Here is a summary of the Committee Meeting held at 7.30 PM on 6th May 2025. Present were Dave Fildes, Chris Jackson, Peter Miller, Hilary Moorhouse, Bob Newton, Mat Peacock, Claire Roberts, Nick Talbot and Tim Williams. Apologies were received from Cathy and Martin Houghton.
The first main item of business was a major funding request from the Company, which was approved. The precise nature of this project cannot yet be revealed, as there are more stages still to be decided upon, but you may notice something different about Llanuwchllyn if you come to the AGM on 17th May…
AGM Day was also discussed. The Meeting itself will be at 2.30 PM. There will be a Members’ Train using the Penrhyn coaches following the Meeting, and there will hopefully also be a second locomotive at Llanuwchllyn throughout the day providing entertainment with wagons and footplate rides (free to members). This is subject to crew availability (we’re still trying to find a driver for the second engine).
The Society Stall should be in attendance. There will be light refreshments at the Meeting, but not a full buffet as this has proven superfluous in recent years. There will also be a radio mike on a stick to identify who has been recognised by the chair to speak (a bit like holding the sceptre in a debate scene in Homer’s ‘Iliad’, but with Bluetooth and without the need to wear armour).
The new tumble dryer in the Volunteers’ Accommodation, part-funded by the Society, is performing admirably. However, the second-hand washing machine also sourced has proved unequal to the tribulations of washing carriage-cleaning cloths and volunteers’ vests, and has packed up. The Society has offered to co-fund a new machine with the Company. The leaky pipe upstairs has also been fixed (thanks, Rob) so when the rafters have dried out, it is hoped that repairs can be made and new flooring installed.
The Society now has its own secure storage area, but I had better not say where! Work has begun on installing a permanent 7.25″ gauge track on platform 2 at Llanuwchllyn. The track is owned by the Society. It is hoped to put in a small memorial garden alongside.
The President’s Appeal (to raise funds for signalling on both the existing line and the Extension) continues, and will be supported by a sponsored Pump Trolley challenge (along the whole length of the line) on 20th July and the Chairman’s sponsored walk up Kilimanjaro. He will be taking a model railway with him to operate on the top of the mountain – see the news item in the June 2025 issue of Railway Modeller (at the end of the new product reviews section). Options for improving the electronics on the Society Stall, better to collect donations, were looked at.
Thanks were given to Dave Fildes for his heroic dealings with HMRC, and to Hilary Moorhouse, who is stepping down from the Committee at the AGM, particularly for her work on improving and maintaining the volunteer accommodation.
Dave also reminded those present that there will be another Teddy Bears’ Day this year, in July, raising money for an initiative that helps children in hospitals.
The Meeting closed at 9.26 PM (which is quite early by our standards!).
