Page 4 - NMRA Roundhouse September October 2020

It is with great sadness and regret that I have to advise you that our annual Con- vention in Derby has been cancelled for 2020. Our discussions with convention organiser Steve Dennison, was that this is to protect the health and well being of all those who would have attended.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Steve and his team at the Black Diamonds who have worked tirelessly to put on this year’s Convention and I hope that they will be in a position to agree to carry forward their prepara- tions to 2021.
Following the sad and untimely passing of Richard Maxwell in March, a num-
ber of NMRA BR members voluntarily stepped forward to assist the family with his railroad collection.
His personal collection is extensive but he was also the custodian of brass mod- els held on behalf of members for whom he enjoyed locating new buyers.
I would like to thank members who have assisted the family with the identifica- tion, cataloguing, and preparing extensive spreadsheets in this respect. In particular Mike Arnold,Tom Watson, Steve Scott, and Peter Gibbs for their considerable time. I know the family is highly appre- ciative of their time and effort.
In life, there are certain conversations which we are reluctant or refuse to have with members of our families or even our friends. One of those is what happens after our death and the implica- tions that our passing brings. For those left behind there is the responsibility of dealing with the estate of the deceased, be it a small estate or something much more complicated.
In an ideal world we should all consider drawing up a Last Will and Testament to aid those left to deal with our estate the guidance and instructions they require to pass on those items we specially
want individuals to receive. Our model railroad collection can only be a small part of our estate, but an important part to the deceased. For whatever reason, only known to each individual, some people are reluctant to draw up a will and therefore die intestate.This in turn can place an additional strain and burden on those family members and also the executors. Please go to our Website and spend a few minutes reading ‘Disposing of Model Railroad Estates’.
I appreciate that this is a very difficult subject to raise with you all and some of you may feel uncomfortable reading this, but we should nevertheless sit down with our families and possibly a friend and have that conversation. I have with my wife.
I would like to reinforce the ‘Brew and Natter’ Saturday morning meetings which have been taking place over the past several months and outlined by Gordy Robinson in the last issue.
They are an innovative and exciting
new way for the membership to keep
in touch. Meetings commence at 10am and run until 12 noon on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month.
An email message is sent two days prior to the meeting to all members who have agreed to be contacted as a reminder that the meetings will be taking place and the message gives the details of how to login and join.
To date, we have had clinics on airbrush- ing, scratch building wood structures and bridges, scenery, layout design, remote control HO scale vehicles, a layout tour from Dave Gunn MMR® who resides in Canada, and we even have had members remotely operating a layout in Australia during one of these Saturday morning meetings.
More interesting and exciting topics are planned for future sessions.As I have said, the meetings start at 10am and usually average 18 to 20 members taking part each time.They are friendly and there for your enjoyment and partici- pation.There is no obligation to attend for the full two hours, I know members
may have commitments on a Saturday morning; but consider making the time, even for half an hour.
I hope in the future to see you on a Brew and Natter meeting which is our opportunity to connect with each other and “share know-how”.
Another exciting virtual event took place between the 12th -18th July, 2020, the GatewayX Virtual Convention replacing the National NMRA Convention which was due to be held in St. Louis.
I enjoyed a number of these live online clinics, scheduled for EDT, (eastern day- light time) and therefore 5 hours behind the UK so there were a few late nights, early mornings but they were worth it. These are now all available to watch on YouTube - search for NMRAx.
This was all arranged by Gordy Robin- son and a few other members in Austral- ia and USA and what a job they did to bring this all together for our enjoyment.
The BoD is aware that some members have experienced difficulties with the receipt of their NMRA magazine these last few months. Strenuous efforts have been made by James Lucas, NMRA BR Registrar to resolve the issues and back copies have been distributed to those affected.
The BoD is in discussion with NMRA National to ensure that members re- ceive their magazine promptly in future.
Finally, I regret to inform you that an- other Past President has recently passed away, John Spratley. He was President between 1986/87, 1987/88, and 2009/10.
I am pleased to announce that we will be holding a Virtual Convention with Live Clinics 19th - 24th October 2020.
The Annual General Meeting will be presented live on Webex at 4pm on the 24th October 2020
Members please see the email that will be sent to you with the joining instruc- tions for the live clinics and AGM. The AGM Agenda and Reports are available on the members area of the website.
Charles Hendy
President NMRA British Region
president@nmrabr.org.uk
PRESIDENT’S CAR
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ROUNDHOUSE - September/October 2020 - 75th Anniversary Issue