West Wilts Rail User Group
AGM▸ last night / Swan Hotel, Bradford-on-Avon, followed by a talk from the Rev David Hardy, a Volunteer Chaplain - "Some confessions of a Railway Chaplain^. The AGM confirmed the exisiting officers and committee in place, all of whom were nominated prior to the meeting and returne unopposed. A report from the chair (previousely delivered by post / hand in some towns to save postage) was adopted. as were reports from the membership secretary and treasurer which were deliverd on the night. The one committee change during the past year had been the retirement of Janet Repton - a founder member - after more than 25 years, and the group wished here well with a "thank you" card for the future - co-opted and now permanent is Richard Cowell, who is also their webmaster. The chair asked for a show of hands from people who would prefer the quartertly newsletter to be distributed electronically and drew a handful of positive responses; he drew somewhat more positive responses to a question as to whether people would accept the newsletter electronically. It was pointed out from the floor that the uptake of reading an emailed newsletter is less than the uptake of reading a postal item (which people have more of a tendency to come back to, and to read beyond page 1). We were informed that distribution needed to be one way or the other due to the additional workload of producing and managing two versions, and that the newsletter will remain printed. The newsletter is not available online - some information is available on the web site as an encouragement to get involved and join, and there are 100 members (2014 signed up) - "a three figure number is very good for a rurally based society". West Wilts Rail User group are at
http://www.wwrug.org.ukDavid Hardy's main confession was that he has additional motivation in a love of trains, and he treated a receptive audience to a wide-ranging slide show of trains and railwaymen taken over the years, including many locomotives, signal boxes and depots that are no longer with us. Warm applause concluded his talk, after which everyone left for their trains home.
The next meet up is on 9th June at the Avon Valley Countryside Park, where there will be an opportunity to drive the minature railway - anyone interested was asked to sign up with the chair. The next full public meeting will be on 24th September at the Railway Inn, Westbury. Speaker yet to be announced; there has been some difficulty in finding a suitable speaker, and we were given to understand that prospecive speakers often take a while to reply to say "sorry, no" which makes the booking process a long one. Following meetings will be in Warminster, but not at Bridge House in Trowbridge as that will no longer be avaiable as a venue. An informal request was made to let the Committee know of other suitable and low cost venues for future meetings as the 40 to 50 pound hiring cost takes a signifciant sum from the group's income.
The packed room at "The Swan" indicates very clearly a bustling group with a good following, and many of their members do excellent volunteer work at the stations and are very much ambassadors for rail services. A significant number have also helped us with the TransWilts and will - I'm sure - continue to do so. I find the meetings to be somewhat unrelated to current travel and rail news ... but then that's not really what the people who avidly read the newsletter and attend these quartely meetings are seeking - otherwise the group wouldn't have such strong membership after so many years, turning out on a winter's evening to Bradford-on-Avon.
