow of the NMRA award (he
can now apparently put the initials FA after his name!);
• John Firth was awarded Freedom of the Region for his committed services to Region on membership matters for
longer than I can recall;
• Martyn Read was awarded the Golden Spike for his work on
the website and forum, Team Phoenix and more particularly
as an ambassador for HO modular modelling; and
• Certificates of Appreciation were issued by the BOD to 12 members for their efforts over a number of years for the
benefit of Region and its members.
So until next time, when I hope to report progress on a whole host of matters and ideas for other projects.
including those that gave up their own time for the good of others, which is now being recognised where that service to the membership is exceptional, thanks to an idea brought to us by Mike Hughes.
Please can I ask that you support Mike, Steve, John, Peter and Paul as you did me, and the best way to do this is to help out in any way you can. You will be surprised how good it feels to give something back, especially when it’s appreciated. Thank you.
4 ROUNDHOUSE