Shed Notices

On behalf of Mick’s family, can I thank everyone who has commented on the 16mm Facebook, and/or emailed me directly, regarding Mick’s passing. It has been a shock to us all.

Whilst grieving over our friend and colleague, we’ve also had the unfortunate task of casting our minds forward to the next edition of 16mm Today (SMT) and coming up with a solution.

I am pleased to announce that Gareth Jones, the former editor of SMT, has very kindly agreed to be a guest editor for the November issue. He will also be liaising with our new SMT editor in waiting, Gregory Moir, who will be taking over from the February edition going forward. We are very grateful to Gareth for agreeing to help out like this and we welcome a smooth handover to Gregory for the first issue next year.

Alan Finch, Chairman

It is my sad duty to announce that our SMT Editor, Mick Blowfield, passed away last Friday 30^th August. Our thoughts and prayers are with his widow Cath and his family at this difficult time.

Further announcements will be made in due course.

Alan Finch, Chairman

The August mailing of SMT and Bulletin is scheduled for collection by Royal Mail from Warners Midlands in Bourne later this week. The entire mailing to UK and overseas members will be collected at the same time. Mailing to UK members is First Class. There are no significant mail delays at the time of writing. Information for the UK can be found here.

Mailing to overseas members is by Air Mail. There are no general delays expected to non-UK mailings, however Royal Mail have advised that deliveries to certain countries may encounter delays. Further information regarding mailing to addresses outside the UK can be found here.

SMT and Bulletin will be available on our Members Site from 09:00 BST on Saturday 10^th August. If you haven’t received an invitation to activate your account on the site, or can’t find it, please email members.site@16mm.org.uk providing your surname, membership number and post code and we’ll send an invitation as soon as we can.

Huge thanks go to the editors of the magazines, Mick Blowfield for SMT and Jonathan Mead & Harry Jones for Bulletin. Thanks to them for getting their magazines out on time. Also many thanks to the members who have contributed articles and reports. Your input is both welcome and valuable to the editors in being able to present interesting publications. I hope you enjoy reading what I’m sure will again be interesting and quality magazines.

Tom Rowland, Membership Secretary

We will be carrying out essential server maintenance on Wednesday 5th June 2024 starting at 9.30am (GMT+1 UK Time Zone). Members will be unable to log in to the members-only site during that time.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience.

Richard Huss, IT Officer

Having announced a date for the 2025 National Garden Railway Show over a month ago, early this week, it came to our attention that the “Model World Live” event at the NEC is scheduled for the same Saturday.  Though the two events focus on different aspects of the broad model railway hobby, we know that the same clash this year caused confusion for some, with at least one party initially going to the NEC and paying to park, only to find that they were at the wrong show.  We have therefore rescheduled our show to Saturday 12th April 2025 to avoid any potential for prospective visitors to become confused.  All other aspects of our show remain unchanged.

Planning has already started and the first layouts are being reviewed for participation at the show.  Drafting the first hall plan is in progress.  The feedback on the 2024 show was overwhelmingly positive, but there are areas where improvements are possible and these are being put in hand.  The show plans the same “broad church” approach to garden railway modelling as in the past, so there should be something for anyone who models outside, especially those who use live steam!

More details of the show will be published, via Shed Notices, as our plans crystalise, so please stay tuned and put Saturday 12th April 2025 at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, CV8 2LH in your diary now!

Alan Regan, Show Director

The May mailing of SMT and Bulletin is scheduled for collection by Royal Mail from Warners Midlands in Bourne later this week. The entire mailing to UK and overseas members will be collected at the same time. Mailing to UK members is First Class. There are no significant mail delays at the time of writing. Information for the UK can be found here.

Mailing to overseas members is by Air Mail. There are no general delays expected to non-UK mailings, however Royal Mail have advised that deliveries to certain countries may encounter delays. Further information regarding mailing to addresses outside the UK can be found here.

SMT and Bulletin will be available on our Members Site from 09:00 on Saturday 11^th May. If you haven’t received an invitation to activate your account on the site, or can’t find it, please email members.site@16mm.org.uk providing your surname, membership number and post code and we’ll send an invitation as soon as we can.

Many thanks as always go to the editors for both magazines; Mick Blowfield for SMT and to new editors Jonathan Mead and Harry Jones for Bulletin. Thanks to them for getting their magazines out on time. Also thanks to all the members who have contributed articles and reports to them. Your input is both welcome and valuable to the editors in being able to present interesting publications. I hope you enjoy reading what I’m sure will again be interesting and quality magazines.

Tom Rowland, Membership Secretary

I’m pleased to advise that we have secured a catering unit inside the main hall at Saturday 27th April’s National Show at the NAEC, Stoneleigh Park.  This will include tables and chairs, so that you can enjoy light refreshment, a sit down, a chat with your friends and still watch some of the layouts and soak up the atmosphere of the show.  This is in addition to the 200 seater Stroller’s Cafe, where a wider range of refreshments will be available.  Strollers is linked to and a few steps from the main hall, so there’s no need to step outside.

If you’re either a volunteer steward at the show, or an exhibitor, the in-hall catering unit will also be open on Friday afternoon as we set the show up.  The unit is being installed before we set up, so we plan to open from 13:00 on the Friday.

The venue is really working with us to offer flexible catering to meet a range of needs.  They want the show to be a success as much as we do and I’m grateful for their support.

Hope to see you at the show in just over six weeks!

Alan Regan, Show Director

After reviewing our rules/policy for selling on the Member to Member stand, I want to correct a line that was printed in the bulletin.  In the bulletin, it advises that if someone pays for an item with a card, the seller will need to give us their banking details for an electronic transfer.  After reviewing the situation, and discussing the situation, we are amending this to state that you the seller can choose to give us your banking details or have a cheque issued for any sales you receive by card.  You will be asked for your decision at booking-in, however we will not collect any banking details until payout and only if you received any sales via card. 

You can pre-book your items online (www.16mm.org.uk/enter-m2m) or via post until 22^nd April. Alternatively, you can email your completed form to me  member-member.sales@16mm.org.uk.

If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me. 

Rebecca Lockley, M2M coordinator

Following my recent appeal for somebody to step forward to cover the role of Bulletin Editor, we received message of interest from not one, but two members. Following discussions, they agreed to share the role between them and so we’re pleased to announce that Harry Jones and Jonathan Mead will be sharing the role of Bulletin Editor. There will be a gradual transition with the current incumbent Andrew Mawer handing over the work to Harry who will liaise with and file the contributions from the area groups and Jonathan who will compose Bulletin.

I’d like to formally welcome them both to the team and thank them for coming forward. I would also like to thank Andrew for standing in and getting us through a difficult period. Many hands make light work and so it is hoped that by sharing the Bulletin Editor role, neither Harry or Jonathan will be overstretched in the future.

Please continue to the use the bulletin.editor@16mm.org.uk email address for submissions for Bulletin.

Alan Finch, Chairman

If you’re a UK member, your copy of the Show Guide for our National Show at the NAEC, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, on Saturday 27th April 2024 either dropped through your door yesterday or should do so tomorrow (we’re still waiting for ours ☹).  Editor Richard Huss has done a great job with the 32-page full-colour guide, revamping it for our first visit to the NAEC since 2012.  The guide contains all we think you’ll need to plan your visit, understand what to expect at the venue, know which exhibitors will be there and get a glimpse of the 17 layouts on show, some visiting for the first time.

As Richard assembled the guide, he was also populating and revamping the National Garden Railway Show web site.  This is now complete and includes, for the first time, the ability to download the show guide, completely free of charge, so that anyone interested in the show has access to what has until now been a benefit to Association members only.

The show web site is www.nationalgardenrailwayshow.org.uk and the show guide can downloaded here.

We’re still looking for volunteers to help us steward the show and to staff the Member to Member sales stand.  If you want to know more or think you could help, please contact Chief Steward Stuart Timms at stuart.timms.16mm@gmail.com or Member to Member Sale Coordinator Rebecca Lockley at member-member.sales@16mm.org.uk.  Or if you’ve got a general enquiry about the show, email me at show.director@16mm.org.uk

See you in less than a couple of months!

Alan Regan – Show Director