Chairman's New Year Message

Dear All,

I trust you and your families had a lovely Christmas and that you had a relaxing period spent with loved ones and friends.

2014 promises to be another milestone year for our club and your continued help and support will go a very long way to making that so. The latter is something that your Chairman is very proud of, the help that many of you give freely and I look forward to seeing this help and support in action as we start the year with our own Annual show at Felpham over the weekend of 10th, 11th and 12th of January 2014.

Richard Rundle has stepped into the vacancy left by Paul Hopkins and he promises that this year's show will be our biggest and best show to date. I urge you and any family help you can gather to play a big part in this goal by fully supporting our new Exhibition Manager. The show is our chance to not only show off our own club exhibits, but to build on an excellent reputation in the South of putting on an excellent weekend exhibition. It is also our best opportunity to raise much needed funds for the club, our new premises and to ensure we continue to grow by attracting new members, old & young.

Before looking forward, I would like to write a few lines looking back at 2013 highlights.

1. Mike Burton and his team, of which a number are members of our club, have continued to make excellent progress over the past 12 months to get the Signal Box looking wonderful and the subject of much plaudits from the passing public. I would encourage all members to do give any help they can to Mike and his team going forward so that this project is complete in 2014 and we as a club can start to benefit from such wonderful premises as a meeting room.
2. Our 2013 show was to be Paul's final go at this mammoth but essential club task. A great show and a great start to the year. These events don't just happen and Paul with John's assistance demonstrated why we need to be grateful to them both. Audrey and her family also made 2013 her last show and I'm sure we will all miss her crumble nad bread pudding.
3. 2013 was also most notable for the gigantic effort put in by the volunteer team working on the Barn. Norman, Jock, David  to name but a few who helped out making a tired old building into the very good looking and useful space we now have. Still a little way to complete but it has now become a very good space to operate, particularly when you see how tired our old club building is now looking.
4. This last year also see us join with the other user groups on the Community Centre site to participate in Aldingbourne Alive 2013. We opened the Barn door to show off our work and put on a mini exhibition. Thanks to all who helped out, particularly John M, Neil & Dennis who were recipients of praise from the event organisers and a Chairmans thanks to Jane, Heidi & Cliff who put on some really good refreshments for the club volunteers - this proving to be a really good practice run for our 2014 exhibition!
5. Finally the club was lucky enough to benefit from some fantastic publicity earned by Paul Hopkins. Paul and his wonderful layout Redford Junction made it into print via the Hornby Magazine and the following month's DVD compilation. Congratulations Paul.

2013 has been a great year for your Chairman and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the helm.  It's hard pleasing everybody, indeed impossible but I hope you agree that the club has taken a big step forward and is well placed for us all to enjoy our hobby going forward.  Last year my message mentioned a target desire to have a club that we could all be proud of and one where we could all, whatever our leaning and favour, enjoy.

I think we are fast getting there.

 

2014 promises to be just as interesting and exciting for the club. We look forward to moving into new club meeting rooms once the Signal Box has been completed and we should have achieved a fully functioning and fully equipped Barn to work from and store our exhibits. We have a growing junior section and Stephen and now Steve Shrubb have some exciting challenges for them this year. Steve has agreed to work with the older 'juniors' to build the raffle layout for 2015.  We continue to exhibit our layouts and have a first invite to Canterbury MRC show this year. We will also be exhibiting at Midhurst, Shepton Mallet, Brighton, Patching, Alton and many other venues. Thank you to all who will be journeying and flying the flag for BRMRC.  

 

Finally to;

 

1. All the officers of the club for their hard work and support given this last year. We need to remember that without their support and voluntary time given that we could not continue as a club.
2. John & Paul for putting on an excellent 2013 show
3. Stephen for fronting an exciting year for the junior members
4. Cliff & Bob for carrying out refreshment duties throughout the year
5. Jane, for some great minutes, great cakes and a lot of support throughout the year.
6. Norman, Jock & Dave as my right hand men working on the Barn
7. SITA, ACSC Trust and Aldingbourne Parish Council for grant funding

THANK YOU.

Happy New Year everyone.

Adrian
Chairman

Redford Junction strikes again and our Exhibition

We were proud to announce that Paul Hopkins lovely TT gauge layout appeared in Hornby Magazine last month. He has scored a bit of a double whammy as it is also one of the layouts figuring in this month's Hornby Magazine DVD. So, rush out and buy one before they have all gone!

This layout will also figure amongst the 16 (yes, count them, 16 !) layouts appearing at our annual exhibition arranged with Bognor Regis MRC Ltd. Note it in your diary - 11 and 12 January 2014, bigger and better than ever. Whether a model railway enthusiast, someone who just likes to play trains, or just like modelling, everyone whether you are 3 or 103 will find plenty to see and do. Fun for all the family!

And it may be mid-winter, but we have a record of braving the weather - anything short of the coming of the next ice-age, and we will be there to share the joys of this wonderful hobby with you.

You can see all the details at http://brmrc.co.uk/exhibition.php

We look forward to seeing you, but in the meantime, we all wish all of you, whoever and wherever you may be, a very Happy Xmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year.

Paul Hopkins with Redford Junction in the news!

This month sees one of our long-standing member's many layouts appearing in Hornby magazine. Paul Hopkins has an interesting and well written article with superb pictures about his TT layout "Redford Junction". Our Club, of course, gets a deserved mention.

So, if you are not a subscriber, rush out to W H Smith or your local news agent and get a copy of  NOVEMBER 2013 - ISSUE 77. 

You will find it a generally interesting and often useful magazine, although, of course, Paul's article shines above all else.

Well done Paul and thanks for sharing one of your superb layouts in this minority but lovely scale with many other enthusiasts.

Chris
Vice-Chairman

BRMRC in the news

http://www.bognor.co.uk/news/top-stories/latest/celebration-set-to-be-fun-for-everyone-1-5410445
Reference to Aldingbourne Alive 2013 and our own Open Day in this weeks Observer, click on link to read.

Well done to everyone for making our first 'running night' for a long long time a success on Tuesday. I look forward to seeing the Junior section of the club having lots of fun in the new building on Saturday afternoon (31st August, 2-4pm) and to seeing as many of you reporting for duty on Sunday morning (1st September) in readiness for our 1st Open Day - in the new building.

Full Steam ahead thanks to SITA trust award.

Thanks to an award from SITA trust we are now able to proceed to insulate and clad the Barn, Work will begin in the week of 24 July and hopefully we will have a lovely looking/insulated building by  our target date of 1 September, to coincide with the Aldingbourne Alive 2013 event and our club open day.

This project has been supported through SITA Trust's Enhancing Communities Programme. SITA Trust provides funding to community improvement projects through the Landfill Communities Fund.

The members of Bognor Regis Model Railway Club, who will benefit primarily from the award granted to Aldingbourne Community Sports Centre Trust, are extremely grateful for the award and this will now allow renovations to be completed to what was a redundant community building.

OPEN DAY - 1 Sept 2013

OPEN DAY
Bognor Regis Model Railway Club wish to invite you to our Open Day

at our new club premises on the 1^st September 2013.

Our new club building is located at -

Aldingbourne Community Centre,
Oliver’s Meadow,
Westergate,
Nr Chichester.
PO20 3YA.
(Next to Barnham Signal Box)


Open between 10am to 4:30pm.

Admission on the day is via the Aldingbourne Alive 2013 event 

There will be up to 6 club layouts in operation, including the Children’s operated layout ‘Aldingbourne Central (shown below) and there will be trade support via ‘Brian’s Trains’. There will be refreshments and other community activities on site during the day as the community celebrate Aldingbourne Alive 2013.
 

A Frontier Too Far?

Dear All,

You will shortly receive a questionnaire from Cliff asking for details about your specific interests, skills and what you are looking to get from our club. I would urge you to complete this simple form as soon as possible and return it to one of the committee members, though ideally Cliff.

Your committee can then;

1. Ensure we are giving members what they want, within reason!

2. Find the right skill sets to assist the club with its current Page Mountain project and future projects.

3. Determine what we need to be doing going forward so we continue to grow as a club

The information will not be shared with anybody outside the club.

Thank you in advance

Adrian
Chairman.

The Barn - April 2013 Update

As Chairman of the club it is very pleasing to see real progress having been made on the Barn this last 6 months.

The building now has a very useable first chamber for layout repairs and model making, with walls insulated for heat and sound, plastered, painted and floor renovated. In deed the first beneficiaries of the new space have just moved in and are currently working hard on making the Little Bognor extension ready for Shepton Mallet in 2014.

There is still plenty to do of course, with the rear storeage chamber having changed appearance with insulated walls we still have a stair case to build so we can fully utilise the newly created loft space.
Both the stores room and changing room need completing and tidying and with members support we should be on schedule for an Autumn 2013 completion date.

We do of course have to clad the exterior of the building and we have chosen to use Cedral Weatherboard for this purpose, using as far as possible matching colours to that used on Barnham Signal Box. The attached link will show you how wonderful a building can look using this material.

http://www.guybutcher.co.uk/?cat=4

It is a very exciting project and I'm really proud to be leading our club into the next phase of it's life, with the wonderful prospect of this building and the wonderful Barnham Signal Box next door. We will be be very lucky people to have these fascilities to allow us to enjoy our hobby and at this stage I must put on record my thanks to the following (the main participants) for all their hard work in helping the club to achieve its goal.

Thank you: Norman; Dave; John (M); Julian; Duncan; Steve (S); Jock; James and Doug. 

January-February 2013

Another somewhat belated news entry. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a few extra hours in the day? Even now, I'm afraid, this is going to have to be fairly brief.

In any event, this has been a very busy period. Obviously the biggest event for the Club was helping to run Bognor Regis MRC Ltd's Exhibition in mid-January at Felpham and, of course, running several of the layouts that attended. All in all this was another successful show with a wide range of very different high quality layouts and good trade support. Certainly the visitor's seemed to enjoy themselves.

I am looking forward to receiving our Exhibition Manager's report to publish here for you, but in the meantime, we have just implemented a new video gallery which you can see here and which includes video of the exhibition and of some of the recent exhibitions run by BRMRC.

On the premises front, work has continued apace on the Barn, thanks to the indefatigable efforts of our Chairman, Adrian and his small band of workers. Similarly work has progressed on the Signal Box despite problems with erecting the external stairs due to the extremely wet weather.

Slowly but surely, both are taking shape, and it is now becoming really apparent how fortunate we are going to be with our new premises.

On the layout front, Page Mountain made its debut at the Felpham exhibition albeit as a work in progress. The degree of completion was such that visitors could see what the "bare-bones" could become and this proved to be of interest. The completion of this layout is our current highest modelling priority. There are very few large HO USA layouts around at present (they seem to have been usurped by On30) so this, with its spectacular scenery will be well worth watching out for at exhibitions in the not too distant future.

We have had a number of new members join over the last few weeks, both junior and adult. I would like to welcome them on behalf of the Committee and the Club members as a whole. We hope that we can provide the friendship and modelling opportunities you want and look forward to the contributions you can make. I am sure that there is a lot we can learn from each other.

Finally, a reminder that it is time to start thinking about our AGM and who you would like to see on the Committee, steering the Club and looking after your interests over the following year. As ever, all the Committee posts are up for grabs, but we KNOW that we will need a new Club Secretary - could this be you?

Chris
Webmaster

Chairman's New Year Message

Dear All,

I trust you and your families had a lovely Christmas and may I be one of the first to wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year.

2013 promises to be a very exciting year for our club and your continued help and support will go a very long way to making that so.

We start the year with our own Annual show at Felpham over the weekend of 11th, 12th and 13th of January and I urge you and any family help you can gather to play a big part in this by fully supporting our Exhibition Manager and his assistant (Paul & John). There is a saying that many hands make light work and this is very true. The show is our chance to not only show off our own club exhibits, but to build on an excellent reputation in the South of putting on an excellent weekend exhibition. It is also our best opportunity to raise much needed funds for the club, our new premises and to ensure we continue to grow by attracting new members.

As I said, 2013 will be a very exciting year for the club. Once the excitement of our show is over we then start to look forward towards new premises in the shape of both the Signal Box and The Barn. I have copied Mike Burton in on this email as I would like to formally thank him, his fellow trustees and volunteers for the massive effort they have put in these last 3 years to get the Signal Box looking wonderful and now the subject of much plaudits from the passing public. I would encourage all members to do give any help they can to Mike and his team so that this project is complete in 2013 and we as a club can start to benefit from such wonderful premises.

As your elected Chairman I have tried to lead from the front and have devoted much of my short time in post to obtaining and developing further facilities that will allow us as a club to expand and develop our love of modelling. My desire is to have a club that we can all be proud of and we can all, whatever our leaning and favour, enjoy. The Barn together with the Signal Box will meet that aim. There will be space to sit and chat, read & research, play and learn to operate a model railway and finally a proper space to build, repair and store our wonderful exhibits. These facilities will be open to all, young & old (that's most of us then!) and I hope we can expand our club to pull in more junior members from the village and locality as well as further encouraging the participation of those with disability. In respect of the latter I think we have done more than any other user group on the site to attract a varied membership.

I for one wont miss our old building (I'm sure others 5' 10 and above will share my sentiments!) and I look forward to enjoying our new premises in 2013. Both Mike and myself need any help you can give on both buildings to achive this so we can anticipate a completion/moving in date in Summer 2013. There is still the little matter of formal leases for both buildings, but Mike and Myself are working with the Trustees of the site to obtain these at the earliest opportunity.

To celebrate our move I plan on holding a Summer show, inviting all the local and National press/railway magazines etc, the local community and hope to have someone of note in attendance to cut the ribbon(s). Early days yet as I will need the approval for such a function from the ACSC Trustees, but I hope to gain this as working with other user groups we could use the show as a springboard to promote not only our own new fascilities, but all the other fascilities on site.

Finally I would like to thank all the officers of the club for their hard work and support given this last year. We need to remember that without their support and voluntary time given that we could not continue as a club. Thank you; John, Paul, Dave, Philip, Chris and Stephen. A big thank you also to Jock, Cliff & Bob for carrying out refreshment duties throughout the year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Adrian 

CHAIRMAN

BRMRC & BOGNOR REGIS MRC LIMITED

01243 544351