EMGS Members’ Day & AGM 2024

[Leander]

Saturday 20th January 2024
The Old School Rooms,

1 Station Rd,

Congresbury,
North Somerset,

BS49 5DY

 

From 10.30am for both visitors and EMGS members until 4.30pm. Browse, trade and enjoy the 4mm Modellers' Day demonstrations and layouts.

 

Entry for EMGS members is, of course, free, however non-member visitors will be charged the small of amount of £4. This will allow those visitors to become non-voting Day Members, buy items from the EMGS store, and defray some of the costs of putting on the event.

 

For EMGS members only the formal business of the Annual General Meeting will commence at 2.00pm sharp and will take place in a reserved area of the main hall. This meeting will be private for EMGS members  only.

 

Voting in the EMGS Annual Competition will be available to all present between 1.00pm and 2.00pm. EMGS members will find details of the competition groups on manual sheet 0.1.1.(1). A summary of the groups is included below and in the Guide.

 

Demonstrations:

Tony Sullivan – Will be demonstrating track building using the various ways to construct realistic track.

 

Andrew Ullyott – Andrew, along with members of the local EMGS area group, will offer a general EM demo where visitors can discuss
problems they may have. They will all do their best to advise and help.

Dave Burnett – Will have a 3D printing unit set up and will be showing visitors how relativly easy it is to manufacture rolling stock
and many other items for the hobby using the system.

Dave Barratt – Dave will be demonstrating various ways to construct buildings for the layout.

 

Layouts:

Brighton East - BR-SR 1998 - 2003 - Dave Smith

Quarry Lane - Privatisation c.2005 - Gwynne Chivers

Yeovil Town East - BR(SR) - Post Nationalisation - John England

 

EMGS Test Track
The EMGS Test Track will be in attendance with 18.2mm and 18.83mm tracks available for running. Members and visitors are cordially invited to run their stock on the tracks and also make use of them to test any possible purchase they may make at the Members’ Sales stand.
So as not to let 16.5mm gauge modellers feel left out there will also be a short length of 16.5mm track available for those who wish to run 00 stock and of course test any purchase you might make at the Members’ Sales stand.

 

Trade:

Branchlines

P.O. Box 4293, Westbury, Wiltshire, BA1 3 9AA
01373 822231

 

EMGS Trade Officer

trade@emgs.org

 

The Trade Officer will not be bringing all the usual stock. If you require anything in particular please contact him at least one week before with your order and he will bring it with him.
There will also be a selection of EMGS polo shirts, sweatshirts and aprons available to purchase from the society trade stand.

 

Members’ Sales Stand
The Members’ Sales Stand will be in attendance and will be accepting items for sale from 10.30am but to enable those items to be set out for display it will not open for SALES until 11.00am. Trading will finish at 3.30pm and settlement will take place starting at 4.00pm. It will not accept books or videos nor old electrical equipment. The stand manager’s decision is final regarding the acceptance of any article offered. Items will not be reserved with a policy of see it and buy it. It is a strictly cash operation, sorry but no cheques or cards.
Unsold items not collected at the end of the show will be disposed of at the manager’s discretion.

 

EMGS Membership Stand
The EMGS Membership Secretary will be in attendance and will be ready to accept subscriptions from those members who have missed the September renewal date. Also he will be more than happy to enrol any visitor who at the show decides to join us.
It might be a good idea to check with him that we have your correct address, telephone number and current e-mail address.

 

Annual Competition

Group 1 Scratchbuilt and Kitbuilt Motive Power
This Group is for model locomotives, where the term ‘locomotive’ is defined as any self-contained tractive unit intended for the haulage
of non-powered rolling stock. Steam railcars, diesel or electric multiple units and parcels units are not included in this Group.
Group 2. Converted and Modified Proprietary Motive Power
This Group is for models of locomotives which have been modified from proprietary products. The term ‘locomotive’ is as defined in Group 1.
Group 3. Scratchbuilt, Kitbuilt and Modified Proprietary Rolling stock
This Group is for all rolling stock powered or non-powered, including Departmental, not included in the two groups above.
Group 4. Trackwork, Buildings and General Lineside Features
This Group is open to 4mm scale models of buildings and general lineside and scenic features and to examples of model permanent way.

 

Location and directions

Access by Road and Car Parking

M5 Junction 21 is 4 miles from the venue.
Congresbury is located on the A370 Weston to Bristol road. Also accessible from the east via A38 (SatNav: BS49 5DY).
There is a small car park at the venue with an overflow parking arranged at St Andrew’s Church next door. The church is not immediately obvious, but is accessed through a driveway. Look for signage and that for Vine Counselling who are also based there.
There is additional parking in thevillage itself which is a short walk away. Parking on the A370 itself is not recommended.

 

Access by Public Transport.
By Train:

At the time of writing, engineering work is scheduled for 20th January, closing the line between Weston and Bristol. Replacement buses will be in operation.
Services from the south west are terminating at Weston, whilst those from the north are terminating at Bristol Temple Meads. Check with National Rail or First Great Western for updates.
The nearest railway stations are Worle 4 miles and Yatton 2 miles. Whilst there is no direct bus service from Yatton to Congresbury, you can walk the track bed of the former GWR Wells Branch (The Strawberry Line).
Direct services to Yatton and Worle from London Paddington (yes really), or local services from Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff Central, Taunton, Exeter and all the way to Penzance. Connections at Bristol and Taunton for Cross Country services to Birmingham and beyond.
 
By Bus:

Congresbury is served by regular bus services between Weston-super-Mare bus station, Bristol bus station and Bristol Airport. X1 and X1M Weston to Bristol bus station. Services run generally every 10 to 20 minutes. Check with First Bus for times.
A3 - Weston to Bristol Airport. Hourly service with direct connection at Worle and Weston-super-Mare railway stations. There is an hourly X5 bus from Yatton station to Congresbury that also stops at Worle. Timetable X5 (firstbus.co.uk).
Bristol Airport is served by Easyjet, Ryanair with flights to other parts of the UK.

 

Overnight Accommodation.
There are hotels near the venue but can be a bit pricey. There is however, a Premier Inn a few miles away near Weston Super Mare charging more sensible prices. A visit on line to the local Tourist Information site may very well produce a list of local B&Bs which during January could be a more cost effective source of accommodation. Also, there are a number of other hotels etc., in Weston super Mare which is a fifteen or so minute bus ride away.

 

Refreshments.
We hope to be able to provide some limited refreshments at the hall but just a short walk away in the village there are places to eat.
There are two excellent pubs in Congresbury serving food, The Plough and The Old Inn as shown on the map. Also Congars Cafe in Broad Street does good food.
You could of course always bring your own food.

[Leander]

We regret that there were no competitions held at Saturday's AGM/Members' Day due to the indisposition of the Competitions Secretary. Get well soon Richard.

 

Here's the formal part of the day about to get under way, photo by Paul Willis.

 

We are pleased to announce that Steve Flint, erstwhile editor of Railway Modeller is the new Chairman of the Society, in succession to Bill Wyatt-Millington. Ournext major event will be expoEM spring in Bracknell  over the weekend of 11th and 12 th May. Meanwhile the Society will have a presence at a number of shows over the coming months, not least at York over the Easter weekend.

 

We are pleased to announce that Steve Flint, erstwhile editor of Railway Modeller is the new Chairman of the Society, in succession to Bill Wyatt-Millington. Ournext major event will be expoEM spring in Bracknell  over the weekend of 11th and 12 th May. Meanwhile the Society will have a presence at a number of shows over the coming months, not least at York over the Easter weekend.

Edited January 22 by Leander
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