Call for volunteers - 18th July 2026 - Walkers for Melksham Carnival

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Next Saturday (18th July 2026) - Melksham Carnival.  This is a call and briefing for walkers to support the Melksham Transport User Group.

We have a thousand bus and train timetables to hand out and asking if YOU are available to help us.  We have a Faresaver bus promised to follow just behind us - raise awareness and helping us remind people of all the places they can go by bus and train this summer and Autumn.

"Just bring yourself" is the instruction - but please let me know ahead of time if you're coming so that I can brief you as part of our group, and have a group tabard available for you - transport group pink, or environment group green.

We rendezvous at the Central Car Park by 17:30 at the very latest for an 18:00 start.  There are no extra car parking spaces there if you're coming by car - just space for the procession including the bus.  But our team is very welcome to park at our place (48, Spa Road) - arrive there by 17:00 please - for us to walk in to the start.  And we (Lisa and I) will have a supply of cold and hot drinks afterwards.

Key safety rules - organiser's and ours.

1. No alcohol during the event (and my addition, do not drink beforehand either!!)

2. No getting on or off moving vehicles (specifically, the bus will come to a halt to pass down fresh supplies of leaflets and bottled water for the walkers)

3. Your health and safety, and the health and safety of those around you, comes first and second. Getting the message out only comes third.

4. The objective is to promote public transport to, from and within Melksham and the timetable booklet is the ONLY leaflet to be promoted / offered to people. And it should NOT be forced into their hands - only if they want it when offered. I walk the route after the event picking up any discards - historically they will be few even though we start with a darned good supply

5. If people ask questions as we walk, we have very limited time to answer. "Sorry – I don't know" is perfectly valid. I will supply each walker with some black and white sheets with contact details / QR^▸ (QR Code - Quick Response code (2D bar code)) codes so they can be encouraged to follow up for us to get them answers.  These sheets not to be promoted - they are a second level fallback; most of the extra data is in the 36 page booklet anyway.  If in doubt - please call me over; I am there to support walkers.

The weather forecast - thank goodness - is for it to be dry, and somewhat cooler than it has been of late. Excellent.

If you are retuning home from Melksham by train or bus, the parade will conclude in good time to catch the final services to Chippenham and Swindon, to Trowbridge and Westbury, and to Bath and to Devizes. 

Later that evening, the third place playoff for the World Cup takes place, and the following evening it's the final. England are going to be in one of those two matches - there will be some excitement about the forthcoming match but it should not impose on the carnival.

Big, big THANK YOU to Faresaver for the bus, leaflet help and partnership working.



Edit note: Minor typo corrected, purely for clarity. CfN^▸ (Chris from Nailsea, an administrator on this forum).

[Chris from Nailsea]

This is a call and briefing for walkers to support the Melksham Transport User Group.

I will be there - but please don't let that put you off also volunteering to help.

CfN^▸ (Chris from Nailsea, an administrator on this forum). 

[Chris from Nailsea]

With my apologies for possibly rather egging this topic:

I have a personal copy of that 36 page Melksham timetable booklet. It is absolutely brilliant - a reference source for anyone looking to use public transport anywhere in and around Melksham, in precise and clear detail.

It's worth acquiring a copy, free, to keep in your rucksack or handbag (whatever) for reference on any of your excursions.  Particularly as a non-native of Melksham, I do.

CfN^▸ (Chris from Nailsea, an administrator on this forum). 

[grahame]

A huge, huge "Thank You" to Faresaver, their directors, families, driver and bus for joining with MTUG^» (Melksham Transport User Group - site) (Melksham Transport User Group) in the Melksham Carnival yesterday. The streets in the town were lined with people and the parade a long one that had filled up the Central Car Park even before we began with a variety of floats and groups in a wide variety of garbs and vehicles; good to see so many friends on other floats though it did leave us a bit light.



We had up to 1,000 bus and train timetable brochures covering all scheduled public transport in Melksham, and finished the day with only a handful left. Four of us (thank you Sharon, Daniel and Justin who walked with me) handed them out to eager hands who reached out for them; in the crowds, we may have missed a few of you in the speed and density of the event, and if so there are copies available at the TIC^▸ (Tourist Information Centre), the library, the Town Hall and the Melksham Without offices. Melksham Community Bus, Whitley Reading Rooms, Bowerhill Village Hall and some others may have a few copies remaining too.  And copies can also be downloaded from https://www.passenger.chat/mirror/mrug_ttbook_202605.pdf

Melksham has a really varied public transport offering these days - far better for the most part than when I first got involved 20 years ago.   That's a natural progression for the future; I am lucky to have been around though these changes, though elements are still "work in progress".  But, please, use the buses and trains this summer!   The brochure has 4 pages of suggestions - Buses to Lacock, Bradford-on-Avon, Avebury and Stonehenge, to Bath and to Wells. Trains to Cardiff, Southampton, Clifton Down, Gloucester, Weymouth and London.  It also includes travel advice for Bristol, Gatwick, Stansted and Heathrow airports and for ports at Harwich, Portsmouth, Newhaven and Southampton. Please use your public transport and contact us if your would like further help or advice.

[Mark A]

Really good that Faresaver participated.

Mark

[grahame]

Really good that Faresaver participated.

Mark

Indeed - it worked really well for the community and for them.  I love these partnership events.

The Melksham News comes out today ... and from the electronic version, here is the Carnival page banner.  A further worthwhile marketing publicity.

[Chris from Nailsea]

The printed version of Melksham News was delivered here yesterday.  There is a full two-page item about the carnival, including lots of pictures of the participants.

I'm keeping it safe here, ready for grahame's return. 

[grahame]

So ... The Melksham Carnival was a jolly evening for us to dress up, walk around the streets of Melksham, and remind people of the public transport services they have in our town.  Enjoyed and it felt good - but was it effective in reaching people and helping get more bums on seats?   How does one measure such things?

Certainly, as I observe public transport around "here", I see it busier than I can recall in the past. 

In the middle of the day yesterday, I had a little outing from home to Westbury Leigh, walk through the Melksham Town Centre, train to Dilton Marsh. 

The 272 that passed me as I walked to the station wan't quite full and standing but it wasn't far off.  The 69 as I returned though the town a couple of hours later had a sprinkling of people on board and for that service, that's good.  The Town Bus, and also the 47 that passed us under the bridge at Dilton Marsh Station, looked to be carrying fresh air (and on infrequent very local buses the can be a problem.

The 11:31 from Melksham to Westbury picked up 13 people and dropped off 6, leaving with 50 on board - [56/19] in the old measuring system of [[journeys to/from/through][journeys with Melksham end point]]. The return train that called at 14:34 carried 36 into Melksham, dropped off 10, picked up 7 - [43/17].  Neither of those is what I would expect to be busy trains, and in both cases the connector on to/from Dilton Marsh was quieter.

But ... I have no evidence there as to whether or not the carnival walk brought any of those particular passengers - all goes into the melting pot, and the best we can do is work with a feeling that every little bit helps.  Certainly a long way from the days I could go down to the station and watch the bunny rabbits hopping around.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Certainly a long way from the days I could go down to the station and watch the bunny rabbits hopping around.

I remember seeing them - nearly twenty years ago!