Shed Notices

The February 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 mail delays at the time of writing.  Information for the UK can be found here.

Mailing to overseas members is by Air Mail.  Royal Mail services continue to recover from the recent cyber incident and there may be small delays to non-UK mailings.  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 February.  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.

This mailing is unusually heavy, as it includes the Show Guide, Annual Report and Draw Tickets along with SMT and Bulletin.  We’ve been unable to send the first three to members overseas, to keep the weight under 500 grams.  Customs arrangements arising from the UK’s exit from the EU require additional processes for overseas mailings exceeding 500 grams and due to the infrequency of such mailings, Warners don’t have these in place with Royal Mail.  The Annual Report and Show Guide will be published to our Members Site concurrent with SMT and Bulletin.  If any overseas member requires paper copies, please contact me at membership@16mm.org.uk and I’ll make arrangements to get them to you.  We’re only able to accept payment for Draw Tickets by cheque or money order in Pounds Sterling drawn on a UK financial institution, but if you’re an overseas member with access to this facility and want to participate in the draw, please contact me for tickets.

Thanks to George Sheppard for arranging the draw tickets, editors Gareth Jones (SMT), Dave Gordon (Bulletin and the Show Guide) and Mike Riley (Annual Report) for getting their publications out on time, and to all the members who contributed to them.  Your input as ever is very welcome and critical to the editors being able to present varied and interesting content.  I hope you enjoy what I’m sure will as always be an enjoyable read.

Tom Rowland, Membership Secretary

You may be aware that redevelopment of the area surrounding the Peterborough Arena is planned, to create significant leisure development, alongside new homes, open space sports pitches, a school and other facilities.  Today we have been advised by Arena management that this plan is being accelerated and brought forward, meaning that events scheduled after 1^st July 2023 will not go ahead, and that the Arena exhibition space, which the plans retain, is likely to be unavailable for some time.  This change does NOT in any way affect the running of the 2023 National Show, scheduled for April 15^th.  The Association has started looking for an alternative venue for the 2024 show and will share its findings as soon as possible.  If a suitable venue can be found, which is our aim, the 2024 National Show will go ahead in its normal April timeframe.

Our show on April 15^th will therefore be the last for the foreseeable future at the current venue.  We go out on a high, with more layouts and more space dedicated to layouts than ever before.  70 traders and societies are attending the show and all available exhibition space is now occupied, though not I should stress at the expense of visitor circulation space or the show’s usual attractions, line the Landmarks Display, MoTY and Member to Member Sales.  If you’ve been putting off attending, wait no longer because next year we’ll be somewhere different.

Alan Finch, Chairman

Invitations to renew your subscription for the membership year commencing 1st March 2023 are scheduled to be sent by email on Monday 30th January.  You will be sent an invitation unless:

• You have joined the Association since 1st December 2022, have already renewed your subscription or pay your subscription by Direct Debit (i.e. you do not need to manually renew at this time)
• You have indicated that you do not wish to renew your subscription
• We do not have a valid email address stored against your membership record

If you wish to act on the invitation, please take time to read the instructions provided, which are divided into three sections.  The first is for members who have joined online or renewed online in the past, the second is for those who haven’t used the online renewal system in the past and now wish to do so, and the last is for members who wish to renew by phone.  If you want to renew by cheque please wait for February Bulletin, due for publication on Saturday 11th February, which will contain full renewal instructions.  These will be on page three.

Please pay particular attention to the renewal option you select.  If you see a NEW subscription in your shopping basket as opposed to a subscription RENEWAL, you will pay £3 extra to renew for the coming year.  Please go back, empty your basket and start again.  Every year a small number of new subscriptions are taken out which were intended as renewals, creating extra work the Association and the renewals team at Warners, as well as extra cost to the purchaser.  Remember also that you can change the type of membership subscription if what you’ve had in the past no longer meets your needs.  You can also take out a Direct Debit to renew your subscription if you wish.

If you have queries or difficulty, please contact Warners at 16mmNGM@warnersgroup.co.uk or by phone number on 01778 392016 (outside the UK call 00 44 1778 392016).  Likewise, if you expect to but don’t receive an invitation, please contact Warners.  We’re unable to send out invitations ourselves.  If after two working days you haven’t received or aren’t satisfied with the response, please contact me at membership@16mm.org.uk.

Tom Rowland, Membership Secretary

The November mailing of SMT and Bulletin is scheduled for collection by Royal Mail from Warners Midlands in Bourne today, 11^th November.  The entire mailing to UK and overseas members will be collected at the same time.

Mailing to UK members is First Class, so packages will start to arrive from Saturday 12^th.  There are no significant delays at the time of writing.  Information for the UK can be found here.

Mailing to overseas members is by Air Mail.  Delivery times may be affected by ongoing COVID-19 reduction measures and reduced air transport capacity.  Items to some EU destinations are also experiencing delays.  Further information regarding mailing to addresses outside the UK can be found here.

SMT and Bulletin will be available on our Members Only web site from 09:00 on Saturday 12^th November.  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.

Thanks to editors Gareth Jones (SMT) and Dave Gordon (Bulletin) for getting their magazines out on time, and to all the members who contributed to them.  Your input is as welcome as it is critical to the editors being able to present varied and interesting magazines.  I hope you enjoy what I’m sure will again be an enjoyable read.

Tom Rowland, Membership Secretary

To make our Public Liability Insurance clearer, as there are now two sub-policies, we have updated the Insurance page on the Members’ Only website.

You can now download your personalised document which will contain two policies:

• One is for you as an individual when running at a non club or group activity, such as a village fete, where the cover is for claims up to a maximum of £1m per claim and aggregated up to £2m per year.
• The second is for you when you are involved with other 16mm members in club or group activities, where the cover is up to a maximum of £5m in any one year.

Chris Trotman, Technical Director

Royal Mail have advised that The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called on its members who collect, sort and deliver parcels and letters to take further national strike action on the following dates:

• Friday 30 September 2022 and Saturday 1 October 2022
• Thursday 13 October 2022
• Thursday 20 October 2022
• Tuesday 25 October 2022
• Monday 28 November 2022

Further dates have also been announced by the CWU for functional strike action which impacts parts of RM operation on the following:

• Processing, Distribution, International, Collections, Admin: 3, 9, 15, 24 November and 1 December 2022
• Delivery: 4, 10, 16, 25 November and 2 December 2022
• Network: 2, 8, 14, 23, 30 November 2022

More information on the industrial action can be found here.

If action goes ahead disruption is likely to mailings sent on the Association’s behalf by Warners Group Publications.  This will affect new member packs, replacement magazines, SMT back issues and special publications orders.

Warners will continue to prepare mailings as usual, however there may be a delay in them being delivered to recipients.

Tom Rowland, Membership Secretary

Royal Mail have advised that The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called on its members who collect, sort and deliver parcels and letters to take strike action on 26 & 31 August and 8 & 9 September 2022.

More information on the industrial action can be found here.

If action goes ahead disruption is likely to mailings sent on the Association’s behalf by Warners Group Publications.  This will affect new member packs, replacement magazines, SMT back issues and special publications orders.

Warners will continue to prepare mailings as usual, however there may be a delay in them being delivered to recipients.

Tom Rowland, Membership Secretary

The August mailing of SMT and Bulletin is scheduled for collection by Royal Mail from Warners Midlands in Bourne today, 12^th August.  The entire mailing to UK and overseas members will be collected at the same time.

Mailing to UK members is First Class, so packages will start to arrive from Saturday 13^th.  There are no significant delays at the time of writing.  Information for the UK can be found here.

Mailing to overseas members is by Air Mail.  Delivery times may be affected by ongoing COVID-19 reduction measures and reduced air transport capacity.  Items to some EU destinations are also experiencing delays.  Further information regarding mailing to addresses outside the UK can be found here.

SMT and Bulletin will be available on our Members Only web site from 09:00 on Saturday 13^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.

Thanks to editors Gareth Jones (SMT) and Dave Gordon (Bulletin) for getting their magazines out on time, and to all the members who contributed to them.  Your input is as welcome as it is critical to the editors being able to present varied and interesting magazines.  I hope you enjoy what I’m sure will again be an enjoyable read.

Tom Rowland, Membership Secretary

The title isn’t a typo!  I’m pleased to announce that the National Garden Railway next year, in 2023, will return to being a spring event, which it always was prior to the Pandemic.  The date booked for the show is Saturday 15th April 2023, a little later than shows of the past, which were sometimes as early as the last week in March.  The return to April will remove the conflict with early summer holidays, something which the Association’s primary demographic is well placed to take advantage of.

The venue will again be the Peterborough Arena.  You may have noticed media reports that part of the East of England Showground, on which the Arena sits, will be the subject of an application for housing and a leasure resort.  This affects outdoor events only.  The Arena will continue as the vibrant and well used indoor exhibition venue that it’s always been.

Setup of the 2022 show is taking place in front of me and is well advanced.  The layouts and many of the traders are ready for visitors tomorrow.  You can still buy tickets on the day and the forecast tomorrow is dry with a high of 21 degrees.  If you haven’t made up your mind to visit the greatest garden railway show in the UK, it’s not too late!  I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Alan Regan, Chairman & Show Director

I’m very sorry to advise that we have cancelled the Shuttle Bus Service on Saturday 25^th June between Peterborough Railway Station and the Arena.  This decision was taken earlier today in consultation with the company offering the service and after discussion by the Board of the Association.  The Train Operating Companies released their emergency timetables at the weekend and it is now clear that very few rail services will stop at Peterborough during the rail dispute, the third day of which is planned for Saturday 25^th June.  Review of the majority of the tickets sold at the time of cancelling the service showed that their holders are highly unlikely to be able conveniently to use rail as their basis of travel to the show and indeed some have already requested refunds.

All affected ticket holders have been contacted and refunds are in process.  Entry Tickets to the show itself remain valid and the show goes ahead as planned.  We very much regret having to take this action and we hope that it does not prevent people from attending the show.

Alan Regan, Chairman and Show Director