As usual, for more information, please contact the Secretary. A copy of the full draft Minutes of this Meeting is also available but you will need to log in to read it.
Present: Cathy and Martin Houghton, Chris Jackson, Peter Miller, Hilary Moorhouse, Bob Newton, Mat Peacock, Francis Stapleton, Tim Williams.
The Society Publicity Stand visited the Llangollen Garden Railway Festival in May and the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association model show in Burton-on-Trent in June and several new members were recruited. The Stand’s next appearances will be at the Bala Model Show (21st and 22nd September), the Stafford Model Railway Show (28th – 29th September) and possibly the Vale of Rheidol Model Show (26th October). We would very much like to hear from people willing to help staff the Stand at these events – it means you get in early and for free!
Various ideas for increasing Society publicity at the Railway itself were discussed. One that is definitely going ahead is slate plaques with the bilingual text “Ariannwyd gyda chymorth Cymdeithas Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid” / “Funded with the support of the Bala Lake Railway Society.” These have been ordered from Raven Eve Designs and the first will be put in place this coming winter. The two signalboxes, Dai the Dragon and the volunteer accommodation at Llanuwchllyn are probably going to be the first places to receive these plaques, subject to the final approval of the Company.
Plans are being considered for a 7.25″ gauge miniature railway at Llanuwchllyn. As the track is owned by the Society, this will be another chance for us to publicise ourselves. The memorials area, another project we are currently working on, may possibly be sited near the 7.25″ line.
The Society is helping the Railway look into the practicalities of providing one or more defibrillators.
The Society needs candidates to take over as Treasurer from Dave Fildes at the 2025 AGM. The position of Vice-Chairman also still remains vacant – applications from members are invited.
At this year’s AGM, far more people attended via Zoom than ever before, showing at times the limitations of the technology. We will set up extra microphones next year but will also use a more stringent policy for calling on people to speak. The Committee understands that many people find travel to the AGM ever-more difficult and expensive (not least because some members live a very long way from Llanuwchllyn). However, we would like to encourage more members to attend the next AGM (May 2025). Since 2020, we have only just managed to form a quorum each year.
We certainly wish to make the best possible use of Zoom, but would particularly like to encourage more people to attend the AGM physically. This would reduce the pressure on our online resources and it would also make the effort put into catering, special trains and deploying the Society Stand on the platform more worthwhile. Indeed, having plenty of members about on AGM Day would help fly the Society flag at the Railway in all sorts of other ways too. One thing the Committee will be doing next year is publicising the event to the membership much more fervently. This year, the adverts were just in articles in Llanuwchllyn Express, plus announcements on Facebook and on this web page, and we have plenty of anecdotal evidence that a significant number of members did not realise that the AGM was taking place.
In spite of the new regulation that accommodation users should bring their own bed linen and then take it away when they leave, a great deal of bed linen is still being dumped in the volunteers’ accommodation areas. We recycle this as cleaning rags for the Loco Shed etc. but ask people to follow the procedures for donating rags and not to abandon bed linen at the Railway, as our volunteer and staff cleaners for the accommodation areas have more than enough to cope with as it is.
A member of the Committee has funded a small batch of reprints of the 1913 Penrhyn Quarry Guidebook. It is hoped that these high-quality facsimile editions will go on sale at the Gala, or possibly at the Model Show (this depends on whether we have any volunteers to run a Society Stand at the Gala). The projected price is £10, or £9 for members. We will not be taking advance or online orders until the book has been launched at one or other of the above events.
The current President’s Appeal, which has been running very quietly for about a year, will be relaunched at the Gala. Admittedly, the Committee decided to down-play it for a time so as to let the Trust raise last-minute funds for the resubmission of the planning application for the Extension. This Jubilee Appeal is for signalling equipment and its primary goal is to complete Llangower Signal Box with full token machinery, making it much easier for the Railway to run a multiple-train service. Therefore, upgrading and completing Llangower will benefit the Railway and its visitors and supporters whether or not the Extension gets built. However, the Appeal is also partly intended to help with funding signalling equipment for the longer version of the Railway. If you are visiting the Gala, please talk to the Society representatives on the Appeal Stand to find out more. Here is a link to the fundraising page itself, where you can donate if you would like to:
In the past, the Society has experimented with selling drinks at Llangower. This was very successful but the venture failed for lack of volunteers. The signalman cannot also sell drinks for safety reasons. We would be very interested to hear from people willing to join a revitalised “Llangower Group” – sales there could be a major source of revenue for forthcoming Society-funded or co-funded projects. Given the popularity of Llangower as a tourist destination, it needs to promote the Railway and to be as well-maintained as possible.
You may have noticed the lack of updates to the News Page on the main Railway website this year. That is because the volunteer who produced the News is no longer available. Nobody has yet come forward to replace him – offers of help would be very welcome!
The above is a summary of the BLR Society Committee Meeting which took place on 11th July 2024, 7.30-9.47 PM.
