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COPYRIGHT: PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH BEFORE CONTINUING!

All photos in this Blogspot and those accessed in Google Images via the links in each report are my Copyright and may be saved for personal use only. They may not be republished elsewhere without the written permission of the Copyright holder.

Hello and welcome to my twice reinstated and updated photo reports of visits to narrow gauge model railway layouts and events! Following the sudden and untimely cessation of Fotopic in March 2011 and with it the loss of my photo galleries, I started this blog in order to try to keep my "Roving Reports" available to those who enjoy viewing them. I have linked this blogsite to the old galleries which I originally rebuilt and posted in albums in Picasaweb. Once all the old reports had been rebuilt, I have continued to add completely new ones to cover my visits to events from April 2011 onwards.

In August 2016 Google blocked access to Picasaweb in order to force everyone to use their "much better" Google Images, so I had to do the whole exercise again. Thanks! .

Meanwhile......Because of the way this Blogspot works, the most recent postings appear first and the oldest ones last. Each report contains a link to the Google photo album plus captions for that report. The link will take you to the front page of the Google Album for this report. Left click on the first photo and it will open into a manually operated slideshow. A panel should open alongside the image on the right showing the number of the photo and the caption text. If it does not appear, click on the small white disk top right of the photo panel and it will open. Move forward or backwards by clicking the right or left arrows on your keyboard. When you have finished viewing, click the back arrow showing top left of the photo panel and this will take you back to the album opening page.

Close it in the normal way by clicking on the "X" top right or click the return arrow top left of the Windows screen to return to the blog, depending on which browser you use. Once back in the blog, any report can be accessed sequentially from the blog by scrolling downwards and if required, click on the "older posts" link at the bottom of the list, or simply go to the Blog Archive on the right of the window and select any report by simply clicking on the title.

Thursday 15 August 2024

Interlude! A visit to the 4th Wiltshire 009 Soc Group Skills Day, Pewsey, 10 August 2024

After 3 long distance drives to events in May and June, I had to force myself to stay at home and let both my car and wallet recover from those, what with petrol prices and the state of the roads etc, however as my diary was relatively clear during August, the lure of catching up with friends (and the siren call of the lardy cake…..) was a very “do-able” day trip “Across the Bridge” from home in the South Wales Valleys to rural Wiltshire, so off I went eastwards on a damp Saturday morning, full of the joys of the anticipated good day out.

Two distractions awaited – road closure on the normal route from the M4 between Marlborough and Pewsey with a diversion onto 2 unfamiliar (to me) roads, not a great problem, however on the 2nd of these roads, I glanced at my satnav to get a fix on how far I still had to go and 10 seconds later I was flagged in by the police, as when I distracted myself I inadvertently missed entering a short 30mph area and the Wiltshire Constabulary were taking quick advantage of enhancing the Christmas Party fund or similar and I was their first catch on what was a super hunting day opportunity for them! Oh dear, curses, never mind, carry on!

So, no excuses to offer, guilty m’lud; my rights were read by WPC Officious and I was presented with a pretty pink slip in anticipation of what is to come compliments of the Royal Mail in due course. Then I bid the team well and very gently spent the next 10 minutes driving at about 25mph before arrival at the Bouverie Hall (via Marshall’s Bakery of course – see result of that in the photo album to follow!).

Was the “anticipated good day out” spoiled? Nah, ‘course not! Once I had licked wounds and dived into Marshall’s Bakery for cream cake solutions, all was (almost) wonderful again and I made my way into the hall to find some 60 or so visitors mingling with a good number of participants who had come along with a splendid variety of demonstrations and “works in progress”, just right for a super few hours of learning and friendly conversation with friends and colleagues in the hobby. Full appreciation to Andy Cundick and his Wiltshire Group colleagues for laying on a very well organised, interesting and enjoyable little informal event.

Only a very short photo report this time and I have concentrated mainly on the good people rather than close ups of soldering irons and fingers stuck to cutting mats via superglue leaks etc!