That was certainly a Challenge with a capital C! Those of us who were around in 2013 may remember the Society 40th anniversary main celebration, which was a weekend convention at the Best Western Hotel in Kegworth, where some 200 members of the Society signed up for the full weekend and some 300 visitors, both members and public came on the Saturday or Sunday. A fantastic weekend, fondly remembered by all who took part and the general feeling was that it was a one-off that could not be topped.
Well, it was never intended that the 50th, golden anniversary of the Society was going have a competition or try to better that memorable weekend. Hiring a hotel for exclusive use for a weekend was out for a number of reasons and what with the Covid pandemic, lockdowns, credit crunch and all the rest, the time available to sort something memorable out for the anniversary was compressed. Whilst some planning for the anniversary had been on the committee agenda for years, it was 2022 when it gained momentum and the team of Society members that put everything together worked very hard over many long hours to firm up the host of things needed to run not only what is generally thought to be the biggest show exclusively covering the 009 "family" of scales eg 009, 00n3, HOe, HOm etc, with over 50 layouts plus trade and association attendance and to have it over 2 days in the main UK "magnet" of narrow gauge at Statfold as well as a gala Dinner for members on the Saturday night.
Was it a success? I met many people who thought it would not be one, and at times I have to admit that I shared concern that it was not going to be a repeat of the 40th weekend in Kegworth. However, the Society has reported that "750 members, operators and traders; and 450 members of the public enjoyed over 50 layouts, specialist trade stands and the gala dinner on the Saturday night" where 143 attended. Yes is certainly was a success, a very big success indeed!
I was "invited to volunteer" to be the official photographer with a remit to take photos of every layout. I did manage to do that, but it came with a "downside". To get round every layout, I estimated that I would have to allow about 8 minutes for each layout. What I had not estimated was the effect on stamina (I ain't olympic standard fit any more......) or the fact that it would take 20 minutes or more of reunions and chats to get from one layout to another! The other drawback was that the size of the challenge was such that I would only be ablle to do one pass at each layout, so when I turned up with camera in hand, I had to snap what there was at that time, which has rather restrained the variety of stock on layouts and in-depth photos of parts of layouts that I would normally manage at a members open day event in a village hall with a full day to enjoy a dozen or so layouts.
Similar compromises had to be made with captions. I am aware that captions to photos are a popular and essential requirement for any self-respecting event report, but it is a very time-consuming task to try to make every photo be accompanied by several lines of interesting text
So, what we have on offer here is photo coverage of every layout that attended, restricted to between 5 and 10 photos of each layout. Captions in the main are restricted to simply the layout name and the owner. I haven't listed scales, they are all 009 except for some HOe, HOm and 00n3 which I am confident that narrow gauge modellers who are visiting this report will be able to work out for themselves! In a few cases I have added some words to the basic captions, and over the coming months I will periodically visit and add a few more here and there, but in order to present this report sometime before the next 50th anniversary I have had to be quite firm in keeping things brief and simple in order to have it uploaded and available for all to see within a reasonable time before the exhibition becomes just a vague memory!
I do recommend that a very good supplement to viewing this photo report is to use the superb 28 page show guide that was produced by Steve Lanham. It can be downloaded from this link and every layout featured has a paragraph about it supplied by the layout exhibitor.
If you use the show guide in this way, please note that stand 56, Abberley and stand 65 Malvern did not attend.
Right, let's get on with it then! There are 7 parts to this report. In the usual way, under each photo shown below, there is a link. Click on the link and it will take you to the photo album for that part of the report. When you want to go to the next part, click on back arrows in the album to get you back to this blogsite, scroll to the next album link and so on. And most of all......Enjoy!
PART 1
Part 1 covers some personalities, a photo of every trader (except 2 that I missed) that attended as well as every association or railway publicity, stand and a very brief glance at some of the Statfold locos; and the Saturday evening dinner.
Parts 2 to 7 cover the 50 plus layouts and I will make a contents list of which layouts are featured in each part
PART 2
Part 2 features:
Stand
4 Glendale Chris Beadle
5 Sandy Shores Jamie Warne
6 Bottle Kiln Lane John Thorne
7 Dartmoor Modular Members of the Dartmoor 009 Group
8 Bruckless Andy Cundick
9 Shipmeadow Richard & Sarah Doe
10 Ilfracombe East Brian and Sue Key
11 Ulvaryd Strand Charlie Insley
12 De Niggende Saligheyd Hugo Baart
PART 3
Part 3 features:
Stand
13 Tan-y- Llyn Steve Flay
14 Clyre Valley Tim Couling
15 Ryedown Lane Patrick Collins
17 Kurseong John Crane
19 Royston Wharf Tony Clarke
20 Cattsbrook Geoff Harper
21 Gilderdale Mine Peter Hogarth
22 Tan-yr-Allt/Dwffr Uchaf Stan Williams & Alan Mountfield
23 Turtle Bay Rob Rossington
PART 4
Part 4 features:
Stand
24A Slugworth & Co Joshua Campbell
24B Loctern Michael Campbell
25 Launceston Steam Railway Richard Holder
27 Ostravia Blair Hobson
28 Sud Harz Paul Steedman
30 Cefn Bryn Carreg Twmos Bayliss
31 Cherry Tree Halt John Davis
32 Lesobeng Paul Spray
34 Castle Caereinion Martyn Harrison
PART 5
Part 5 features:
Stand
37 Llandecwyn Martin Collins
38 Kaninchenbau Iain Morrison
39 Yr Ellen Mike Le Marie
43 Avin-A-Llyin Andrew & Alison Bailey
44 Tan Y Bwlch Brychan Watkins
46 Garreg Wen Matt Kean
47 Coleford John & Annabel Wilkes
49 Yurze Ore Mine Lucien Eijdems
50 Creag Dhubh Summit Ted Polet
PART 6
Part 6 features:
Stand
51 Smallbridge Junction Dale Gillard
52 Ashbury Wharf Michael Hammond
53 St Margaret's Grange Chris Meaney
54 Whimsy David Harrington
55 Brandgeight Peter Hardy
57 Woodford Trevor Street
58 Tyn-Goch/Jennings Farm Crossing Martin Sutcliffe
59 Ravens Ravine plus Port William David Wright
60 Newton/Goathorn Graham Kean
PART 7
Part 7 features:
Stand
61 Llandyrau Jo Vincent & Paul Towers
62 Little Himalayan Railway Giles Perkins
63 Aberglaslyn Andrew Holland
64 Tren Bach Richard Johnson
66 Cenac's Sidings James Hodgkiss
67 Long Sibford Members of the Oxfordshire Group
68 Bron Stuart Bass
69 Llan Lechid David Johnston
Phew! I hope that if you have managed to get this far that you have enjoyed viewing my photo record of the weekend spent mainly on my feet in the big exhibition hall at Statfold!
I now await reports of gremlins amd errors encountered!
Mick, 4 October 2023
