Latest News update Friday 20th December 2007

Thanks to the wonderful fund raising efforts of the former Mayor of Thorne and Moorends Councillor Mrs Margaret Holt-Taylor the coach with wheel chair access that was ordered from Knightley Light Railways is now ready for delivery. Possibly the best date for us will be in January. The photograph below was taken earlier this year.
It is then hoped that the coach will enter service for the new 2008 operating season subject to I am told, only with the approval of our Health & Safety Officer Keith, who has expressed his concerns over the lifting out of the centre section due to its weight.

Tuesday evening meetings  Due to recent cold and damp evenings most of these were either low in attendance  or cancelled. The temperature has rarely been much above freezing point in the evenings in December. Two of our members have recently attended Health & Safety and Child Protection Courses in conjunction with the Thorne Moorends Community Radio. This has also included filling in the CRB forms. The CRB checks are only part of what will be required in 2008 for all volunteers (and employed staff) for groups like ours there is a new Vetting and Barring procedure coming in during Autumn 2008. Click here for more details. 

Our members involved with the Thorne Moorends Community Radio project are pleased to be able to announce OfCom have offered TMCR  a full five-year community radio station license. It's taken three years to reach this stage, and probably another year to go before we could be broadcasting full time. There's a lot of work to go into raising the funding required. For further information about the project click here.
Left Pat Ashton and in the middle myself Bob celebrating the announcement.

Saturday 1st  December 2007 . Above Left: The train about to depart from Finkle Street is the 10.45 am service to Thorne Memorial Park. A true Gemini is Bob with the red and green flags just to confuse passers by. Below a visit by one of the street entertainers looks in on the "00" model layout set up by our junior members that proved to be very entertaining for the children in the shopping precinct.   
Above Right: Our members with their "00" display in Finkle Street. 

Sunday 2nd December 2007 "Santa Special 2007" An event that nearly was cancelled!  The weather forecast was for heavy rain and wind speeds of up to 50 mph, with a possible break in the bad weather at 12 noon for a couple of hours. So at 9 am we decided to set up in the pouring rain. Trains were brought out of the shed, the gazebos set up and the stalls set out including the "00" Model layout. By 11 am we were just about ready and Santa was called upon to greet the first children and drive the first Santa Special. Fortunately the rain had turned to more of a drizzle and by 12 noon sure enough as promised by the Met Office blue skies brought some welcome sunshine. So we were now underway full steam ahead. To our surprise there were more visitors than we could have ever thought would have turned out after the early rain. By 2.45 pm we out of the Santa's Goodies Bags that Bramall had donated. We had topped up these bags with a drawing book and a soft drink so at £1.50 for the presents and the train ride the children were well pleased. A bonus was for Santa to hand out some Spot the Difference drawings too.     

Above left: Sam setting up the "00" layout with the first visitors looking on. Above Right: Rachel and Jenny giving out the first of the Santa Goodies bags.
Below Left: Santa with the first Santa Special about to depart from the Thorne Central station. Below right: Santa checks to see if he will have to call upon his reindeer to give some assistance if David cannot get up enough steam.   

Left: With plenty of steam as "Remus" blows off from the safety valves as Santa takes the train around the inner track. The train service was maintained until 3 pm just as the rain started to pour down again thus clearing the park. We would have liked to continue for another half hour beyond our advertised time but we were well pleased that the weather had been better than we had expected some 24 hours earlier.
We would like to thank the visitors who turned up and of course Santa, not forgetting the members who worked so hard in the rain to set up trains and the sales area in the rain.