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Club Officials.
Hon Chairman - Peter Boyde. Peter has lived in the area for 10 years and is an Insurance
Broker by profession. His modelling skills include Scratch Building Locos & Wagons but he is
probably better known for his 'Kit Bashing' techniques.
Hon Treasurer - Chris Meredith. Chris has lived in the area all his life and is a Bank Official.
His specialities include Painting, Lining and weathering stock.
Hon Secretary - John Page. John moved into the area in early 2004 and works for the M.O.J..
His speciality is building limited space exhibition layouts, several of which have appeared in the Model Railway Press.
Exhibition Secretary - Simon Hale. Simon has lived in the area for many years and is a Police
Officer. He is well known for his scenic landscape modelling. Simon's wife Belinda
also contributes her artistic skills by painting the backscene and buildings.
Club Members:
A special welcome to James Mendham, Dick Read and Kevin Woolacot who have joined us recently.
James Mendham. - James works for a large international insurance company and moved to the area
recently following a promotion. He is a keen scratchbuilder of L.M.S. & early B.R. locos and rolling
stock. Unfortunately he currently has no layout on which to run them, but is hoping to start work on a small
layout in his new shed in the Autumn.
Dick Read. - Dick is returning to the hobby after an enforced absense running his family electrical
business, having handed over the reigns to his son Simon, who is also a keen railway modeller. Dick is a
lifelong G.W.R. enthusiast, but we won't hold that against him.
Kevin Woolacot. - Kevin is a retired Local Government Officer and a superb scratch builder of all things
architectural. He is also a keen Midland & L.M.S. fan, having written several articles on the subject which
have been published in the railway and model railway press.
A special welcome to our first 'Junior' members - Matthew Burrows and Jake Major
who joined us recently. Both are very keen modellers and have an interest in steam. Our motto is;
" If you have to run diesels,they must be Green, preferably with whiskers!", so it's very pleasing that both Matthew and Jake
subscribe to that statement.
We are always pleased to welcome new members to the group. If you are interested in joining
us please use the link on the contact page.
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Our Constitution.
To promote the hobby of Railway Modelling in general.
To bring together individuals, interested in Railway Modelling for their mutual benefit and enjoyment of the hobby.
To encourage and nurture modellers whatever their age, level of expertise or experience by providing practical
support and expert tuition, as appropriate, in all aspects of the hobby.
To construct a permanent 'club' layout on which members may work, practice their skills and run their own stock.
To construct jointly owned layouts and to attend model railway exhibitions organised by other clubs throughout
the country.
THE SEARCH FOR A PERMANENT CLUBROOM CONTINUES .
Once again our hopes of finding suitable accommodation as
a permanent clubroom, have come to nothing..
After long, protracted negotiations with the owner of the small piece of land, over which we would
need access to reach the proposed site of our clubroom, we sadly have to report that we have been unable to reach an agreement.
We had been offered the body of a grounded ex-L.M.S.
carriage that would have been suitable as a clubroom, given some attention to the roof and flooring in one small area.
We also had a suitable location in mind where it could be sited, but sadly we have now been forced to seek alternative
accommodation, suitable for a clubroom elsewhere.
If anyone knows of a suitable building that would serve as a permanent clubroom please contact the
group via the e-mail link elsewhere on this web site.
In the mean time, we will continue to meet in one of our member's large garage.
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Our Club History.
The Mentmore M.R.G, which is based near Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, was founded in 1997 by
Peter Boyde & Christopher Meredith, two local residents and London commuters who discovered their mutual interest
in model railways whilst waiting for their early morning train.
Initially they pooled their knowledge and time, with work on an 'ad hoc' basis concentrated on Peter's small permanent
layout housed in a purpose built garden shed. When this project had been completed work
started building Chris's layout in his loft.
Early in 2000, Peter & Chris were joined by Simon Hale following which, a decision was taken to hold meetings
on a more formal basis. Work continued apace on Chris's loft layout but it soon became clear that a loft
was not the ideal place to hold meetings due to the marked and rapid variations in temperature. In addition more
space was urgently needed in which to work on other projects, so Simon offered the group the use of his double garage.
With an area available of approximately 25' x 10', the Group was able to start planning and construction of its
first continuous run layout. This is in 00 (4mm Scale) and based on L.M.S. & early B.R. practices
although other region's locos do feature regularly. All the trackwork has now been completed and work continues
on the buildings and scenery although there is still much to do before the layout is complete, if one ever is?
John Page joined the Group in November 2004 and was able to continue working on his latest exhibition layout.
At the same time it was also unanimously decided, to increase the number of members if possible by raising the profile
of the Group and holding meetings on a weekly, rather than a fortnightly basis, as had previously been the case.
It is not currently the intention of the Group to hold exhibitions as it is felt this is already well covered by other
larger, local clubs although we would be happy to provide layouts and physical support if required.
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