andykwilkinson Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Dear all, After a lot of hard work the last few months I am pleased to announce that Ely & District MRC has now, as of January 2014, moved into a superb new Clubroom. After more than 10 years in a cramped space (a small upstairs room in The Old Comrades Club in Soham) we decided about a year ago to seriously look for an alternative, larger and much better home for our Club. As always, these things are never easy but in mid-September 2013 we were offered a golden opportunity to convert some space in a building for our exclusive long term needs. We pushed the button on moving immediately we all saw the space. There were some considerable costs involved. However, because of prudent management of our funds over the last few years it was "all doable" whilst keeping membership fees perfectly reasonable. The work involved erection of some serious timberwork for partitioning off our designated space within a much larger building. This involved the use of a paid contractor for the really heavy work with assistance from some of our Members during the build. Huge quantities of rock wool to insulate our new Clubroom's walls and ceiling then needed to be installed - a horrible but very necessary job! Plaster boarding etc. was completed just before Christmas and the final electrics fit out was completed on New Year's Eve. Then some decorating work commenced - I've never seen so much magnolia - some of it even ended up on the walls! (I jest, it was done really well). The Club Members have really rallied together to make all this happen and its been great fun too (mostly!) The room is now warm, dry, and will be very comfortable - absolutely ideal for our use with areas dedicated to modelling benches, a kitchen area and social space. It has level access (24/7) and unlimited/easy parking just outside. The exact location of our Clubroom will not be posted here - for security and other reasons - but let's just say it's between Ely and Soham. A couple of weeks ago we had our first Club night in the new Clubroom which involved a running session on our new OO "roundy roundy" and some beer! This layout is closely based on Wickham Market in Suffolk as it was in the 1950s. This 20ft x 11ft layout will eventually supersede our much loved Thurston as our main Exhibition layout. In our old cramped Clubroom it was just not possible to erect a layout of this size and leave it all up. Now all that has changed! Wickham Market will remain erected at all times for the use of members on running nights (once a month from now on, as decreed at our AGM last week). Leaving it up will also greatly assist our completion of it to exhibition standard (signals, platforms, scenery and buildings work commencing now/very soon!). The design of Wickham Market also incorporates the branch junction to Framlingham at one end - not least so that we can model the unusual signal that was located there. Framlingham station may well get built some time in the future too - now that we have the space to do it! However, we'll work on getting Wickham Market built to "Thurston standards" (at least) first of all. Our much increased space also allows our 20ft long N gauge "roundy roundy" layout, working name Westgate Park (fictitious location), to be left up too! That layout is currently undergoing wiring work. By the way, our other layouts (Thurston and Ramsey, both OO) live in a shipping container and normally only come out for exhibitions (Thurston will be at our Ely show on 17th May). Various Ely & District MRC Members also have layouts in all the main scales/gauges. You can now see some photos of the Clubroom build process (up until our first running session on Wickham Market) on our Ely MRC website - needs Flashplayer to view. Sorry about the music, what was our webmaster Keith thinking! Obviously, we have only just moved in.... and in the next few weeks we still have some domestic things to sort out (carpet laying, fitting heaters, a sink, kitchen units/wall cupboards, shelves etc.) in order to get the new Clubroom how we want it and comfortable for our long term needs...speaking of which we need to install the loo! Soon, we will want to invite any prospective new members in the area to visit us at our new Clubroom to see what we can now offer in terms of membership. Any seriously interested persons should firstly contact our Secretary via the Ely MRC website link. We are also on the home straight in planning of our annual Exhibition at Ely College which will be on Saturday 17th May this year. So there is a lot of activity going on in our small, friendly club! So if any of this interest those of you in our catchment area and you're the type that wants to learn/share and get involved then please contact us. Please use the website contact info (in the 'Who, What, Where' drop down list) as I'm not on RM Web that often http://www.elymrc.org.uk/ It's looking like 2014 is going to be another great year for Ely & District MRC. If you want to be part of it, come and join us! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 Today, after a good few members hard work we finally got our luxurious new toilet facility completed. Ely MRC's Le Pissoir is now ready See more about us and what we do on our Ely MRC Facebook page. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 As the nights draw in and people start thinking about railway modelling, just a reminder that our small but friendly Club (we're currently around 20 in number) is still looking for new members So if you live in Ely, Newmarket or Cambridge areas why not visit our website and find out more about us and perhaps arrange a visit to the Clubroom one Club night? Normal Club nights are Tuesday evenings and details are on our Club website about getting in contact with us - I'm not on RM Web very often. Also, just a reminder that we're exhibiting Thurston at Spalding show this month. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 I hear we have a superb half-page piece about our new Clubroom in this month's (Feb 2015) edition of the Railway Modeller which came out today. On page 165 and with a photo of the Clubroom too, apparently. Take a look. Also, more info about us on our website. So if anyone in the Ely/Newmarket/Cambridge area is interested in visiting on a Club night soon, with the idea of potentially joining, please contact us to arrange a visit. Note: Please do that via the email links on our Ely MRC website (see my signature) as I'm rarely on here nowadays (running my own business does not leave me much spare time!) and either our Vice Chairman or our El Presidente will reply with more info. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted March 4, 2015 Author Share Posted March 4, 2015 For those of you in the Ely area we have a short feature about our new Clubroom/call for new members on page 29 of the Ely i (eye) magazine that is being delivered free to all Ely addresses right now. Also, a few of us will be at The Burwell Village College event this coming weekend - also to promote our Club and our much improved facilities. So if you're around come and say hello to Keith, John, Michael and/or myself (maybe one or two other members too) on either Saturday or Sunday afternoon! Look for the little N gauge layout with (hopefully) a big crowd round it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 Just an update that more info about the Club, our recent Exhibition and pictures of our layouts, Clubroom etc. frequently appear on our Facebook page, link below: https://www.facebook.com/Elymodelrailwayclub?ref=aymt_homepage_panel Since the start of 2015 we have had 3 new members join but we currently still have space for a few more. If anyone in the area is interested in joining please phone our Secretary (phone number is on our website). Use the phone number (especially over the next week or so) as he is without a PC/awaiting a new one - after which email should work. Alternatively, email our webmaster (our Vice Chairman, Keith) as his eurotrack email works just fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykwilkinson Posted June 1, 2015 Author Share Posted June 1, 2015 The Club's El Presidente has returned from his holidays and now has a new PC and his email working again...at last!!! Seems there was a backlog of prospective new members in his large body on unread emails (from immediately after our show on 16th May until today!) He's now on it. The email links on our website will now get through to us again (I'm rarely on here - so best to use the Ely MRC website to make contact if you're interested in joining - rather than trying to message me on here). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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