Winchester Railway Modellers

WINCHESTER RAILWAY MODELLERS

CHAIRMANS CHATTER

Chairman's Chatter is compiled quarterly by our Chairman John Shaw. John summarizes the latest developments in the club covering general news, exhibition reports, developments in the clubs layouts, and any other notices. To view a Chairman's Chatter simply click the relevant link, or scroll down for the latest edition.

The current year, and previous year, chairmans chatter's are available by following these links below. Previous years Chairmans Chatter are available in the archive

Jan 23	Apr 23	Jul 23	Oct_23
Jan 24	Apr 24	Jul 24	Oct_24

Chairmans Chatter
October 2024

General News

Our weekly meetings are continuing with good attendance. Thank you to all the speakers and presenters. Halls will continue to be booked in advance, but the venue may change to suit the topic, so always check, please. Please remember to renew your subscriptions NOW. If there is a change in circumstance, please advise Tony so we can keep our records correct.

Redbridge Wharf won “Best in Show” at the GETS exhibition at Milton Keynes against stiff opposition. This is down to the whole Redbridge Wharf team for their hard work over the years, especially when we have had no regular testing time at a clubroom. We now have a second trophy to display alongside the Bachmann plaque from Warley.

Update on Premises

That nicely leads on to clubroom. We wait for a final decision on new club premises. We should know during December but do not wish to tempt fate! As explained during the A.G.M., to cover the increased costs, we have had to increase the subscriptions. I believe that this is still good value given we shall have a permanent clubroom with a long rental agreement. As a matter of interest, if we had increased our monthly rent to the landlord by 5% each year since we took Itchen Stoke, we should have been paying £3,500 when we left Itchen Stoke in 2023 instead of the £1,000 requested.

Proposed New layout

Our planned new layout(s) will be discussed in the planned forthcoming meetings. We need to narrow down choices and start to add detail. We may have access to a ‘new build’ area later in the year and it would be good to make progress to be able to utilise this offer. We have two main options, both of which can progress. The new club layout is for all members to be involved in and construction will be aimed at having this layout available in a new club room for members to work on and eventually exhibit.
The second option is a “modular” type layout where members have the baseboards at home and build in their style etc., with a common scale/gauge and tracks crossing the baseboard joins at agreed positions.

Redbridge Wharf

Thanks to Gavin, we have the use of Bishopstoke Evangelical Church Hall again from Monday 13^th January from 09.00 until Saturday 17.00. Planning details will be sent out nearer the time but PLEASE try to keep these days clear so running experience can be obtained before our next exhibition. On this occasion, there will be no open day, but several full running sessions are planned to help with familiarisation.

Dates for your diary

Meetings continue every Wednesday except for the Christmas period, and a new diary is enclosed. Please keep suggesting subjects and we shall attempt to find a presenter for that evening.

All images hosted on Flickr