Harrogate Exhibition 2010
Reminder – Important Website Update
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT – BULLETIN
18th October 2012
Members will have noticed from the November Committee Meeting report that the Committee has decided that the practice of notifying members by email when the Bulletin has been posted on the website has been discontinued. The Bulletin will be posted on the website on or before the last Saturday in each month, with the exception of the joint August/September issue which will be there on or before 15th August.
The Committee also decided that in view of escalating postal charges – from the 1st January 2013 it will be assumed that members who have notified the Treasurer of their email address will access their Bulletin online from the Society’s website. If any member with email facilities has not given the Treasurer their details for inclusion in the membership list, now would be a good time to do so by sending the Treasurer an email to society_treasurer@bradfordmes.uk
Paper copies of the Bulletin will only be sent to members who do not have email or by a special request to the Editor to be included on the mailing list. There are considerable advantages to the Society and to individual members, not least being the opportunity to get their Bulletin in colour.
The website will now allow members to create their own online account. Please go to Login / Register and follow the details on the screen. There will be a short delay between registering and having access to the Bulletins while your details are confirmed. If you have any technical problems or queries please email Russ Coppin at bradfordmes@outlook.com
Hints on registering your website account:
Username – can be anything you want e.g. – russcoppin
Email – bradfordmes@outlook.com
First Name – Russ
Last Name – Coppin
Password – can be anything you want e.g. – test123
Confirm Password – has to match what you just typed – test123
There is a password strength indicator but you can still click Register using a short or weak password if you wish.
March Meeting 2013 – AGM
Bradford Model Engineering Society Annual General Meeting
Wednesday 6th March 2013 – 19:45 start
Saltaire Methodist Church
We thank Richard, Ian and Andrew for their years of service and all they have done and continue to do for the society. We also thank Rebekah who is standing down as Publicity Officer, thankyou for all the work you have done.
We welcome David Bedding as our new President and I’m sure there will be some fresh ideas coming forward this next year. We have two other fresh faces this year with Peter Nurse flying the ensign as Boating Commodore and Richard Smith as a general committee member. Jonathan Cherkowski (Junior Rep) and Stanley Ashworth are both now full committee members. Sid Ashworth is taking on the role of Publicity Officer.
On behalf of the Society can I welcome you all and I look forward to working with you over the next year.
BMES AGM 2014
Bradford Model Engineering Society Annual General Meeting
Wednesday 5th March 2014 – 19:45 start
Saltaire Methodist Church
If any member would like to raise an item at the AGM or stand for a Committee post please inform the Secretary in writing before the February Committee meeting on 12th Feb.
There are a few areas where the committee need some help. These don’t have to be full committee posts if you do not wish to be a director but attendance at committee meetings might be useful from time to time:
Events Coordinator – All of our events require some forward planning, it might be a simple as making sure someone is bringing the tea/biscuits to meetings right through to do we have enough engines and staff for the gala day. The basic template for ‘who does what’ is already in place so this role is just about getting people to commit their availability to do a certain job and then passing this info on to whoever is running the event on the day, we are not expecting you to run all the events! The president and section reps. will always be there to support if you can’t fill a job.
Publicity Officer – We are all very good at what we do but what the Society lacks is someone to go out there and shout about it! We need someone who can:
Design posters to advertise our events and our Society
Share this information and build on the links we already have with other societies
Occasionally write up reports for external publications (T&A, Model Engineer etc.)
Archivist – Michael Gray did an outstanding job of collating the history of the Society from the last 105 years but we now need someone to keep up with this legacy and give it a home. This website does keep its own archive but it does not capture everything so we need someone with a spare filing cabinet, some spare time and some scissors/glue!
Junior Representative – The Society needs someone to keep our younger members active and keen and also to encourage more. Junior members are the future of our hobby and we need them! Specifically they can play an important part at the railway but they need someone to keep an eye out on busy days and make sure they are safe. This has normally been left to the Track Superintendent but with increasing numbers this now needs to be split off as a separate role. This could be a challenging but highly rewarding post and support will always be there from the president and section reps for this vital role.
Track Superintendent – The railway at Northcliffe requires a person to be responsible for the safety of the site and oversee all the societies activities that take place there. This doesn’t mean you have to be at every event as responsibility can be delegated for each running session to one of the members present. A report is given to the committee each month stating any problems or concerns along with sharing any news and achievements. The main requirements for this role are common sense along with good observation and people skills. Due to the responsibilities of this role it is a Committee/Director position.
If you wish to discuss any of these roles then please contact myself (bradfordmes@outlook.com) or any other committee member.
Diary Dates for 2014
The Future Events for the coming year have now been loaded on the website.
Please dig out your new diary and get them noted down. If you are able to help then please let me know, it would be great to see some more members at our busy events.
KMRC Exhibition 2014
Keighley Model Railway Club 2014 Exhibition
Saturday 15th March 10:00-17:00
Sunday 16th March 10:00-16:00
Victoria Hall, Victoria Park, Keighley, BD21 3JN
Setup day is Friday 14th.
We have a large room dedicated to the Society for models and exhibits. It’s the same room we had 2 years ago with it’s own access for loading/unloading, a toilet and is next to the cafeteria.
Anyone displaying a model will be given free admission to the whole show for themselves and spouse/partner on production of a valid club membership card.
As per Ken’s comments below, thankyou to everyone that helped with this event the society put on a very good show!
Harrogate Exhibition 2014
Friday 9th – Sunday 11th May – http://www.theharrogateshow.com/
Great Yorkshire Showground
Annual Exhibition and Competition 2014
Saturday 6th December – 13:00-16:30. Open to the public from 14:30.
Saltaire Methodist Church
Ingrow Model Railway Show 2015
Sunday 15th February, 11:00-16:00
Vintage Carriage Trust’s Museum at Ingrow Station
The Society’s Library – AGM Discussion
Filed under: Meetings, News
Discussion document to members as prepared by our Archivist, Ron Fitzgerald:
In 2014 the Committee commissioned review of the Society’s library at Northcliffe Park. A report was prepared by the librarian which was submitted to the November Committee Meeting and discussed in the course of the following December Committee meeting. A full version of the report has been deposited in the library for the inspection of members. It was also decided to circulate the Recommendations via the website and to request members to consider these recommendations with a view to a brief discussion of these and any related issues that the membership consider appropriate at the Society’s A.G.M. on the 4th March 2015.
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The library consists of a substantial collection of books and periodicals, the centrepiece of which is a nearly complete set of the Model Engineer from 1898 to date. We also have a less complete but still extensive run of Engineering in Miniature, a run of the American model engineering magazine, Live Steam from volume 12, no. 1, January 1978 to volume 23, no. 1, January 1989 and several other broken runs of other magazines such as the National Traction Engine club’s journal Steaming.
Books and booklets make up the bulk of rest of the collection. The Percival Marshall/M.A.P. Workshop Manuals series is well represented although with one exception we have nothing later than 1975. We also hold copies of some of the well known guides to model, tool and component making by such authoritative figures as Henry Greenly, L.B.S.C., Martin Evans, Lawrence Sparey, L.C. Mason and Edgar T. Westbury. Again the holdings tend to be older copies and there is nothing later than the earlier edition of Evans’ Manual of Model Steam Locomotive Construction (1983).
From time to time individual volumes of engineering textbooks have been donated. The subjects range from the general to the highly specialised, typically Odham’s General Engineering Workshop Practice, Adam’s The Engineer’s Handbook, Ripper’s Steam Engines, Low’s Heat Engines Youngson’s Slide Valves and Valve Gearing, Morley’s Strength of Materials, Jones’ Production Engineering and Tool Design.
Finally there is a considerable deposition of railway and other enthusiast interest books. These are of variable quality. The best are of obvious value for research purposes, but much of the remainder the majority might best be described as publisher’s makeweights. A brief visit to any second-hand book dealer will show the same titles recur with monotonous regularity and with same unlikely prospects of sale. It is a particularly unfortunate characteristic of such books that they are of a large and often non-standard format and thus occupy a disproportionate amount of shelf space in addition to often being of awkward format.
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The Northcliffe library is potentially a major asset to the society but a detailed analysis of usage from 1995 to 2014 showed that less than 10% of the members regularly drew upon its resources. A number of reasons have been put forward to explain this. The book collection is of very variable quality. The Model Engineer magazine attracts by far the greatest number of borrowers with Engineering in Miniature the second but considerably less popular focus of attention. Of the rest of the books a small number had intermittent use but many never left the shelves.
The central question has to be that of how closely is the content of the library aligned to the wider member’s interests? The Model Engineer and Engineering in Miniature have an obvious value but it is felt that even the most attractive parts of the rest of the collection are dated and suffer from the absence of a systematic current acquisitions policy. The collection is heavily biased towards the railway element of the society; other sectors of interest are under-represented. It has to be said that there is a lack of coherence in the collection resulting in a questionable occupation of valuable shelf space. With this in mind the following recommendations are advanced for discussion by the membership.
- Accessions to the Library collection have been almost entirely a matter of serendipity in the This has endowed the Society with outstanding runs of periodicals and a number of other items of value. Against this, there has been a reluctance to turn material away and the beneficial affects have a counterpart in the accumulation of a great deal of useless junk both in the form of books and otherwise. Little discretion has been exercised in accepting material with the result that the shelf space is now fully utilised often with material of questionable or no interest.
- The random dumping of books and other items in the library should cease immediately. A library sub-committee should be formed to formulate an accessions policy, to control additions to the collection and to advance the library generally. The sub-committee should be restricted to a maximum of five members, including the librarian and should attempt to span the range of member’s interests. Any offers of material in future should be made only to members of the library sub-committee. The sub-committee reserves the right to reject material (without offence) that does not meet the accessions policy.
- A review of the content of the library should be carried out by the above sub-committee and disposals should be made with a view to freeing up shelf space.
- An effort should be made to fill gaps in the two main periodical runs. The first line of action might be to appeal to members for the donation of specific missing items. If this fails then perhaps a wider appeal and possibly purchase might be appropriate.
- It is suggested that a significant omission in the range of periodicals is the absence of Model Engineer’s Workshop. A partial run could be readily assembled and an appeal to members might fill other gaps. A subscription could then be added to the current Model Engineer and Engineering in Miniature, possibly asking the publisher’s of the former for terms.
- The Journal of the S.M.E.E. has published major articles of interest in the past. Professor Chaddock, George Thomas and Jim Ewing’s articles immediately spring to mind. It is understood that the Society is not currently affiliated to the S.M.E.E. but it might be worthwhile considering this and more particularly considering the acquisition of back copies of the Journal.
- As far as the book collection is concerned it is important to know what the members feel would be appropriate emphasis. Should there be an active purchasing policy to acquire more up-to-date material such as the current Workshop Special Practice Series? Would Martin Evans’ The Model Steam Locomotive be worth purchasing? What of the members whose interests lie outside steam locomotives? We are notably deficient in traction engine material, in tramways and stationary steam engines.
- The best general engineering textbooks are usually still available at public libraries (despite the efforts of “modern” librarians to purge books from libraries). The society’s acceptance of further books of this nature needs more careful consideration and the potential usage should condition acceptance.
A printable version of the above is here.
BMES Dinner 2015
I should just like to say a big thank you to all the members and guests who attended this year’s Dinner at Oakwood Hall, it would seem everyone enjoyed it.
Also a special thank you to Richard Ashworth for his really interesting and enlightening presentation on how we see things, “Can you believe your eyes” is a very appropriate title.
Best regards Ken Shipley.
Santa Special 2015
I should just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who came to help out at the Santa Special today.
We managed to make Mel’s dream come true again and it made me feel really proud when we see all sections of the Society and Friends of Northcliff pulling together to make events happen.
Thank you again to all those who helped out and to those who didn’t you missed a treat.
Best regards Ken Shipley.
Keighley Model Railway Show 2016
Saturday 12th March 10:00-17:00
Sunday 13th March 10:00-16:00
Victoria Hall, Keighley. BD21 3JN
We have been invited to put on a display at the above show again.
We have a large room dedicated to the Society for models and exhibits. It’s the same room we had last year with it’s own access for loading/unloading and a toilet and is next to the cafeteria.
Doncaster Exhibition 2016
Friday 20th – Sunday 22nd May – www.thedoncastershow.com
Doncaster Race Course
The society will have its stand at this event as per previous years at Harrogate. The setup day is Thursday 19th May with models to be delivered between 11:00 and 19:00.
Thank you to everyone who has entered exhibits for the show or volunteered to steward, further details of parking and where to book in can be found HERE.
Shipley Library Display 2016
From the 30th August until Friday 9th September we shall be putting on a display of models and photographs to promote the Society, this is in conjunction with Friends of Northcliff who are taking the opportunity to celebrate their 25th Anniversary and the Northcliff Heritage Project.
The display will be in the foyer of Shipley Library. Please feel free to pop along if you are interested.
Visit to Shipley Glen Tramway
A visit to the Shipley Glen Tramway was organised for Wednesday 21st June starting at 19:00.
From a quick count up I think we had just under 40 members visit and many walking around with a bag of sweets from their shop!
Thankyou to Ian for organising and to the volunteers at the tramway.
David Brimacombe
It is with sadness that we have to report the death of David Brimacombe on Friday 1st September 2017.
David was known to everyone in the society having been treasurer for over 30 years and a very active member who will be greatly missed.
The funeral will be held at Nab Wood Crematorium on Thursday 14th September 11:30 followed by reception at St. Ives Golf Club. It is the preference of the family to not wear black.
There will be a collection in aid of Macmillan Nurses.
Raised Track Rebuild
Last running day – Sunday 1st October 2017 –
Rail removal and track demolition –
Digging the new foundations –
Laying the new track bed –
The builders are just finishing off the new wall that the track will sit on, more photos to follow…
Bradford MES AGM 2018
The Annual General Meeting of the Bradford Model Engineering Society will be held on Wednesday 7th March – 19:45 start at Saltaire Methodist Church
If any member would like an item including on the agenda please contact our secretary Laurence Bentley before 13th February.
The positions of Track Superintendent and Publicity Officer are currently vacant in addition to all committee positions being open to nominations. Please speak to one of our committee if you would like any information about these roles.
Raised Track Re-Opening 2018
Saturday 15th September at Northcliff Railway
We are very pleased to welcome Diane Carney to open our rebuilt raised track by cutting the ribbon after a short speech at 12:00. Passenger rides will be available in the afternoon on the ground level track while guest locos run on the raised track. Various locos and models will be on display in the bottom field.
Annual Exhibition, Competition and Social 2018
Saturday 24th November – 12:30-16:30
Saltaire Methodist Church
Bradford MES AGM 2019
The Annual General Meeting of the Bradford Model Engineering Society will be held on Wednesday 6th March – 19:45 start at Saltaire Methodist Church
If any member would like an item including on the agenda please contact our secretary Laurence Bentley before 11th February. All committee positions are open to nominations. Please speak to one of our committee if you would like any information about these roles.
Bronte Gathering 2019
11th / 12th May 2019 in a muddy field near Haworth. Well for a change this weekend actually had some sunshine and clear sky!
Two of our members, Roger Jordan and Ken Shipley were using Roger’s miniature traction engine to power a grinding wheel over the weekend.
Visit to Ripon Light Railway
We have received a very kind invite to Ripon Light Railway on Saturday 31st August from 2pm.
This is a 2 foot gauge railway where they have various Lister style locos along with several others. The plan is to arrive there around 2pm, have a ride and look around the museum/grounds for a couple of hours and then drift on to Southgate Railway which is a nearby 16mm setup (visiting locos welcome, 32mm gauge). There is also a fish and chip shop around the corner for tea! The address and map were sent out with our summer newsletter email. If you are coming would you please let Russ Coppin know so he won’t be the only one there and who to contact should anything change. Please mention to other members to make sure this fantastic last minute opportunity isn’t missed and bring along any family/friends.
Modelmania! Bradford Industrial Museum
We will be exhibiting at the Bradford Industrial Museum from Tuesday 6th to Sunday 18th August. There will be a good selection of our members models along with many from the museums own collection.
If the weather is good we will also be running our portable track outside at the weekends.
The Museum is open Tuesday to Friday 10am – 4pm and Saturday/Sunday 11am – 4pm
Bradford Industrial Museum, Moorside Mills, Moorside Road, Eccleshill, Bradford, BD2 3HP
Admission is FREE!
Members can drop models off on Monday 5th between 9am and 4pm and collect during the same times on Monday 19th when the museum will be closed to the public. If you have any questions please contact Laurence.
Random Photo
