“Please read the notices before you leave the shed.”
Did you miss out on some of the exclusive items available from Inglis Works at the National Garden Railway Show? Inglis has now added notebooks, utility pouches, and thermal flasks to their website! Get them while they’re still available!
The video of the actual Annual General Meeting with Directors reports, elections and members questions, is now live:
The May mailing of SMT and Bulletin is scheduled for collection from Warners in Bourne later this week. The mailing will again be by Whistl, with the entire mailing to both UK and overseas members continuing to be collected at the same time. Non-UK mailings are being dispatched in a plastic rather than paper wrap for this mailing. The mailing can be expected to begin arriving with members a few days after the collection date.
SMT and Bulletin will be available on our Members Site from 09:00 on Saturday 23rd 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, Jonathan Mead for SMT 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
The new Board met for nearly three hours this morning, the first meeting after the Annual General Meeting at last Saturday’s show. The first agenda item was to elect a new Chairman. I’m it. Newer members may not know that I was Chairman in the past so I know what the role entails and hope to hit the ground running. Mike Riley was elected Company Secretary at the AGM and created the record of today’s meeting. Mike also has done this job before and whilst a few things have changed since his last term in office, he also expects to be up to speed quickly. Andrew Lambert (Treasurer), Andy Belcher (Technical Director) and Mark Rennie (Director and MOTY Organiser) also formally took up their roles at the meeting, all having been elected at the AGM.
The other main business of the meeting was review of the National Show last Saturday, to reflect on what worked well and on what could be improved for 2027. Show director Rick Turnock and Chris Nobbs (Chief Steward) provided feedback and insight on the show. Rebecca (Member to Member) has already circulated her notes of the meeting, which list 26 points relating to the show. This gives us a good foundation for the review meeting we will have with Warners to learn from this year’s show and prepare for the next. What the Warners event staff have already fed back is how well Association volunteers organised those areas of the show for which we were responsible. This is a tribute to the many stewards who gave up their time before and after the show to make it a success.
And a success it indeed was! Footfall was up 26% on 2025, returning the show to 2024 levels at over 1,500 visitors. The feedback on social media has been overwhelmingly positive. I wasn’t able to speak to all traders but those I was able to spend time with reported brisk trade. There are certainly things we and Warners can improve, but overall it was a super show. So if the date’s not already in your diary, perhaps you’ll want to draw a big fat circle round Saturday 3rd April 2027 at Stoneleigh Park.
Alan Regan, Chairman
If you’re coming to the show tomorrow, and those of us setting it up today hope you are, to accelerate your entry, we’re doubling the capacity of the “Tickets Bought in Advance” queue. We’ll have two scanners outside the hall, so we can screen visitors as quickly as possible, and tickets on paper or Smart Devices will be scanned electronically, further reducing the effort for everyone.
There’s still time to buy in advance. Click this link to go the the ticketing site. Advance tickets will be on sale until 08:30 tomorrow.
This is how the hall looks right now. I will look very different at this time tomorrow!
Alan & Rick, National Show Team
The annotated show plan has been added to our show web site and can be found here. The plan itself, the areas within the yellow and blue zones, has been created by Warners. The annotations have been added by the Association.
If you are an Association member and plan to attend the Annual General Meeting at 14:00 during the show, please note that it has returned to the space used at the 2024 show and is highlighed on the plan. Access will be from the Foyer, not from the main hall.
A further change for 2026: visitors will not be issued with wristbands on initial entry to the show. They will be issued wristbands if they wish to leave the show and return later, for example, to take or collect something from their vehicle.
Exhibitor lists in alphabetic and stand number order have also been added to the show web site here. This is based on the list of exhibitors provided to the Association yesterday by Warners. We believe the lists to be current, complete and accurate. However, if any trader or exhibitor is unable to locate themselves they need to address their concern to the Commercial Sales Manager in Warners.
Finally, you will note from the plan that there are separate entry lines, one for those who wish to buy tickets on the day and the other for those who have bought tickets in advance. Association volunteers will resource this second line and scan tickets, which may be on mobile devices, using scanning equipment provided by Warners. We anticipate that this will speed entry into the show. The same airline-style security scanners will be used outside to screen entrants to the show, which is the same as in 2025 and is in the interests of everyone’s safety and security.
Tickets can be bought in advance up until 08:30 on 25th April here.
Rick Turnock, Show Director
The bus will be provided free of charge from the Whythall Transport Museum. Their insurance prohibits them from accepting payment for the service they’ll provide and this information has only just come to light. You don’t need a ticket to use the bus, just turn up and get on board. If you use the bus, you will have the option to make a donation to the museum upon arrival at the show, or online at your convenient. We’re working with the museum to provide a suitable donation receptacle. Their online donation page is here.
The timetable is as follows:
Rick Turnock, Show Director
At the Board Meeting on Saturday 28th March, the Directors co-opted three additional Directors to the Board. They are:
The Annual General Meeting at Stoneleigh Park on Saturday 25th April will be invited to elect Andy Belcher and Mike Riley as Directors. Alan Regan was already listed in the Notice of Annual General Meeting provided in the 2025 Annual Report included in the February mailing of SMT & Bulletin. The revised Agenda for the AGM is included in this PDF document (click link to follow). The document also includes a revised Proxy Voting Form. The Copies of the agenda will also be provided at the AGM.
Andrew Mountfield, Company Secretary
Fergus, who will be running the Inglis Clothing / merchandise section of the Hub at the National Garden Railway Show on Saturday 25th April, has advised that for any exhibitors / traders / volunteers who want to pre-order items from the Association shop for collection at the show, thus saving postage, then Inglis will have web orders available for collection from the hub on the Friday between 15:00 and 16:00, as well as on Saturday during show opening hours.
So save money when you place an order at https://www.inglisworks.co.uk/16mm before 17th April and collect from the Association Hub at the show.
Book your tickets to the National Garden Railway Show and take advantage of the “Click and Collect” facility on the 16mm Association Clothing and accessories web shop for a free of charge “collect at Stoneleigh” delivery option, highlighted on the web shop banner. Please note the last order date for Stoneleigh collection will be Friday 17th April.
There are also some new products added to the site, including a larger 20L version of the barrel bag, bodywarmer, workshop/golf towel and leisure rugby shirt.
As usual, the web shop is available via direct link at www.inglisworks.co.uk/16mm or via the 16mm.org.uk site menu.
This year we will have samples of the clothing at the show as part of the Association Hub and Inglis will be taking orders on the Saturday, along with a selection of products available to purchase on the day including some as yet unreleased products.
