Page 5 - September October 2017

Welcome to my sixth edition of ‘From the Head End’.
Where has this year gone?
Five months ago I was on a cross-country train heading to Crewe for Calder Northern’s splendid spring extravaganza at the amazing Crewe Heritage Centre with its wonderful vintage signal box, APT (Advanced Passenger Train), excellent exhibition layouts and above all, warm, friendly welcoming people! thank you to Les Herriot and Terry Wynne at the Calder Northern Division and all their fellow volunteers for all they do throughout each year to sustain and nurture this amazing venue as a rail heritage cen- tre including a marvellous vintage free bus service running between Crewe Station and the Heritage Centre itself.
It was great to have the opportunity
to meet up with fellow NMRA BR
members from across the country
Les Herriot and his colleague George
Neyman, Terry Wynne, Steve Parks
from Leeds, Keith Orchard from Chepstow, Gordy Rob- inson from Scotland, Ant Quinlan from London, Robin Swan from Wokingham and other friends along with lots of new introductions.
Check out their terrific website http://caldernorthern.uk/ to read the intriguing story of Calder Northern’s Crewe Heritage Centre.
Four things stood out in my mind about this excellent event.
Firstly, the very existence of survival of this marvel- lous venue relies so heavily on the remarkable range of skills and tenacity of an exceptionally dedicated committed and hard-working handful of volunteers putting in years of totally gifted unpaid time.
Secondly, the Calder Northern’s hard work in so successfully promoting the event and gathering the wide range of volunteers to enable so many different
aspects of the centre to be open and enjoyed by the many, many visitors.
Thirdly, the support of many stalwart NMRA BR members making the jour- ney to and from Crewe, a rail pilgrim- age in its own right.
Fourthly, the Crewe Heritage Centre’s geographic location and excellent train services enabled many NMRA BR members to attend and meet up with each other as well as enabling some key informal discussions about the development and future care of the NMRA British region.
Thank you Calder Northern for an excellent event!
I look forward to meeting you at the 9 and 10 September Freemo event at Armitage, Staffordshire and the 4 and 5 November Freemo event at Henton near Wells, Somerset as well as this year’s convention at Derby!
Please introduce yourselves.
Please be assured that I look forward to meeting you and to hear first hand from you about what you enjoy (and don’t enjoy) about the NMRA BR so your views can be considered by the BoD as the BoD considers the care and future development of the Region and its membership.
Please let me know if you’d like to volunteer – we need your help! We’d love to hear from you! There are several roles that need filling. And volunteering can count towards the Achievement Programme!
Happy railroad modelling!
David McLaughlin
Vice President
NMRA British Region Election Results for the 2017-2018 Term
Following the August 1st deadline, just one nomination for each for the five posts on the BoD was received, so the BoD will become at the AGM:
• New President David McLaughlin, stepping up from Vice-President and taking over from Robin Swan
• New Vice-President Charles Hendy, a new face on the BOD
• Secretary Antony Quinlan continuing in post
• Treasurer Chris James continuing in post
• Membership Director Peter Bowen continuing in post
Rai Fenton
Ballot Chairman
October 2017 - ROUNDHOUSE 5