Cymdeithas Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid
Bala Lake Railway Society
Minutes of the Committee Meeting held at 7.30 PM on 6th May 2025, via Zoom
Present: Dave Fildes, Cathy and Martin Houghton, Chris Jackson, Peter Miller, Hilary Moorhouse, Bob Newton, Mat Peacock, Claire Roberts, Francis Stapleton (who joined the Meeting for Item 5) and Tim Williams.
1) Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from Bob Shell.
2) Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 6th May 2025: Approval and Matters Arising
Mat Peacock asked about the Teddy Bear Day which had taken place in July. Dave Fildes reported that it had been 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, but the Day was a great success nonetheless.
Mat also asked about current dealings with the Trust. Tim Williams replied that they remained open to any request from the Society and that he was meeting with Julian Birley regularly. Chris Jackson noted that most of the current Trust activity was back-room paperwork so our help with their activities was probably not needed at present.
There being no other matters arising, Chris Jackson proposed that these Minutes be accepted. Dave Fildes seconded the motion and it was carried unanimously.
3) Matters arising from the AGM held on 17th May 2025
- a) Pre-approval of the Minutes and Matters Arising
There being no matters arising from the Minutes, Peter Miller proposed that they be submitted to the next AGM for full approval. Dave Fildes seconded the motion and it was carried unanimously.
- b) Other issues arising from the AGM Day as a whole
No problems were reported with the internet connections this year. However, Cathy Houghton noted that there was some sound distortion caused by accidental touching of clip-on microphones by people on the top table!
Mat Peacock thought the Pump Trolley had been a great attraction and fund-raiser and hoped that it could return in future years. Tim Williams was happy to continue to provide it, though as in 2025 it would need someone other than himself to supervise it during the day (in 2025, Andrew Bizley had been in charge – he had done an excellent job). There was then a discussion of whether the Trolley could be operated somewhere else, so that it would be completely out of the way of service trains and thus able to be used more. However, the need for wagon storage on the new headshunt being laid at the far end of the Heritage Centre, and perhaps also its remoteness, precluded the only obvious alternative at Llanuwchllyn. Mat Peacock suggested the loop line at Bala Pen-y-Bont, with the bay platform as a refuge siding. This would work, but there was the question of how to get the trolley there and back again.
Tim also said that he had plans to use the Trolley more on other days, for the benefit of members and for fundraising, perhaps with some return trips to Pentrepiod for those with sufficient stamina.
Mat asked if a better way could be found to get seating to and from the Heritage Centre, as he had spent a lot of time on the AGM day carrying chairs back and forth from the upstairs common room. And even then, there had not been enough chairs. At one previous AGM, a slate wagon had been used for transporting chairs from the Bunker, and he hoped this would be possible again. Tim replied that there were not many spare chairs left in the Bunker now, as quite a few had been used to replace damaged ones in the cafe. He suggested we should look into acquiring our own set of folding chairs.
- c) Date for next year’s AGM
Tim Williams believed that keeping the AGM on the same weekend in May would work well for us and the Company. That would put the next AGM on 16th May 2026. This met with general approval, though not all present would be free at that time: Tim would discuss the date with David Jones. 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.
4) Reports
- a) Financial Matters
Claire Roberts reported on the current bank balances: £5943.85 in the Lloyds current account; £21582.56 in the Lloyds savings account; £45 in the cash box and £249 with PayPal. It was believed that the amounts of money at Barclays (Santa and Accommodation Fund accounts) had not changed, but we still had no access. As of this week, Claire now had full access to Lloyds online banking. There were no new dealings with HMRC to report.
Tim Williams reported that the online banking for Barclays was still not working and he was now locked out of their telephone banking system as well. He had not been able to get through on their telephone helpline, due to its being only available for a limited period each day, and because of his own work and other commitments. He had written to Barclays several times about the Accommodation Fund account specifically and had no reply. Someone had recently and erroneously tried to pay some money into this account and was blocked, showing that the accounts were completely sealed. Tim’s “KYC refresh” letters also didn’t seem to be having any effect.
Claire next said that two letters from Lloyds had arrived at Llanuwchllyn, addressed to Mat Peacock and Dave Rutt (!!!). The letters appeared to contain bank cards, probably authorisation cards. She was currently dealing with accommodation monies by means of a ‘virtual pot’ on the Xero software.
Finally, Mat Peacock asked Claire if she could handle some Model Show payments into the main Lloyds account, and they discussed the practicalities briefly.
- b) Accommodation
The replacement floor, 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. The new washing machine and tumble dryer were up and running and had been paid for.
- c) Membership
Cathy and Martin Houghton submitted a written report in advance, covering membership changes since 29th October 2024. Although the overall numbers were still slowly falling, the total number of people with membership (365, down from 375 in October 2024) was still higher than the highest pre-COVID-19 figure (347). The proportion of individual members (as opposed to families or multiple memberships at the same address) was increasing. The Membership Secretaries were waiting for responses from three people whose memberships were on the point of lapsing. The Red Dragon 5-year memberships were now drawing to a close: all the people still in the scheme were entering their final year of RDA membership.
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 and asked for all present to consider joining. They also discussed with Tim ways better to publicise the Draw on the Society Stand (it is only open to members but it might be possible to persuade new members also to join the Draw – a leaflet is also included with new member packs). Cathy agreed to provide a stock of leaflets for the Stand, though the option for Tim to print out some new ones was also considered. The old leaflets had out-of-date banking information on them, which Cathy had been correcting by hand: it seemed a shame to recycle them and an unnecessary expense to print a new batch.
5) The Clayton Locomotive
It was decided to postpone this discussion until the end of the Meeting: please see below.
6) Projects
- a) Defibrillator
Mat Peacock reported that he had started the application process for a British Heart Fund sponsored defibrillator, on behalf of the Company. He was currently waiting for David Jones to select a location for the equipment before he could move on in the process. The deadline for applications was February 2026. The BHF do not provide more than one machine per successful applicant and there were, to Mat’s knowledge, no other such schemes currently running. Claire Roberts said that there wasn’t enough room on our trains to operate a defibrillator safely anyway, and Mat added that David was concerned that if machines were permanently sited at Llangower or Bala Pen-y-Bont, they would be vandalised or otherwise misused.
- b) Miniature Railway
Tim Williams reported on the miniature railway which was being built on Platform 2 at Llanuwchllyn. It used the Society’s 7.25” track, to which an extra rail for 5” gauge trains was being added. Signage was being designed for the line’s ‘stations’ and this would be accompanied with “Funded with the help of the Society” plaques. Tim had personally purchased a 7.25” gauge Lister to be the mainstay of the service. The line currently ran from the western end of Platform 2 as far as the office and it was planned to continue laying track all the way to the eastern end of the platform.
- c) Other
Tim planned to fit out the interior of the Society Storage Shed in the autumn, probably around Hallowe’en: he could not foresee having any time to do it before then. Dai the Dragon was currently in storage off-site and the Company had agreed to pay for its refurbishment.
Dave Fildes asked about the Accessible Toilet and Tim Williams replied that the Company was still unable to push the project forward. Tim had been mentioning the project to David Jones at every opportunity and would continue to do so. Passenger numbers were down so far this season. There were many other Company projects needing attention and resources and all the local builders seemed to be fully-occupied elsewhere. Tim inferred that there was little or no prospect of any work being done on the accessible toilet this winter.
The need for much better baby-changing facilities (to go into the accessible toilet room) was also discussed. The only baby changing area currently available on the Railway was in the Ladies’ at Llanuwchllyn, which was less than ideal, not least when the person trying to change the baby was a man, which did happen.
The possibility of hiring a portable accessible toilet was again discussed (though the Company has been against this option in the past). And all present agreed with Dave Fildes and Peter Miller that building a permanent accessible toilet as soon as possible was absolutely essential, for the Railway’s customers, for our members and for the wider public image of the line.
7) Model Show
Mat Peacock reported that 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 exhibition circuit, even at Welsh shows. Mat had written an article about this year’s Show for the imminent new edition of Llanuwchllyn Express. The first section of that article was an appeal for volunteers, and he asked those present to help circulate the message that volunteers were needed for the Show.
The Show is a Company event supported by the Society. Mat said that he had had to ask David Jones to find a person or people to take over the duty of ‘Floor Manager’ at the Show itself (for want of a better term). Doing this and organising everything in advance had become too much for him. The current plan was for Barbara Cooper and Thomas Haynes to do this together, and Mat expressed his gratitude to them both. He had written a detailed description of what needed to be done for the Show in September: it ran to four pages and he hoped that it wouldn’t put them off!
8) Any Other Business
Peter Miller told the Meeting about his recent visit to the West Lancashire Light Railway, where he had seen large, well-designed and highly informative billboards, such as one about Irish Mail’s restoration. This display included a large section on Alice, since Alice’s original boiler had been used to help restore Irish Mail. The Alice section showed how she was brought down from the very top of Dinorwic Quarry by a group of young and fearless volunteers. Peter had asked the staff at the WLLR whether we could reproduce their report on Alice and they had agreed – he thought it would make an excellent piece for Llanuwchllyn Express. Mat Peacock wondered whether our Railway should have similar boards (Chris Jackson added that such things were also going up at the L&B).
5) The Clayton Locomotive
This item was postponed until the end of the Meeting so that the maximum possible number of elected persons would be able to participate. Earlier in the week, Mat Peacock had circulated a proposal to create an owners’ group under Society auspices, in which the Society would be the majority shareholder and the Committee the sole decision-making body. He had offered to make a contribution of £6,500 to that end, with certain conditions. A second elected person had offered a smaller investment on the same basis.
Mat admitted that many of the long-term costs of the Clayton were not known but emphasised that, if it became too expensive, the loco could be transferred to Company ownership at any time. He acknowledged that his proposals were self-serving to a degree, but also emphasised what he felt would be many positive benefits for the Society in owning a majority stake in a loco: it would be a very visible symbol of the Society’s relevance and would offer the chance to be a liability-free part-owner in a locomotive to existing and potential new members, in order to aid both member recruitment and retention.
Several of those present supported Mat’s suggestion, subject in some cases to further negotiations over details. It was agreed that the Society could not even consider owning a locomotive without a major contribution. Several others present were opposed to the plan on the grounds of practicality or principle, owing either to specific elements of Mat’s proposed terms or because his offer of £6,500 came with terms at all.
Not having a significant majority in favour of his proposal, Mat put it to one side and proposed an alternative. He offered to buy the locomotive outright himself, fully reimbursing the £7,250 paid by the Society. He would thereafter be responsible for funding the locomotive, subject to terms personally agreed with the Company. He would make the loco available to the Society whenever it was needed (for instance for AGM special trains). He also agreed that the Clayton should carry a plaque of some sort to commemorate the fact that the Society had ‘saved’ the loco for the Railway in the first place. He would seek Company approval for this whole arrangement before committing to the purchase.
A vote to allow Mat to purchase the loco, subject to the Company’s approval, was proposed by Dave Fildes. The motion was seconded by Cathy Houghton and carried with one abstention (Peter Miller) and no votes against. [Mat contacted David Jones on the morning after the Meeting, and received a reply on 10.8.25. In it, David agreed to the proposal in principle, providing an ownership and use agreement could be reached].
The Meeting closed at 9.21 PM. The Minutes were recorded by Mat Peacock.
