Melksham Transport User Group - meetings for 2026

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Public meetings - 12th Mar 2026 (AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting)), 9th Jul, 8th Oct

Final venues and speakers to be announced; meetings planned to be early evening after commuter arrivals back into Melksham - typically 18:30 or 19:00 formal start, and will be somewhere in or near the Town Centre.  All welcome..

The Committee meets every 2 months - dates on the front page at https://www.mtug.org.uk - and the group also has key events such as the Carnival, the River and Food Festival, and the Christmas lights in its diary

[grahame]

From local feeds is Melksham:

Please come along to the MELKSHAM CAMPUS on 12th March 2026 at 18:30 for the Melksham Transport User Group update and AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting). All welcome. Full agenda out by this weekend but it will include:
* An update on current and future train and bus services
* Information at the Station - including joining our team
* Ideas for the Spring and Summer using trains and buses
* Bus stop and railway station updates
* How public transport will help and grow as Melksham grows
* Interaction with rail and bus industry to promote service for Melksham - your inputs please

The 18:30 start allows for arrival by train at 18:00 (for our commuters) and the meeting concludes in good time for you to catch later trains home (if you're visiting from out of town) at 20:22, 20:39 and 21:32 ... or perhaps a social after the meeting - late train at 22:56.

If you're coming into Melksham from the Bath direction, come in on the 16:45 or 17:15 bus. We'll make sure you can catch the 20:26 bus back to Whitley, Atworth and back to Bath as the meeting concludes.  There's a bus at the same time to Devizes.   

[grahame]

On the agenda for tomorrow (12.3.2026 at 18:30 - FAR TOO MUCH ;-) - at the Melksham Campus)

Come along if you want information, if you want to join in, or you just want to support - public and sustainable travel in, to, from and through the wider Melksham area.   We have some exciting projects which are just budding and looking forward at a time of great change, great opportunity, but also great risk.

1 General Public Meeting of MTUG^» (Melksham Transport User Group - site); structure and approach
2 Publicity, support and activity
3 Reports from the region
4 National issues and how they affect us
5 Information Systems including comment on fares
6 The station area now and upcoming and masterplan
7 Other transport NaPTANs (bus stops!)
8 Update on train services
9 Update on bus services
10 Population change, new housing, etc - changing demand
11 Looking ahead with train services
12 Looking ahead with bus services
13 Volunteers and Partnerships
14 Next meetings


Edit note: A few of grahame's typical typos corrected, purely in the interest of clarity here. CfN^▸ (Chris from Nailsea, an administrator on this forum).

[grahame]

Edit note: A few of grahame's typical typos corrected, purely in the interest of clarity here. CfN^▸ (Chris from Nailsea, an administrator on this forum).

Thanks for that - hopefully I corrected most in this graphic:



Here's the circular email just sent out as a final call to attend

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please find attached running oder / agenda notes for this evening and minutes from the committee meeting a month ago.  The running order document include links to many other documents too.

This is a circular email. Please share as and if appropriate - all are welcome  … And if you have already sent apologies, please forgive this circular repeat and I already have your apologies.    If you can’r make this evening - don’t worry;  this is a silly-busy month and day, and slides and news will be online afterwards and through (I hope and thank you) the Melksham News.

Finally - massive “thank you” to everyone circulated and readers who have been are are doing so much to support MTUG^» (Melksham Transport User Group - site) and public and sustainable transport in the Melksham area.  This is a year of great change - of great opportunity but of great risk too.   It’s also the year where we’re moving from a few of us doing a lot towards a far wider community and partnership involvement as we help current transport information, use and improvement in the Melksham area - for this week, this summer, next year, and the next decade as Melksham grows and changes.

I look forward to seeing those of you who can make this evening - packed agenda!

Graham

Graham Ellis - graham@sn12.net
Links via https://www.sn12.net
07974 925 928 / 01225 708225
48 Spa Road, Melksham SN12 7NY, UK^▸ (United Kingdom)

and the committee minutes, etc, are mirrored at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/mtugmins_20260212.pdf for Coffee Shop members

[grahame]

Excellent session last night - lots of support from all sorts of groups and good ways forward.   Late arrival took the final seat on the front row - and just about everyone interacted as we went through. 

Slide set below - click on images to bring up full sized.   Minutes to follow.

[TaplowGreen]

"To thank GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) for reliability"?

Seriously?

[grahame]

"To thank GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) for reliability"?

Seriously?

For the local improvement since November last, yes, to acknowledge that it's been much better here than it was.  It has moved away from being so awful that we had given up suggesting some day out options, and indeed last night we heard the horror stories from last summer.   Barring problems over the next few weeks or stormclouds of impending summer failures, we'll be helping tell people about day out and trip opportunities this summer.

[grahame]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

You are all very welcome tomorrow evening (18:30, 9th July 2026) to a someehat informal meeting / update from the Melksham Transport User Group.

Key agenda items  - Melksham Carnival (easy event and not much preps)
- Summer promotions. Note in my Weymouth report we need to be careful not to oversell and create crowd headaches
- Start to pick up Information at the Station - I will be heavy in that though the autumn
- GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) nationalisation, more for info; report on GWR conference from last week

We are at something of a lull in many activities - avoiding any "campaign fatigue" but yet ready for a very busy autumn and winter.  Personally, this has been an opportune window for me to travel - a pleasure, but also an opportunity learn, compare and contrast to be more knoweldgable as we more forward.
If you're not easily able to make it tomorrow - don't worry - no major decisions.  But please do let me know if you're able to walk or ride with us (we have a Faresaver bus) in the Melksham Carnival early evening of 18th.  Always fun!

Graham (Chair of the group)

P.S. Dates for the rest of the year, as per our web site:
Full meets - 9th Jul, 8th Oct 2026
Committee - 11th Jun, 10th Sep, 12th Nov 2026
Events - 18th Jul 2026, 5th Dec 2026
Newsletters - April, Aug, Nov 2026

P.P.S - this is open to the public - please share, come along even if you haven’t a personal /bcc invite.

48 Spa Road, Melksham, SN12 7NY
graham@sn12.net
07974 925928 or 01225 708225
My emailling policy: https://grahamellis.uk/email