Yours truly posing with the cup at Shepton Mallet with John
New in the background manning the Bath-end fiddle yard.
The
March 1989 AGM was somewhat depressing as the Treasurer reported that expenses would exceed
the current funds of £245.22p plus the expected income from the membership –
mainly the cost of the hire of the main hall that we had moved into for our
meetings, and also the purchase of items for the layout. As a result, the
membership agreed to an increase in the subscription and weekly contributions.
On the modelling front, it was reported that steady progress had been made on
the Evercreech Layout, under the critical eye of Roger, to the point where it was
deemed necessary to appoint coordinators for the project and exhibitions. So,
Phil was made responsible for the scenery, Derek the electrics, whilst I became
responsible for the track work. John New was tasked with coordinating the
exhibitions as the invitations were now streaming in! Roger B’s role never
really changed and became formally known as Historian in recognition of his,
now, extensive knowledge of Evercreech Junction. A new regular to the club, Paul
Cox became the 7th member of the otherwise unchanged committee.
In June 1989, much to our surprise, our Evercreech Junction layout was awarded the “Best Layout” cup at the Shepton and District Model Railway Show.
Yours truly posing with the cup at Shepton Mallet with
John
New in the background manning the Bath-end fiddle yard.
August 1989 saw the club in
the Weymouth Carnival, for the first time, advertising the forthcoming Wessex
Association of Model Railway Clubs’ exhibition, which we had volunteered to
host – see later. Our
carnival entry was a Landrover, kindly loaned by Bruce Wilson, thinly disguised
as a diesel locomotive No. 814717 (Phil’s old telephone number) “Sir Donald
Bumpincher” (an in-joke), which sported a “Thomas the Tank Engine” style
face and matching bottom. Phil did a really excellent job on the face; I have to
admit to painting the bum! It was great fun building our Carnival entry in Ron
Sibley’s drive (Ron's wife provided much appreciated light refreshments for
the workers), but quite a different thing, I discovered, driving it around
Weymouth.
Our entry in the 1989 Weymouth Carnival advertising the
forthcoming Model Railway Exhibition.
From the left – me, Paul Cox, my son David seated in the passenger seat of the
Landrover, Phil just
obvious, Dave Samuel, Phil’s daughter Nicola Crocker and Dave Samuel’s son
Alan looking-on in
his Sea Cadets uniform.
It was a bold decision indeed to volunteer to organise the fifth annual Wessex model railway exhibition as far as the club was concerned. However, with Phil masterminding the operation assisted by Roger T and myself, September 1989 saw the first and most successful model railway exhibition in Weymouth.
Exhibition advert designed by Phil
My one memory of this exhibition is of near panic when
the numbers at the well-attended show dramatically increased by virtually all of
the people travelling on the SS Waverley, on the Sunday afternoon. We were on
the point of having to close the doors to the public, it was so full in the
Pavilion’s Ocean Room. This exhibition was a golden one for the Wessex as the
12 supporting clubs received in excess of £200 each (share of the proceeds), a
previously unheard of amount.
Because of the need for many operators, at any one time, to run our Evercreech Junction layout we decided not to exhibit it as our members were needed for stewarding duties throughout the weekend. Instead we ran a stall selling second-hand model railway items as a revenue earner for the club. This was the start of our club Trade Stand, with George in charge.
From left – me, Brian Makepeace General Manager of
the Echo – our main sponsor, Dick
Andrews of the Burnham and District MRC, and Phil Crocker. We are pictured
operator
side of Dick’s superb “Upton Marsh” fine-scale layout. (EJT)
A Special General Meeting of the club was convened on Monday 9th October 1989 to fully brief the membership on the very successful show we hosted for the Wessex Association and to discuss whether we, as a club, should run our own large-scale exhibition in 1990. The answer was a resounding ‘YES’! By the 12th October Committee meeting Phil reported that he had already made a start on a list of layouts and traders for our 1990 exhibition.