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4th June 2008
What a day for a board meeting! The trains from both South and North were packed with football fans converging on Wembley! Despite this we all managed to meet and our meeting room was "a capacity crowd" as this meeting was the formal transition from Doug Silk to Tim Gregson as webmaster, and Kevin Steele to Alan Regan as Membership secretary. It is appropriate to welcome Alan and Tim to the board, and also the thank both Kevin and Doug for their efforts. Independently both Kevin and Doug have indicated their willingness to support specific Association activities going forward.
Outside "regular" business two main topics occupied our time - as usual the meeting carried out the perfunctory health checks on key areas, then we focused on the key topics for the specific meeting.
Initially we dissected the 2008 show, looking at the strong positive messages we have received, but also the costs of the show, which were higher than we'd anticipated, as we failed to secure the greater levels of attendance we'd hoped for.
This naturally led into the "what can we do differently for 2009?" as the second main topic. We looked at a range of options which tackle both cost cutting measures and revenue increasing ideas. For example under cost cutting we could look to change the structure for operators expenses, under increasing revenues we could look to increasing our ticket prices bringing us more into line with other events. However without a doubt the biggest debate is do we take advantage of the space available and offer some of the increased space in the hall to our colleagues in the G-Scale society. Inviting them to bring a selection of their layouts/exhibitors and also share the costs for the administrative areas, i.e. hold both our and their AGM's in the same room, running one after the other. We could have two MOTY competitions, two member-to-member areas, and also two prize draws. There are many considerations which we'd need to work through in looking at this. Our over-riding aim is to "deliver" the same quality of show with at least the same number of traders and exhibitors as we did in 2008 without the same financial impact to the Association.
If you've got any ideas or considerations on this please let me know (by phone or by e-mail). We've got an initial feasibility review with a sub set of our directors and the G-Scale society directors next month. To work this has to be a win-win for both organisations and I'd value your opinions.
Nigel
6th May 2008
Thank you all very much for your fantastic support for the Prize Draw. You bought so many tickets that we were able to buy the Roundhouse “Lady Anne” with 2.4Ghz radio control as an additional prize at the last minute from Brandbright. The tickets were drawn by John Wenlock (0003) and the lucky winners are:-
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Roundhouse “Lady Anne” with R/C |
Julian Smith |
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Accucraft Baldwin 4-6-0 |
A E Parker |
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Finescale Hook Norton Hunslet “Betty” |
D Beglin |
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Roundhouse “Criccieth Castle” diesel with R/C |
N Astin |
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Accucraft “Edrig” |
G L Juggins |
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Slaters Plastikard Ffestiniog “Prince” kit |
R J Bangerter |
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Welshpool & Llanfair L R Driver Experience Course |
A C Hall |
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Accucraft Baguley diesel set |
P Hatherley |
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Lineside Delights Trackside selection |
D A Naylor |
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Accucraft set of four W & L wagons |
Rod Nipper |
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Brandbright 12 yards of Peco SM32 track & two turnouts |
R Targett |
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Busy Bodies selection of characters |
R Newton |
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Pendlebury Model Buildings station, level crossing & lineside hut |
A Monk-Steel |
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Association fleece |
M Armstrong |
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Association sweatshirt |
D Mason |
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Association polo shirt |
P D Rogers |
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Association umbrella |
Mike Yates |
28th April 2008
Many thanks to all who supported this years National Garden Railway Show. The event was a great success with nearly 2,100 people passing through the doors of Hall 2 at the National Agricultural Centre.
This was the most ambitious show that the Association has ever organised. Hall 2 was bigger than any previous venue and in it could be found 10 operational layouts and 62 traders and exhibitors.
The Board would like to extend their gratitude to the 170 strong team of organising committee, stewards and layout staff. You all did a superb job of planning the event and seeing things went smoothly on the day. Thank you!
New initiatives, such as the Members help and advice stand, proved popular. Over 1000 attendees kindly completed feedback sheets. This has been very useful, with much praise and more importantly useful suggestions for how we can make next years event even better.
The AGM was held away from all the action and was supported by a healthy turn out of members. Several changes to the committee have occurred and these can be seen in the ‘Contact Us’ section of the site. Any members wishing to read a copy of the full minutes can do so by contacting Neil Bowden. Association Secretary (company.secretary@16mm.org.uk).
With the 2008 show out of the way, the planning for next years can begin in earnest!
28th April 2008
Events diary updated, click here to view latest details
22nd April 2008
A list of the MOTY winners for 2008 is now available here.
January 2008
The board meeting on the 19th January was a day of new faces and names to the board, where Ian Shields and Keith Dyer were both present. Keith has been co-opted to the board until our AGM on the 29th March when he will stand for election to the role technical director. I bet he'll do a better job than the last technical director, (just what was his name again?). Ian was nominated to the board at our last meeting in October but wasn't able to be present. The third new name was that of the new SMT editor. One of the main agenda items was the selection of a new editor for SMT. The board are very grateful to the 5 members who volunteered to edit SMT. A post meeting phone call confirmed that Andrew Charman would accept our offer to edit SMT, Andrew has some great ideas for continuing the evolution of SMT which look exciting. In addition we have invited Andrew onto the board, and he will also be standing for election at the AGM. If you want to meet Andrew he'll be at Stoneleigh lurking around his "Editor table", if you cannot wait until then contact him by e-mail smt.editor@16mm.org.uk
The plans for the National Garden Railway Show at Stoneleigh are nearing the completion. This year members will need to bring their own bags as the leaflet goodie bag is no more. The show information is contained in a specific show guide. I need to crack on with the preparation of the junior activity packs, I didn't get any feedback from the packs we issued last year so it'll be more of the same unless I get some alternative ideas in the next two weeks.
Phil Thompson has continued to successfully challenge our operating costs to such an extent that this year the membership fees are being reduced. We are also considering 5 discrete plans aimed at continuing to promote 16mm Narrow Gauge Modelling. Finally we settled on the nomination for the Lamb Trophy, but you'll need to be at the AGM on the 29th March if you want to find out first hand who it is!
If you've any questions about the above or the Association in general please contact me - chairman@16mm.org.uk
Nigel.
January 2008
Having previously stood down as a board director David Clark has now decided to stand down as the Editor of SMT too.
The board are currently looking at candidates for a new Editor, and this will be one of the main topics for the board meeting on the 19th January.
Nigel - Chairman
If you have not yet done so new visitors are recommended to Take The Tour to get a quick overview of what we are about. Otherwise you are now at the main members pages to take a look at things in depth.
If you are not yet a member and want to join in just click on Membership at any time, you will be most welcome.
