Thames Valley Group Spring Newsletter

Dear L & B Supporter

My continued commitment to family matters means the activities of the Thames Valley Group are still somewhat limited. In particular I am conscious it is some months since we have had a group meeting in Newbury. However, I am pleased to be able to report that in recent months various members of the group have been out and about promoting the L & B.

RECENT EVENTS

Kempshott Christmas Festival: Kempshott (where I live) was once a village to the south west of Basingstoke. The ever increasing spread of the town means Kempshott is now a suburb of Basingstoke, but we nonetheless have a Village Hall which hosts many and varied activities. Last November they decided to hold a Christmas Festival so I decided the TVG stand should be one of the attractions!

Thanks are due to John Crockford and Stuart Wise who joined me for the day.

It was somewhat strange to be surrounded by stands selling cakes, Christmas cards, cuddly toys and holly wreaths and with no other railway goods in sight. However that probably worked to our advantage as we were a decidedly welcome alternative for many of the visitors to the Festival!

We did a reasonable trade in “Christmas Gifts for the Railway Fan in your life, whatever their age or sex”. We also handed out lots of leaflets, talked with lots of people and felt we had encouraged many folk to consider a visit to Woody Bay at some future date.

Scoutrail at Kidlington

Many thanks to Roger Beazer for taking our stand to Scoutrail at Kidlington for the first weekend in January. Thanks also to Colin Smith, John & Jane Brant, Chris Trotman and John Elvin for helping Roger to man the stand over the two days. Further details of that event can be found via this link http://www.lynton-rail.co.uk/trust/groups/pages/tvsg-scoutrail-2014

Newbury Model Railway Exhibition

In February John Crockford, Stuart Wise and myself took our stand to the Newbury Model Railway Exhibition. As usual we did a lot of talking to visitors. They all seemed to be impressed by what has already happened at Woody Bay and expressed interest in what the Trust aims to achieve in the months and years to come.

Basingstoke Model Railway Exhibition

For the weekend of 8th & 9th of March we took our display stand and sales table to the Basingstoke Model Railway Exhibition.

We certainly had plenty of visitors to our stand - they all showed great interest in the L&B.

Thanks to John Crockford and Stuart Wise for their help on Saturday and to Chris King-Smith and Robin Horne for their help on Sunday

Click HERE for more detail of that event.

Forthcoming events

Saturday 10 May and Sunday 11 May

I am sure many of you will be going to the L & B Spring Gala at Woody Bay and AGMs in Lynton Town Hall. If you have not yet booked accommodation in the area then I suggest you do so as soon as possible!

Friday 16 May to Sunday 18 May inclusive

Once again Robin and Angela Horne will be taking our stand to the Fawley Hill Vintage Extravaganza. If you went to the similar event last year then you will know how good it was and will certainly want to go again this year. If you did not go last year then you simply don’t know what you missed. Have a look at their website and make a note in your diary to go this year!

Robin and Angela have had some offers of help to man our stand this year but would be very pleased to have more. If you want more details or if you can help then please contact them either via email at robin@robinandangela.co.uk or telephone 01256 363361.

Sunday 18 May – Open Day at Great Yeldham

See http://www.yeldhamtransportmuseum.co.uk/ for details. Members of the L & B EAST group will be pleased to see you in the new L & B workshop – do make yourself known to them.

Saturday 31 May – L&BR South of England meeting at Mizens

The L & B Surrey Group invite all L&B members in the south of England to their meeting at http://www.mizensrailway.co.uk

I suggest you keep an eye on this website for further information about this event.

Sunday 3 August

Phil Rawstron is organising a group visit to Fawley Hill for L & B members. That visit will be a very different experience from the Gala there in May. If you are interested then please contact Phil via email at phil_rawstron@hotmail.com or phone 01737 357182.

Saturday 30 August and Sunday 31 August

We have arranged to take the L&BR's TVG stand to Andover Model Railway Exhibition. This will be held in John Hanson School. This link gives more details http://www.amrc.hampshire.org.uk/page7.html

We do need more help to man our stand for both the Saturday and Sunday so if you can assist then please email me at mg439@btinternet.com

Finally, John Elvin (L & B TVG treasurer) recently sent £500 from our TVG funds to L&BR Trust Treasurer Martin Swainson . The money was raised by sales at the various exhibitions attended in recent months. We asked that sum raised be allocated to the purchase of new woodworking machines for the workshop at Great Yeldham.

Do enjoy the various L&BR activities during the coming months and also do what you can to help out at Fawley Hill and Andover!

Regards

Mike Pearce
Leader L&BR TVG