Mike Bellamy

Les - are you sure about this one as comments in another topic indicate that the business has closed - see link below https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/184049-rocket-railways-leicestershire/#comment-5425161 .

Last summer, a couple of members were in the model railway clubroom one evening (not a normal club night), when a couple of teenagers started messing about outside and banging on the doors before trying to climb an adjacent wall to get on the roof. They were genuinely frightened, locked the doors, and rang the police on 999 and let a couple of other members know what was going on. When I got there about ten minutes later, there was one police car in the middle of the car park, unoccupied but with blue lights still flashing. Just then another car pulled in, with four officers and one suspect - turns out the second car driver had seen his colleagues chasing this youth and joined in. Later a third car arrived followed by a van, although that was sent away again as they had enough officers on the scene. One car set off with suspect one to the station, and after a neighbour showed them a photo of suspect two, wearing a hoodie with a distinctive logo, they soon found him and he was off to town as well. The first officers to arrive took statements from our members and said that as the two suspects were under 18 they would be given a talking to and be taken home to their parents. Not a bad response though, four vehicles and eight officers all on scene within twenty minutes.

How strange - they must had had a delivery in the past hour as both of the links I quoted yesterday showed 'In Stock' when I looked just now . . . . . .

Accurate to one thousandth of an inch and with a lifetime guarantee. Available on Amazon UK sold by Wood Workers Workshop for £156 However also available from their own website for £138 - perhaps less if you can buy free of VAT - and they do offer International delivery https://www.amazon.co.uk/Woodpeckers-Precision-Woodworking-Tools-1281R/dp/B004BFYLZK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 https://woodworkersworkshop.co.uk/woodpeckers-woodworking-square-300mm-model-1281/ .

As Richard has mentioned above, David is still very much about and regularly attends local exhibitions as a demonstrator. There is some information in the topic linked below although he closed the Dovedale Models website several years ago and so he now has a different email address which I will send to you by PM as I don't have his permission to make this publicly available. I don't know if the DVDs are still available, but if not, he also has a series of six books published by Crowood Press (although I don't think the Isle of Man TT Racing books are by the same David Wright !!) https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/9193-dovedale-models/ https://www.crowood.com/search?type=product&q=David Wright* .

Happy to help and pleased that Chris has produced exactly what you wanted - we all now look forward to seeing the completed model! .

. . . . . and there were other meetings before SWAG with the first in 2007 at Mickleover (Derby) - at that time there were only a few hundred members - now almost 45,000 !! .

Without starting a political debate - carry on like that Rob and you could end up as Prime Minister - his fasting day is said to be on Mondays. .

Jay - sorry to read about the unwanted visitor at the studio last week . . . . . . . . . . . Mike.

Our local model railway club organise three swapmeets each year and charge £15 for a 6ft table and have between 15-20 traders there. They all spend the time before the public come in circulating around the tables buying from each other anything they think is cheap and then adding stuff to their pile of sales items. Of course the ordinary punters start to queue early in the hope of getting some bargains but don't realise the other traders have been there before them. At one sale, one of our club members was in your situation with a table full of OO stock - by the time the public were admitted, he had an empty table as everything had gone to two dealers - he was happy with the prices he got which were at a 'bulk buy' discount off his individual prices but the advantage was that he had nothing left to dispose of. .

I understand the proprietor has been ill for around 18 months (?) and the shop had been kept open by a group of friends helping out as best they could. .

Oh yes - he's always there - not just at work but also things like DIY, modelling etc. I do spend rather a lot of time thinking about things, usually until it gets urgent and then get on with it and it usually turns out OK. Just lack confidence in my own ability - but managed 25 years in first job at Lloyds and then 20 years at the University - an example was working in the Overseas Partnership Office . The second in charge of our little team of 10 left after a year or so of being useless and the boss said that she would be very disappointed if I didn't apply. After a brief chat that was supposed to be an interview, I got the job. A year later she had to suddenly leave due to a difficult pregnancy and I was left running the show with help from others higher up the tree. I made it clear that I didn't want the job full time and they recruited someone from outside the organisation who had no idea about what was going on but had 'management' experience. A lot of advice and guidance was given before he cracked and moved on and another 'manager' came in who I just couldn't get on with and in the end she found several ways to complain about me to HR. This resulted in a couple of formal meetings chaired by a senior officer in the Registry who although supposed to be impartial, was definitely on my side. A few months later when she was on holiday, he moved me to another unrelated area and so when she got back, I wasn't there. She didn't last long either and then the overseas partnerships team was merged with the UK partnerships team which never seemed to have had any management issues. .

In my situation at Lloyds back in the late 70s / early 80s, after an intensive training course I was offered promotion to assistant manager in 3 or 4 months if I moved to London - or 3 or 4 years if I stayed in the East Midlands. I chose to stay. My promotion prospects were knocked back when visiting Head Office Inspectors said my lending (all personal customers not business) had been 'over generous at times, and had put the Bank at risk'. I moved to Financial Advice but they then appointed 'salesmen' to Black Horse Life who had company car, worked evenings and got commission so much of my branch based business disappeared, except for sorting out the mess they left behind with most policies cancelled after a month or two. The take over of Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society took away all my mortgage business and the merger with the Trustee Savings Bank was the final straw. My last 12 months were spent answering the phone - great for customers as by then I had 25 years experience and could answer all their questions. However the Bank could pay someone half my age half the salary to do the same job - and of course call centres then went off-shore. Offered redundancy in 1997 and was glad to get out. .

The Museum of Childhood has been at Sudbury for 'decades' as it was opened in 1974 by Derbyshire County Council - and as many of the visitors are children, they need things they can relate to - the captions on some of the paintings are humorous and tell the story about the person and their part in the history of Sudbury. Having been there recently with a seven year old grandson, he thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it and we stayed all day - unlike the other local attractions at Kedleston Hall and Calke Abbey where he couldn't wait to get out again. At Belton House his favourite part was the adventure playground and of course the train ride - but at least he was out enjoying himself and engaging with others - not sat at home in front of the TV or playing games on his tablet. .

What an amazing day and a great success, partially due to the great variety of layouts we had on display - although organised by the small local group of the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association, we actually had OO9, O9, O-14, O-16.5, O standard, On2, On3, 16mm and even one I hadn't thought about before which was O-24.5 as the etched trams from the Kinver Light Railway were running on 3ft 6in gauge track !! Adrian has posted a lot of photos in the Elsbridge topic - this was Neil Blair's layout and following his sudden passing last year, it is now in the care of our local area group and was exhibited in his memory as he had also been our event organiser. See the link below. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/97585-elsbridge-tramway-company-elsbridge-town-neilhbs-layout/?do=findComment&comment=5412988 Many thanks to all those who came to see us and in particular helped to reduce Neil's book mountain that our group had inherited - funds raised will go towards our new group layout, a project he was keen to get started once he had finished Elsbridge. It is fitting to note that one of the three helpers in the kitchen was Neil's' mum Leigh, and his husband Dan had intended to be there as well but he has a rather important accountancy exam on Monday and had some essential revision to complete. We are already talking about our plans for next year's show . . . . . . .

Thanks Ade. Another set of great photos which show the variety of layouts we had on display - although organised by the small local group of the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association, we actually had OO9, O9, O-14, O-16.5, O standard, On2, On3, 16mm and even one I hadn't thought about before which was O-24.5 as the etched trams from the Kinver Light Railway were running on 3ft 6in gauge track !! Many thanks to all those who came to see us and in particular helped to reduce Neil's book mountain that our group had inherited - funds raised will go towards our new group layout, a project he was keen to get started once he had finished Elsbridge. It is fitting to note that one of the three helpers in the kitchen was Neil's' mum Leigh, and his husband Dan had intended to be there as well but he has a rather important accountancy exam on Monday and had some essential revision to complete. We are already talking about our plans for next year's show . . . . . . .

No need for any Food Hygiene certificates if it is only occasional catering - see the links and quote below - although these quote EU directives, they are still current on the Food Standards Agency website. https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/providing-food-at-community-and-charity-events https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/hall-provision.pdf .

In your former home town, that's a bit different to the view out of my bedroom window across the Harrowby Road allotments and up Hall's Hill. However I'm sure we had temperatures like that back in the 1960s as I had ice on the inside of the window even though my Dad was a plumber and heating engineer ! .

Mrs B was looking for a specific specialist cookery book and found it at World of Books for (I think) £18 and was amazed that it had a British Heart Foundation price on for £2.50. She was so cross at the substantial mark-up and said she would rather give a donation to BHF than add to the profits of WoB. She complained, returned the book and got a full refund. .

Thank you for your support - if you bought a bacon cob, even more thanks as I cooked about 80 in three hours !! See you in September (7th), although we are considering the possibility of another event in June. If this also goes ahead, look out for Railway Modeller and UK Model Shops adverts. When we expanded the Derby Show to use both halls at the Assembly Rooms, we alternated using the smaller hall with Continental organised by the SNCF Society, and then the year after would be American organised by the NMRA. It was interesting to see the peaks and troughs in the attendance graph as for a while Continental was more popular and then it changed so that the American years had the higher attendance (or was it the other way around - I can't remember). When we went to the smaller Moorways Sports Centre and then to Derby Roundhouse, we continued to invite a selection of both American and Continental layouts - after all good modelling is good modelling regardless of scale, gauge and location. Sadly all three venues have now closed. .

Horses are being used in forestry clearance in Wales - from the BBC earlier this week. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czv55v1qy24o .

I disagree - that isn't what they say on the front page of their website copied below. It's a bit like Tesco saying they are going to stop selling baked beans (or anything else) - it doesn't automatically mean they are closing the business. Why not be more positive and suggest some answers to James, who asked who would be an alternative supplier for the accessories previously available from Brassmasters. .

I had similar issues with a delivery from work to Israel. It was tracked East Midlands - Heathrow - Johannesburg - Cape Town - Heathrow - Tel Aviv. Getting back on topic - I wonder if @SM42 can offer assistance to the original question ? .

We are the same at Mickleover. When we first started the Derby show about 40 years ago, we were raising money to move out of the church hall and get our own clubrooms. Although it was never actually written into the rules, as Treasurer, I made sure subscriptions and weekly fees covered the rent and running costs, the Village Hall show paid for layouts and the Assembly Rooms (then Moorways and finally Derby Roundhouse shows), went into the building fund. We were fortunate to be able to rent and then buy our building at the Community Centre, which then enables us to open the clubroom as part of the exhibition. A surveyor has said that the building isn't in danger of imminent collapse but we should soon start to consider a replacement - but the problem is that building costs are rising faster than our income as we can no longer use Derby Roundhouse as it was closed to all external events by Derby College during the first lockdown. Substantial deposits for the next three years were returned - but we would rather have been able to continue with the show. Going back to Warley - their clubroom shows where the surplus has been invested - the Ltd Co owns the building and rents it to the club. The club pays a market rent to the Ltd Co but then the Ltd Co donates it's surplus to the club. Same money going around in circles but each of the transactions have tax advantages. All explained to us by Paul Jones who just happened to be an Accountant, when we were considering the same arrangement but eventually the committee decided that it would be too onerous (couldn't be bothered) to consider how we might meet 'Charitable Aims'. I applaud @Chris M and WMRC for the work they have done, and continue to do, in encouraging youngsters into the hobby with tuition sessions and open days etc. Some of our members just thought that an open day was an opportunity to play trains all day and ignore visitors. .

Our clubroom appears to be a similar size but has a single brick skin and uninsulated asbestos roof. To try and retain some heat and reduce costs all windows have had 50mm Kingspan type insulation fitted so that there is no light at all getting in. We have grilles fitted on the outside so no windows opened anyway. We get up to 20 members in there 4 nights a week and nobody has ever complained about the lack of ventilation or natural light. When we have open days the double doors are left open. .