Below is a summary of the Minutes from the Committee Meeting at 7.30 PM on 7th August 2025, held via Zoom.
Present were: Dave Fildes, Cathy and Martin Houghton, Chris Jackson, Peter Miller, Hilary Moorhouse, Bob Newton, Mat Peacock, Claire Roberts, Francis Stapleton and Tim Williams. Apologies for absence were received from Bob Shell.
The Teddy Bear Day in July was very successful. It raised £735.97, including donations of £350 from the Freemasons and £200 from the BLR Company. It will be taking place again next year. Even more money could have been raised if more visitors had used the online ‘voucher’ system.
Rides on the Chairman’s Pump Trolley were very popular on the 2025 AGM day and raised some useful funds. It was hoped that it could return in future years and maybe be made available on other occasions to members or fee-paying pumpers.
It was agreed to propose to the Company a date of 16th May 2026 for the next AGM. The people needing re-election in 2026 would be Julian Birley, Tim Williams, Cathy Houghton, Martin Houghton and Bob Newton. There were also two vacant committee places and one vacant Vice-Presidency at the time of the Meeting.
We were still unable to access funds at one of our banks: this has been a problem ever since the death of our former Treasurer, Dave Scotson, over 18 months ago.
The replacement floor in the volunteers’ kitchen, Tim Williams reported, would now have to be laid at the end of the year, in the off-season. The leaking pipe had been repaired but now a separate area of floor was also giving cause for concern, and it would need further investigation. The new washing machine and tumble dryer were up and running and had been paid for. [After the Meeting, there were reports of other problems with the accommodation area, which are best not discussed here, but action is being planned or taken].
Since October 2024, membership numbers had fallen a little further but they were still higher than the highest pre-COVID-19 figures. The proportion of individual members (as opposed to families or multiple memberships at the same address) was increasing. The size of the Draw Club had reduced from 18 numbers (at the end of 2024) to just 13. Cathy and Martin thought that it would soon become unviable if this trend continued. New ways of advertising the Club were discussed.
Mat Peacock had been working on an application for a charity-funded defibrillator, to be installed at Llanuwchllyn Station, and was waiting for some details from the Company before moving to the next step.
The miniature railway on Platform 2 at Llanuwchllyn, built using track owned by the Society, was due to be opened to the public at this year’s Gala. Dai the Dragon was currently in storage off-site and the Company had agreed to pay for its refurbishment. The Accessible Toilet project, towards which the Society had ring-fenced a contribution of £10,000, had not made any progress, due not least to all the local builders being fully-occupied on one major project in the area.
This year’s Model Show would feature 15 standard gauge layouts, 11 narrow gauge layouts, 12 trade stands (or 13 if one included the BLR Company Shop) and 4 society stands. Bachmann were coming and had agreed to donate two 7mm scale Quarry Hunslet models, which would be sold to raise funds for the Extension. Ten of the layouts would be set in Wales – models of Wales are actually very rare on the British model railway exhibition circuit, even at Welsh shows. More volunteers were needed (and this was still true at the beginning of September).
Finally, the Clayton locomotive was discussed. At the time of the Meeting, it was under Society ownership. It was generally agreed that the Society could not afford to be its permanent sole owner. Several people present did not wish for the Society to be joint owners with a group or an individual. Further options were discussed but further discussions with the Company would be needed. This remained the case at the beginning of September.
The Meeting closed at 9.21 PM.
