MikeW_AIMREC

I might've been a bit over enthusiastic with my dates! To confirm, it's October 2021 update not 2022! Corrected the title now

Hi All, Rather then duplicate posts all over the forum, I've created a new post, please click the link below to see our October update, including our opening date!! Ashford International Model Railway Education Center (AIMREC) - October 2022 Update - Club & Society Info - RMweb Thanks Mike W

Hi All, A quick update on the AIMREC project, exciting news as after many hours of preparation we are able to announce our opening date! Opening Date Set! The Studio and Workshop has been a hive of activity this month as we continue our preparations to welcome visitors, which we have now decided will be from Saturday 20th November! The booking system will go live on our website from the 1st November. We are offering timed visits of 1 hour duration with a maximum of 12 visitors in each session to manage the number of people we can comfortably accommodate in the studio. Four sessions will be available each Saturday and we are initially opening the booking system up to the end of the year to assess how the arrangements work before setting out plans for 2022. Entry will be free, but we hope that guests who have enjoyed the visit will make a donation to the project using Gift Aid to support the project so we can continue to grow. Pre-booking is essential! If you have any questions, please email us on friends@aimrec.co.uk Progress With Exhibits Thanks to the sterling work of our volunteers Ken and Tony, we now have a display plinth for our Stirling Single. Mike has wired up the signal head to properly display red, yellow and green aspects and James has recreated over 100 years of Ashford’s railway history in our large display cabinet. Chris meanwhile, is blending the GMRC layouts into a seamless exhibit, while Bill and Nick continue on our new “work in progress” layouts. Mind the Gap Event We were very pleased to participate in Hornby’s Mind the Gap event, live-streamed over eight hours on their YouTube channel on 10th October. Featuring interviews with Cliff, Fred, James and Bill and some nice internal shots of the studio, it should be available soon as an individual segment on the Hornby Channel in case you missed it. Over £2,500 in donations was raised to support MIND and thanks are due to Mike Day from Hornby for creating the event and visiting us at Bethersden for the filming. For more information, you can message me, visit our Facebook or our website: www.aimrec.co.uk Thanks for reading and we hope to see many of our friends at RMWeb soon!

Hi All, I see this thread is a bit old, but I thought I'd add a much needed update. At present AIMREC has moved out of our exhibition site at Elwick Place. We had hoped to move into Debenhams, but for the time being that is on the backburner. As of next month, we will open up at our new workshop site shared with Railmen of Kent. This is just outside of Ashford in Bethersden. This is a interim location whilst we try to locate and secure funding for a larger premises within Ashford town center. Due to space restrictions, we'll be running sessions with up to 10 people per hour. These will be more interactive with control of some of the layouts being handed over to our guests, gone are the days of "look but don't touch". For more information it's best to look at our website https://aimrec.co.uk/ or Facebook It's been a long road to get this far, but the future for AIMREC is bright. I will be an active member of the RMWeb forum and I am happy to try and answer any questions you may have. Thanks Mike W

Hi All, I see this thread is a bit old, but I thought I'd add a much needed update. At present AIMREC has moved out of our exhibition site at Elwick Place. We had hoped to move into Debenhams, but for the time being that is on the backburner. As of next month, we will open up at our new workshop site shared with Railmen of Kent. This is just outside of Ashford in Bethersden. This is a interim location whilst we try to locate and secure funding for a larger premises within Ashford town center. Due to space restrictions, we'll be running sessions with up to 10 people per hour. These will be more interactive with control of some of the layouts being handed over to our guests, gone are the days of "look but don't touch". For more information it's best to look at our website https://aimrec.co.uk/ or Facebook It's been a long road to get this far, but the future for AIMREC is bright. I will be an active member of the RMWeb forum and I am happy to try and answer any questions you may have. Thanks Mike W

Hi All, Bit of a long shot I know, I am a volunteer at AIMREC (Ashford International Model Railway Education Centre) a charity based in Ashford Kent, with the goal of bringing model railways to more people, especially the next generation. I'm hoping that someone might have Hornby L7350, it is a slightly garish portable model railway set which I have very fond memories of playing with as a child. I would like to do a display on some of the more different model railway products which have been available over the years and I think this would be perfect for said display. Ideally, this would be on loan or a donation to AIMREC, however I am willing to purchase this depending on how much would be requested for it. Thank you in advance and if you're in the Kent area, please do come and visit us Kind Regards Mike