Wessex Area Group

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What Is The Wessex Area Group?

The TRPS has around 3,500 members, and about 270 of those live within an area covering the South Coast from Weymouth to Chichester, extending out towards Swindon, Reading and Farnborough; roughly corresponding to the old Saxon Kingdom of Wessex. For most of us, obviously interested in the Railway and anxious to see its continued success, there are three problems: the difficulty of meeting other TRPS Members, who in time may well become good friends; finding means of becoming an active Member when not actually in Tywyn; and keeping in touch which what is going on in our particular Area Group so that we can provide support locally. We all want the satisfaction of doing something beyond the payment of an Annual Subscription. Not that that is unimportant - rather to say that there is more to be gained from Membership than remembering to pay up once a year!

For further information about the Wessex Area Group contact the group secretary, Peter Brown.

Why Do We Exist?

Talyllyn Railway Preservation means keeping the Railway running and in good order - itself a mammoth task.

It means maintaining a living museum in competition with the very high presentations to be seen at heritage centres and the like all across the country - think of Ironbridge and Crich.

It also means contributing to the tourist industry in a remote part of the Cardigan Bay coastal area, for we are part of that industry. And finally it means publicising our Railway, so as to be sure that the maximum number of people get to know about us, and want to go to Wales, to seee and ride on these wonderful little trains.

What Can One Do?

I see three areas of activity open to us, and within those areas a place for every member of TARPSWAG to be active in his or her support for the Railway. Firstly, we can go to the Railway proper. This means going to Tywyn, although not everyone can do that.

Secondly, all of us can publicise our Railway. Even if we are miles away from Tywyn, we can keep the name of the Talyllyn Railway & the Snowdon area in the public eye.

Finally we can raise funds. We know that subscriptions and the ticket receipts alone are nowhere near enough to keep things going, and we need to do much more than that. Some development is necessary to meet public expectations, and to keep pace with the competition. Here are some ideas for your to consider:

Working On The Railway

Can you give a weekend, or part of a longer holiday break, so as to work on the railway? If you can get to and stay in or near Tywyn (cheaper than Marbella) then the possibilities are enormous and they are there for every member of the family. In Traffic, there are jobs for cleaners, firemen, drivers, blockmen, guards, and booking clerks. Training is given. The Commercial Department always needs staff in the shop and cafe. The Engineering Manager can offer work in the workshops, on buildings maintenance, and on the lineside, at all levels of skill and ability. The Bodgers work continually on carriage stock. The rules are relatively simple, so if you have any kind of skill, ability or enthusiasm the railway can use it. And if you spot a job that needs doing, just ask if you can do it!

Contact Ian James, on 01962-734924, who will tell you when a party from Wessex will be there, or introduce you to someone who will fix a job especially for you. Lifts can often be arranged.

Publicity Action

In TARPSWAG we like to keep in contact with fellow Members, working as friends with a common interest. Not everyone wants to turn out to a particular event, or can give their time either regularly or frequently. Publicity is something you can do with other members or on your own as opportunity permits. What can be done? There is a great deal, and we have an enthusiastic Publicity Officer who can provide advice, leaflets and so on.

What about these ideas?

• Placing posters and/or leaflets at your place of work, club, local library, railway station, school, or local shops.
• Writing an article on the TR or a local TARPSWAG event for your local paper, radio, TV, company magazine.
• Organizing a display of TR based models, artifacts, leaflets and posters at the library or building society; or at a local model railway show.
• Presenting a talk on the Railway (we have slides and speakers available) to railway or transport groups, Rotary, Probus, W.I. Townswomens Guild, etc.

Contact Peter Kent-Mason on 01962-712834 for advice and materials, or a speaker.

The Sales Stand

A major TARPSWAG activity is that of fundraising. We have an active Sales Officer who regularly has stocks from Tywyn of TR souvenirs, inexpensive gifts, toys, model railway goodies and the like, and a local contact for railway books. These we take typically to model railway exhibitions, railway events, steam engine rallies and country fairs. We have different sales stands to suit the event and the space available, and they may be called out as often as 20 times a year, so help is always welcome here. The Social Diary and the Group Report in the Talyllyn News will tell you where we are going to be.

Join in and help, or can you perhaps get us into one of your local events?

Contact George Voller, on 01392-282540, for dates, times and places of sales stand outings, or with ideas for new venues.

Model Railway Activities

We have a number of model railway enthusiasts, with working exhibition layouts in "O", On16.5, "OO", and OO9 scales. These are much in demand, and generally make the sales stand and/or publicity material with them. Help is always welcome with operation, transport and maintenance. We run our own major exhibition each year, at Fareham. If you have any railway modelling interests, or an exhibition layout, could you join in at any time - or is there a show near you that we could attend?

Contact Peter Brown, on 01264-337608, if you can help or join in here.

Where Does The Money Go?

The Group is self-supporting, selling odds and ends donated by Members to pay for, e.g. display materials and secretarial expenses. A large part of the monies we raise otherwise goes to Tywyn undedicated, but we do from time to time ask that some is used for a specific purpose. This is more rewarding to our Members who give so freely of their time, to know "I helped to provide that". Over the years, work on the West carriage shed, cleaning equipment, station seats, litterbins, Douglas' boiler, and station roofs have all been "Wessex" projects.

Mixing Pleasure With Business

We run three major "TARPSWAG" events per year, all of which have become pleasant occasions for a day together.

In the Autumn is the AGM, when the business is kept short so as to give time for a guest speaker (often a member of Council) to speak on some facet of the Railway. Since the Committee must follow the wishes of TARPSWAG Members, this is the time to turn up and air your views. We follow the AGM with an annual dinner (no speeches), when we take over a fine local restaurant.

In the Spring we hold an annual Model Railway Exhibition. This provides a major contribution to funds, and an outlet for Railway publicity material. It is a popular event both among the general public and the railway modelling fraternity. A high turnout of TARPSWAG Members is needed to help out during the day, so please note this one.

Finally, we hold a Summer picnic outing, usually with a railway interest as well as something for the whole family. We like to vary this one - perhaps you know of a suitable venue?

Everybody must be able to do so something.
How about you?