London Area Group

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January 2008

Our next committee meeting will be on Monday 3rd March 2008 at 18.00hrs. There is a change of venue from that reported previously. The meeting will now be held at the London Underground Headquarters at 55 Broadway, and all are welcome.

The London Area Group Outing this year will take place on Saturday 12th July 2008, to the Amberley Chalk Pits Museum. The 12th July is the date of the annual railway gala at the museum, so the railway will be fully operational with a large variety of locomotives and rolling stock in use. The event also has a number of sales stands from various trade and society’s present. Amberley is on the Arun Valley Line and is served by an hourly service from Victoria, the rear portion, which splits at Horsham serving Amberley on its way to Bognor. It will be our intention to catch the 10.32 service from Victoria arriving at Amberley at 11.56. The train offers connections for other parts at Clapham Junction, East Croydon and Gatwick Airport. From the south there are connections at Barnham from all along the south coast. All are more than welcome.

The Annual Business Meeting was held back in October, and saw no major changes, with the committee re-elected en-block. At the committee meeting held straight afterwards I was re-elected chairman with Gordon Rhodes as the vice-chairman.

The sales stand attended the Kew Bridge Live Steam Model Railway show back in November and we had an excellent weekend, the takings were the best for some years, with the new design of calendar selling very well and this years Christmas cards being particularly popular. Our decision to stock a small number of DVD’s seemed to pay off as well.

The Christmas Dinner took place back on the first Monday of December at The Albert in Victoria Street. Again it was a great success, the food and company being excellent.

Attendance at Steampipes, the annual railway film and cinema organ recital, organised by the London Area Groups of the Ffestiniog, Talyllyn and Welshpool and Llanfair preservation Society’s, was extremely good, being only eight down on our record attendance since we returned to London, with the sales stand again doing a roaring trade, again the new style of calendar proving popular. We can not have Steampipes on a Wednesday next year as the Friends Meeting House has a booking for Wednesday evening throughout 2008, so we are moving to Thursday 11th December, so make a note of the date in your diaries now.

Eric Nicholass.

London Area Group Diary Dates

3rd March (Mon.), Committee Meeting, London Underground Headquarters, 55 Broadway, London SW1H 0BD. Nearest station is St James’s Park. Start time 18.00 hrs

12th July (Sat.), Annual Group Outing, Amberley Chalk Pits Museum, Amberley, West Sussex. Travel by 10.32 train ex-Victoria.

1st December (Mon.), Christmas Dinner, The Albert Public House, Victoria Street, London SW1 at 18.00hrs.

11th December (Thurs.), Steampipes, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 (Opposite Euston Station). 19.00 hrs. Further details later.