2025-06-30-accounts

74th Annual General Meeting and Members’ Day, 11th October 2025

Agenda, Report and Accounts

Your L&YR Society

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Virtual Museum

Modelling the L&YR

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Agenda

The 74th Annual General Meeting of The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society will be held on Saturday 11th October 2025 at the Oxenhope Community Centre starting at 10.30am, 10am for tea and coffee.

After the meeting there will be buffet lunch costing £10 per head. In the afternoon there will be a trip on the K&WVR. Full details can be found in Magazine 304 .

1. Officers’ reports (continued):

2. To sign the attendance register and receive apologies

viii Questions for the Publications Officer

1. To remember those members who have died during the past twelve months

ix Information Officer

1. To receive and approve the minutes of the 2024 Annual General Meeting

x Questions for the Information Officer

xi Chairman

1. To deal with matters arising

xii Questions for the Chairman

1. Officers’ reports:

2. To approve the Officers’ reports and the Annual Report & Accounts

i Secretary

ii Questions for the Secretary

1. To appoint Trustees for 2025/26

iii Treasurer

1. To appoint two Independent Examiners of the

iv Questions for the Treasurer Society’s accounts

from their roles as Treasurer and Publications Officer at the 2026 AGM. This gives us a year to find a new Treasurer and Publications Officer. How do you replace the irreplaceable? The answer to that question is very simple: you can’t and don’t even try! I have been a member of this Society for many years and, in that time, I have met and spoken to many of the people who have helped make this Society the organisation it is today; John Hodgson, Tom Wray, Stuart Morris and Barry Lane are just four men who come immediately to mind and there are many others. You know what, all of these people were irreplaceable; they were all unique, strong willed men with a common dream - that this Society could achieve great things. They did a great job and they achieved their dream, but as they moved on other people had to step up and take on their roles - men like Noel Coates, Roger Mellor, Ken Carter and Martin Nield. These individuals slowly grew into their new roles and as they gained

experience and became good at what they were doing, they became the next generation of irreplaceable people.

So now we are looking for a new Treasurer and a new Publications Officer. What we are not looking for is a Noel Coates Mk2 or a Roger Mellor Mk2 or even a clone of them both! We want competent people who can come in, give themselves time to see how things work and then do the job their way. As a Society we will have to show a degree of patience here because this is not going to be an overnight fix. It may be a case of one step back to move two steps forward, but who knows, in a few years’ time the new Treasurer and Publications Officer may become part of the next generation of irreplaceables!

There is an old Navajo Indian belief that states as you move along the Highway of Life you will come across seven crossroads. At each crossroad you will have to decide which road to take; do

you keep straight on or do you go off in a new direction? I feel our Society is approaching one of these crossroads; we have important decisions to make.

The Spring meeting in Bury.

v Membership Officer 9. To confirm the level of subscription for 2026

vi Questions for the Membership Officer 10. Any other business

• vii Publications Officer

The following Trustees are offering themselves for re-election: Ron Tinker (Life President), Graham Smith (Chairman), Noel Coates (Treasurer), Martin Nield (Secretary), Roger Mellor (Publications Officer), Chris Leach (Information Officer), Andrew Wright (Membership Officer), David Carter, Ken Carter, and Robin Pennie. Any other nominations must be received by the Secretary no less than 21 days before the meeting and be compliant with clause 4.4 of our Constitution.

Secretary’s report

“Contingency and succession planning are very important to the future of the Society…”

Martin Nield

Chairman’s review

Graham Smith

“So now we are looking for a new Treasurer and Publications Officer but we are not looking for a Noel Coates or a Roger Mellor Mk2...”

is one of the biggest reasons why our membership retention rate remains so high. At this point I would like to say a huge thank you to Gavin Clark who is stepping down as Assistant Editor of Magazine at the AGM in October. Gavin has been in post for ten years and is a member of the team who have taken Magazine to the next level. All the best for the future Gavin; you have worked hard for the Society and your input will be greatly missed.

Looking back at my reviews over the last few years, my opening statements always seem to be about how successful we have been over the previous twelve months. I make no apology for starting my review this year in the same way! This last year has indeed proved to be a very successful year for our Society. It does not surprise me saying that because we are led by a very strong management team who know what they are doing and know how to do it well. They are, in fact, the proverbial smooth, well-oiled machine.

the other in late June. Both were well attended with the Spring Meeting having record numbers in attendance. These days out seem to be becoming increasingly popular every year with people travelling long distances to be involved. My thanks go to Andrew Wright and Philip Hellawell for the work they have had to put in to make these two days a success.

We have also attended the model railway exhibitions at Manchester and York with our exhibition stand. Both events proved very positive for us; we managed to sign up a few new members and sell a lot of our publications. My thanks to everyone who volunteered on the stands and helped make both weekends very successful.

Although our membership retention remains high, our membership numbers have in fact slightly dropped this year. At the time of writing this review we have a total of 889 members, a drop of about 20 members from this time last year. This is a little disappointing because it is the first time in a few years that our numbers have been below 900.

We continue to have a solid financial base with our finances carefully managed by Noel Coates. This strong base gives us the platform to do everything we want to do.

For me the biggest and most consequential moment of 2025 has been the announcement in Magazine 303 that Noel Coates and Roger Mellor are to stand down

Our publications team continue to provide us with publications of the highest quality. I am sure that the value for money that we give in this respect

We have had two wonderful days out this year, one in early Spring and

Contingency planning and succession planning are increasingly important to the future of the Society and so the Principal Officers have held three meetings on Zoom in recent months to discuss these topics. A number of actions have already been completed on contingency planning with some more to do and on succession planning a potential Treasurer has come forward and he has been invited to attend our September committee meeting. However no one has yet come forward to express an interest in becoming Publications Officer so we are looking at ways of dividing the publications function into more manageable jobs in the hope of attracting candidates.

The committee has met four times over the past 12 months – three times in person and once on Zoom – and continues to be a lively forum for debate.

We have held three very successful events over the past 12 months, beginning with our AGM & Members’ Day in October 2024 which was held at The Fielden Centre in Todmorden. In the afternoon David Storah began giving us a presentation about the railways of Todmorden, but it was unfortunately interrupted and had to be cancelled when one of our

members collapsed. I am glad to say the member concerned, Peter Fitton, subsequently recovered and we plan to invite David to give his presentation again at a future date.

In March of this year we had our Spring Lanky Day Out at the Bury Transport Museum where we were able to see the preserved Aspinall 2-4-2T No.1008, the Horwich narrow gauge shunter Wren and the Carriage and Wagon Works War Memorial which had recently been moved to Bury from Newton Heath TrainCare depot. In the afternoon we had an enjoyable trip on the East Lancashire Railway. I would like to thank Andrew Wright for his help organising this event.

Two weeks later Noel Coates and I attended a dedication ceremony for the War Memorial which was done with full military honours and was a memorable occasion.

In June we had our Summer Lanky Day Out in Penistone where we had presentations on the Penistone Line Partnership, the GCR history of the area and the L&YR line from Huddersfield. We also had two walking tours during which we were able to see the station, turntable pit, tank ramp and the magnificent viaduct. I would like to thank Philip Hellawell for his help

organising this event.

We are in the early stages of planning events for 2026 and full details will appear in Magazine in due course.

Our four Modelling Co-ordinators – Barry Steventon for Gauge 1; Peter Fitton for 7mm scale; Dave Carter for 4mm scale and Sam Kennion for 2mm scale – have continued their work throughout the year and we are very grateful to them for that.

Brian Farrimond (right) receiving his Honarary Membership from Graham Smith.

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Membership Officer’s report

“We have 30 new members so far, many from Manchester and York model railway shows…”

Andrew Wright

This is my second AGM as your Membership Officer and I am still at it and enjoying working away on your behalf! It was good to chat with many of you this year at various Society events and model railway shows and, of course, on the phone.

website and friends’ referrals come very high in new recruitment too. This shows the value of a really good and expanding website, such as ours, but also thank you to the friends who have recommended us.

to replace Roger and Noel. If anyone is interested but feels apprehensive about taking on either role, I understand what you are thinking as I was in the very same place two years ago! Have a chat to me, ring me or email me and I shall reassure that you will not be alone and that help, advice and understanding will always be freely given, by your colleagues.

I feel that anything that gets our name and activities into the wider public eye is worthwhile. Talks to local history societies, magazine adverts and stands at public events all have an important part to play in bringing the Society to the attention of a wider public and therefore more potential members. We need not be embarrassed about what we produce so we need to show it off, talk about it and impress! Thank you to all of you who, in no matter what way, large or small, have contributed towards this.

As I prepared this in early July, the Society had 892 members compared with 910 around the same time last year. At the end of 2024 we had 934 members. Unfortunately over the last winter we lost around 50 members due to death or illness that I was advised of. Those who resigned made it clear that their reasons were due to ill health rather than the Society offering and wished us well for the future. We have had a total of 30 new members this year so far many of whom were recruited at the Manchester and York model railway exhibitions. Well done and thanks to the teams involved at both these shows! The

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||| |---|---| |Membership Year|to Dec 2024| |Po| |Ordinary members|885| |Corporate members|31| |Honorary members|18| |Total|934|

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On another, but different membership related matter, as you will be aware we need to recruit two Principal Officers

Publications Officer’s report

“The next major publication will be Peter Taylor’s much anticipated book of carriage drawings...”

Roger Mellor

of the cost before the next book was published. Over recent years we have published one or more books each financial year which means that we are not recovering enough of the cost to finance the next one. We are discussing options, one of which is to offer new books to members at cost. We may experiment with this method with the modelling book as not all Society members are modellers.

During the year we have produced four excellent issues of Magazine. We continue to be blessed by Society members who contribute many quality articles on a variety of subjects. I would also pay tribute to Martin Nield whose editorship has contributed hugely to the continued success and quality of Magazine . I must also thank Gavin Clark who is retiring at the AGM and has been doing the typesetting and layouts of Magazine for the last 10 years. As I say each year, it is the best line society publication of its kind and remains the bedrock of our offer.

The next major book will be Peter Taylor’s much anticipated volume of LYR Arc Roof Carriage Drawings . The book represents a major step forward in the information available about the carriage fleet and the vehicles represented remained the backbone of the stock through to the end of the L&YR period. In addition to drawings of each carriage there are larger scale drawings of carriage bogies, corridor connections, gas lamps and standard compartment details.

A major budgeting issue for the Society is the burgeoning price of postage. The postage costs for Magazine now equal or exceed the printing cost, which drives up the membership subscription. In order to give members a lower cost option we are investigating the possibility of offering digital membership. One of the issues with this is that whilst it may be acceptable to read periodicals like LYR Focus and Magazine digitally, it would be far less satisfactory with a large book. One option might be to receive the periodicals digitally and pay for books at cost when they are published. We are continuing to discuss this with a

The planned book on modelling the L&YR continues to make good progress led by Tim Birch. An enormous amount of information has been collected and the job of sifting through it and finalising the format of the book is under way.

As promised, we published LMS Central Division Miscellany Part Two covering the years from 1931 to 1947. This completes the Miscellany series which now covers the L&YR period, the LMS era and British Railways up to 1966 in its five volumes.

The financial model we have successfully used over many years to supply substantial books to members as part of their membership is under strain. When we only produced a book every two or three years it was possible to recover a significant part

LYR Focus 88 was another splendid issue with a variety of articles covering a range of subjects. Like LYR Focus 87 , it was an extra large 64 page issue rather that the normal 48 pages.

We are quite relaxed about allowing Magazine . Thanks go to Noel Coates, my successors to go through the Robin Pennie and Peter Taylor for same process. In Magazine 304 I their outstanding contribution to what have suggested a structure that would arrives through your letterbox, and involve up to four new volunteers to Tim Birch for what will arrive in the combining their efforts. I have found near future. To Andrew Wright and Paul the last 30 years immensely rewarding Whitworth for their work on the Virtual and great fun; I have also made Museum, Barry Steventon for his hard friendships that will last a lifetime. work and professionalism dealing with Please think about it and give me a Sales (and his partner Rowena for her call to discuss it. We will provide the support), and Stuart Byford for his work specialist software and training - so on the website. come on - give me a call!

view to offering at least one digital option in time for the 2026 renewal.

The digitisation of our back catalogue of periodicals has continued apace and there are many treasures to be found by clicking on the Member’s area of the website. Brian Farrimond deserves huge thanks for the work that he has done on this project.

As the Chairman has mentioned in his review, I shall be retiring at the 2026 AGM after 30 years involvement in Society publications. We have appealed for volunteers to take over but so far had no takers. I want to echo what the Chairman has said in his review. We are NOT looking for someone who can do what I now do.

And finally, to all our contributors and you, our members, who continue to support us by your membership.

Publications really is a team effort. I’ve already recorded my thanks to Martin Nield and Gavin Clark for their work on

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Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Carriage Drawings - Arc Roof Stock Peter Taylor
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We recognise that several members of the committee, including me, were able to retire in their fifties with good final salary pensions that enabled them to devote huge amounts of time to the Society. That opportunity no longer exists and we need more volunteers to take over different parts of the job. Nor do we expect to maintain the same format and quality. When I first volunteered I had no experience of publications and could hardly use a computer and I learnt by trial and error.

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Diagram 42 - 5 Compartment Brake 3rd - 349 built
The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society
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Information Officer’s report

“The Manchester Archives drawings scanning project is now virtually complete...”

Chris Leach

The Information Group has continued to be busy on your behalf. The enquiry service continues to provide answers to a wide variety of questions and examples include the L&YR’s involvement in emigrant traffic from Hull; a request from the Spen Valley Civic Society for photos of Cleckheaton station; requests for information about Wakefield carriage depot, Kitsonbuilt 0-4-0 loco No 885 and L&YR Simplex loco No.1; the circumstances surrounding accidental death in Barnsley in 1893 involving travelling crane; the job description for a ‘railway wagon lifter’; and drawings of a Barton Wright 0-6-0 and a Hughes compound 0-8-0.

images have now been received and given meaningful file names which match the catalogue lists which were compiled by Robin Pennie and his cataloguing team. Both the drawing scans and catalogue lists have been uploaded to the Society’s OneDrive grouped under five headings: locomotives, carriages, wagons, infrastructure and road vehicles. Quite a few drawings were not scanned because of their poor condition and further checking is taking place to see if any of them have been missed. A decision on how the drawings will be made available, possibly through the Virtual Museum, is still to be made. In the meantime any drawing image can be obtained by contacting me.

Kevin Turville has been continuing to organise and add to the photo collection and much work on scanning new collections which have been donated has been completed by Noel Coates. More photos remain to be scanned once a procedure for this work has been developed. Work to identify material in archives other than Manchester has not been making rapid progress, but a project to gather details of other archives’ holdings by harvesting their electronic catalogues is in the early stages.

Help has also been given to authors in terms of information and images from our collections.

More archival material is being scanned by other committee members and will be available in due course. There remains more material to be added to our collections and we anticipate being able to restart the cataloguing process thanks to two volunteers coming forward to take on this project.

Society drawings, photographic collection and other archives

The drawings scanning project is

now virtually complete. A total of 890

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Treasurer’s report

“This financial year has been the biggest trading year we have ever had...”

Noel Coates

This financial year has been the biggest trading year we have ever had and sales of our publications reached £6000. As well as the usual journals, two books went out to members: one financed by a benefactor, the other completed a quintet of major photographic histories about the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway.

The breakdown of our income this year is much as normal (the average for the last five years is £53,905). Income from members joining, rejoining, and adding a donation was slightly less than last year. Gift Aid is always a huge chunk to receive, though this time it was hugely increased by us being able to claim the benefactor’s contribution. Book sales, mostly through the Online shop but also at two major exhibitions were, higher and a significant portion of our income (11%). Bank interest has continued at better levels; this year it was the equivalent of 10 members.

The main items of expenditure are the usual ones: printing and postage costs (around £40,000) whilst advertising reached £4,876. Expenditure on meetings and travel has, once again, been reduced to small amounts as travel to the Committee meetings is not always claimed and just two exhibitions were attended, though they did produce record sales as mentioned above. Other items and annual costs were largely as predicted but in the case of Archive purchase this is much less than previous years as material has not been forthcoming. The objective of scanning the Society’s drawings collection at Manchester has been completed with £11,000 spent. This allows us access to more material for publication as well as being able to make the documents available through the Virtual Museum. We continued the policy of sending out two booklets in one mailing where possible. The Editor spent £753 out of the £910 he was holding on 1 July 2024. Overall we spent more than we have ever done at over £71,200, and I think this will remain a record for many years.

The accounts have been handed to our Independent Examiners for scrutiny and their testimonials will be sent to

One of the many treasures to be found in our Virtual Museum

the Charity Commissioner in our Annual Return to them and will be reported at the AGM. I must thank the two gentlemen concerned for the professional manner in which they approach the fulfilment of their post.

Looking forward to the next financial year and our planned spending and the Budget are very much in line with previous years with a book about carriages likely to be the biggest single expense. Having enough money in our reserves means UK subscriptions can be held at £39 but International will need to go up to £58 as postage costs have again risen greatly.

Accounts for the year 1 July 2024 - 30 June 2025

RECEIPTS 2024/2025

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||| |---|---| |Item|£| |Subscriptions|33058.00| |Donations - with Membership|2324.00| |Donations - General|66.05| |Sales - pre-loved items|277.00| |Bank Interest|424.09| |Gift Aid|10157.87| |Sales - Publications, Binders etc|1588.50| |Sales - Signal Box book Part One & Two|213.00| |Sales - Manchester Victoria & its Signalling|500.50| |Sales - Introduction to LYR|62.50| |Sales - Manchester Victoria pictorial booklet|132.00| |Sales - LMS Central Division Miscellany Pt 1|396.00| |Sales - Last Levers on the Fylde|504.00| |Sales - Central Div Misc - BR Days|362.90| |Sales - LYR Goods Workings A-D|137.40| |Sales - Private Owner Wagon Sketches|2142.36| |Sales - Longridge Branch|600.00| |Sales - Transfers/Drawings/Photos etc.|56.00| |Sales - Members book offers|433.75| |Lanky Day Out donations|1655.00| |AGM - Members subsistence|550.00| |Total|55640.92|

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PAYMENTS 2024/2025

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||| |---|---| |Item|£| |Officers’ operational expenses| |Secretary|Nil| |Membership Officer|553.51| |Treasurer|21.47| |Publication Sales Officer|979.84| |Sub total|1554.82|

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PAYMENTS 2024/2025 continued

ASSETS & LIABILITIES 2023/2024

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||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |General expenses|Assets|£| |Publications storage unit rental charge|3050.94|Cash in Deposit Account|26854.34| |Advertising & recruitment|4876.00|Cash in Current Account|614.60| |Archives purchased|1694.39|Cash in PayPal Account|133.49| |Public Liability Insurance|173.52|Funds with Treasurer|26.53| |Trustee Liability Insurance|272.00|Funds with Editor|157.39| |Trustee expenses|225.29|Cash Total|27786.35| |Exhibitions - travel & stand maintenance|160.00| |AGM hire of meeting room 2024|134.00|Stock & Equipment|£| |AGM notices & reports|440.00|Stock of publications, books, binders,|tba| |AGM Minutes|272.00|CDs etc. - trade value| |Annual Society Contacts & general leaflets|230.00|Sound system (to be written off at 33% over 3 years)|Written Off| |Membership forms and cards|148.00|Photo scanners (to be written off at 33% over 3 years)|177.67| |Membermojo subscription|300.00|Liabilities|£| |Adobe Creative Cloud licences (see Notes to Accounts - 1|1440.00|Items not yet drawn on|Nil| |Website transaction charges - Shopify & Stripe|624.50| |Website transaction charges - PayPal & Square|337.52|Budget| |Friends of the NRM|50.00| |Sub total|14428.16|1 July 2025 - 30 June 2026| |Budget|£| |Other expenses|Print 4 Magazines|7600.00| |Members book offers|337.88|Print 2 LYR Focus|4400.00| |Zoom subscription|155.88|Print|LYR Arc Roof Carriage Drawings|book|10000.00| |Spring meeting subsistence|1807.20|Postage of Magazines|8000.00| |Summer meeting room hire & catering|635.30|Postage of Journals & books|6000.00| |AGM subsistence|459.00|Replenish publications|500.00| |Scan drawings collection|11092.86|Publications storage unit rental charge|3000.00| |Website hosting|221.97|PayPal, Shopify & Square charges|800.00| |Website development (S Byford)|300.00|Expenses (Membership & Publication Sales Officers)|2500.00| |Sub total|15010.09|Website maintenance|1200.00| |General expenses|1500.00| |Publications|AGM expenses including printing|700.00| |Magazine 300 - 303 print|7759.00|Contact Leaflet (annual)|300.00| |LYR Focus 88 - print|2610.00|Publicity & Recruitment|2500.00| |Private Owner Wagon Sketches - print|2656.00|Committee expenses|400.00| |LMS Central Div Miscellany Pt 2 - print|9300.00|Exhibition expenses & development|300.00| |Reprint Activity booklet|333.00|Insurances|500.00| |Reprint Bookmarks|160.80|Sub total|50200.00| |Sub total|22818.80|Archive purchase (see Notes to Accounts - 2)|2000.00| |75th Anniversary funding|1000.00| |Postage, editorial & sales platform expenses|ee|Total|53200.00| |Publications pack & postage - Magazine 300-303|10931.87|Print|Modelling the L&YR|(if ready)|4000.00| |Publications pack & postage - LYR Focus 88|2197.21|ee|Total|57200.00| |Publications pack & postage - LMS Central Div Misc Pt2|3918.79| |Stationery etc|72.16|Source of Funds|£| |Shopify commission fees|271.41|Subscriptions 840 members @ £39 (Int £58)|33100.00| |Other postage|9.95|Donations and Interest|1500.00| |Sub total|17401.39|Publications sales income|4000.00| |Total payments|71213.26|Gift Aid|8500.00| |Sub total|47100.00| |Notes to the Accounts:| |From Business Reserve|6100| |Our Adobe Creative Cloud software is now on an annual subscription for each user.| |Total|53200.00| |ee| |The amount spent depends on what becomes available in any one year.| |Sales of|Modelling the L&YR|to members at cost|4000.00| |The report of the Independent Examiners will be available at the Annual General able at the Annual General| |Total|57200.00|

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Notes to the Accounts:

1. Our Adobe Creative Cloud software is now on an annual subscription for each user.

2. The amount spent depends on what becomes available in any one year. The report of the Independent Examiners will be available at the Annual General able at the Annual General Meeting and confirmed in the minutes of that meeting.

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The L&YR Society

Registered Charity No.1098492

How to get to the AGM...

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The 74th Annual General Meeting of The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society will be held on Saturday 11th October 2025 at the Oxenhope Community Centre starting at 10.30am.

Our Purpose

The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society is devoted to the dissemination of information about the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway throughout its 75 years of existence and beyond. The Society has established an ongoing permanent record of its findings through its publications, which are widely available from the website, exhibition stands and specialist booksellers. It works closely with the National Railway Museum, Manchester Archives and other relevant bodies to ensure that original documents, photographs and other materials are professionally preserved and made accessible to all.

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www.lyrs.org.uk

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74th Annual General Meeting and Members’ Day, 11th October 2025

Agenda, Report and Accounts

Your L&YR Society

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Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway
Carriage Drawings - Arc Roof Stock Peter Taylor
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The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society
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Virtual Museum

Modelling the L&YR

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Agenda

The 74th Annual General Meeting of The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society will be held on Saturday 11th October 2025 at the Oxenhope Community Centre starting at 10.30am, 10am for tea and coffee.

After the meeting there will be buffet lunch costing £10 per head. In the afternoon there will be a trip on the K&WVR. Full details can be found in Magazine 304 .

1. Officers’ reports (continued):

2. To sign the attendance register and receive apologies

viii Questions for the Publications Officer

1. To remember those members who have died during the past twelve months

ix Information Officer

1. To receive and approve the minutes of the 2024 Annual General Meeting

x Questions for the Information Officer

xi Chairman

1. To deal with matters arising

xii Questions for the Chairman

1. Officers’ reports:

2. To approve the Officers’ reports and the Annual Report & Accounts

i Secretary

ii Questions for the Secretary

1. To appoint Trustees for 2025/26

iii Treasurer

1. To appoint two Independent Examiners of the

iv Questions for the Treasurer Society’s accounts

from their roles as Treasurer and Publications Officer at the 2026 AGM. This gives us a year to find a new Treasurer and Publications Officer. How do you replace the irreplaceable? The answer to that question is very simple: you can’t and don’t even try! I have been a member of this Society for many years and, in that time, I have met and spoken to many of the people who have helped make this Society the organisation it is today; John Hodgson, Tom Wray, Stuart Morris and Barry Lane are just four men who come immediately to mind and there are many others. You know what, all of these people were irreplaceable; they were all unique, strong willed men with a common dream - that this Society could achieve great things. They did a great job and they achieved their dream, but as they moved on other people had to step up and take on their roles - men like Noel Coates, Roger Mellor, Ken Carter and Martin Nield. These individuals slowly grew into their new roles and as they gained

experience and became good at what they were doing, they became the next generation of irreplaceable people.

So now we are looking for a new Treasurer and a new Publications Officer. What we are not looking for is a Noel Coates Mk2 or a Roger Mellor Mk2 or even a clone of them both! We want competent people who can come in, give themselves time to see how things work and then do the job their way. As a Society we will have to show a degree of patience here because this is not going to be an overnight fix. It may be a case of one step back to move two steps forward, but who knows, in a few years’ time the new Treasurer and Publications Officer may become part of the next generation of irreplaceables!

There is an old Navajo Indian belief that states as you move along the Highway of Life you will come across seven crossroads. At each crossroad you will have to decide which road to take; do

you keep straight on or do you go off in a new direction? I feel our Society is approaching one of these crossroads; we have important decisions to make.

The Spring meeting in Bury.

v Membership Officer 9. To confirm the level of subscription for 2026

vi Questions for the Membership Officer 10. Any other business

• vii Publications Officer

The following Trustees are offering themselves for re-election: Ron Tinker (Life President), Graham Smith (Chairman), Noel Coates (Treasurer), Martin Nield (Secretary), Roger Mellor (Publications Officer), Chris Leach (Information Officer), Andrew Wright (Membership Officer), David Carter, Ken Carter, and Robin Pennie. Any other nominations must be received by the Secretary no less than 21 days before the meeting and be compliant with clause 4.4 of our Constitution.

Secretary’s report

“Contingency and succession planning are very important to the future of the Society…”

Martin Nield

Chairman’s review

Graham Smith

“So now we are looking for a new Treasurer and Publications Officer but we are not looking for a Noel Coates or a Roger Mellor Mk2...”

is one of the biggest reasons why our membership retention rate remains so high. At this point I would like to say a huge thank you to Gavin Clark who is stepping down as Assistant Editor of Magazine at the AGM in October. Gavin has been in post for ten years and is a member of the team who have taken Magazine to the next level. All the best for the future Gavin; you have worked hard for the Society and your input will be greatly missed.

Looking back at my reviews over the last few years, my opening statements always seem to be about how successful we have been over the previous twelve months. I make no apology for starting my review this year in the same way! This last year has indeed proved to be a very successful year for our Society. It does not surprise me saying that because we are led by a very strong management team who know what they are doing and know how to do it well. They are, in fact, the proverbial smooth, well-oiled machine.

the other in late June. Both were well attended with the Spring Meeting having record numbers in attendance. These days out seem to be becoming increasingly popular every year with people travelling long distances to be involved. My thanks go to Andrew Wright and Philip Hellawell for the work they have had to put in to make these two days a success.

We have also attended the model railway exhibitions at Manchester and York with our exhibition stand. Both events proved very positive for us; we managed to sign up a few new members and sell a lot of our publications. My thanks to everyone who volunteered on the stands and helped make both weekends very successful.

Although our membership retention remains high, our membership numbers have in fact slightly dropped this year. At the time of writing this review we have a total of 889 members, a drop of about 20 members from this time last year. This is a little disappointing because it is the first time in a few years that our numbers have been below 900.

We continue to have a solid financial base with our finances carefully managed by Noel Coates. This strong base gives us the platform to do everything we want to do.

For me the biggest and most consequential moment of 2025 has been the announcement in Magazine 303 that Noel Coates and Roger Mellor are to stand down

Our publications team continue to provide us with publications of the highest quality. I am sure that the value for money that we give in this respect

We have had two wonderful days out this year, one in early Spring and

Contingency planning and succession planning are increasingly important to the future of the Society and so the Principal Officers have held three meetings on Zoom in recent months to discuss these topics. A number of actions have already been completed on contingency planning with some more to do and on succession planning a potential Treasurer has come forward and he has been invited to attend our September committee meeting. However no one has yet come forward to express an interest in becoming Publications Officer so we are looking at ways of dividing the publications function into more manageable jobs in the hope of attracting candidates.

The committee has met four times over the past 12 months – three times in person and once on Zoom – and continues to be a lively forum for debate.

We have held three very successful events over the past 12 months, beginning with our AGM & Members’ Day in October 2024 which was held at The Fielden Centre in Todmorden. In the afternoon David Storah began giving us a presentation about the railways of Todmorden, but it was unfortunately interrupted and had to be cancelled when one of our

members collapsed. I am glad to say the member concerned, Peter Fitton, subsequently recovered and we plan to invite David to give his presentation again at a future date.

In March of this year we had our Spring Lanky Day Out at the Bury Transport Museum where we were able to see the preserved Aspinall 2-4-2T No.1008, the Horwich narrow gauge shunter Wren and the Carriage and Wagon Works War Memorial which had recently been moved to Bury from Newton Heath TrainCare depot. In the afternoon we had an enjoyable trip on the East Lancashire Railway. I would like to thank Andrew Wright for his help organising this event.

Two weeks later Noel Coates and I attended a dedication ceremony for the War Memorial which was done with full military honours and was a memorable occasion.

In June we had our Summer Lanky Day Out in Penistone where we had presentations on the Penistone Line Partnership, the GCR history of the area and the L&YR line from Huddersfield. We also had two walking tours during which we were able to see the station, turntable pit, tank ramp and the magnificent viaduct. I would like to thank Philip Hellawell for his help

organising this event.

We are in the early stages of planning events for 2026 and full details will appear in Magazine in due course.

Our four Modelling Co-ordinators – Barry Steventon for Gauge 1; Peter Fitton for 7mm scale; Dave Carter for 4mm scale and Sam Kennion for 2mm scale – have continued their work throughout the year and we are very grateful to them for that.

Brian Farrimond (right) receiving his Honarary Membership from Graham Smith.

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Membership Officer’s report

“We have 30 new members so far, many from Manchester and York model railway shows…”

Andrew Wright

This is my second AGM as your Membership Officer and I am still at it and enjoying working away on your behalf! It was good to chat with many of you this year at various Society events and model railway shows and, of course, on the phone.

website and friends’ referrals come very high in new recruitment too. This shows the value of a really good and expanding website, such as ours, but also thank you to the friends who have recommended us.

to replace Roger and Noel. If anyone is interested but feels apprehensive about taking on either role, I understand what you are thinking as I was in the very same place two years ago! Have a chat to me, ring me or email me and I shall reassure that you will not be alone and that help, advice and understanding will always be freely given, by your colleagues.

I feel that anything that gets our name and activities into the wider public eye is worthwhile. Talks to local history societies, magazine adverts and stands at public events all have an important part to play in bringing the Society to the attention of a wider public and therefore more potential members. We need not be embarrassed about what we produce so we need to show it off, talk about it and impress! Thank you to all of you who, in no matter what way, large or small, have contributed towards this.

As I prepared this in early July, the Society had 892 members compared with 910 around the same time last year. At the end of 2024 we had 934 members. Unfortunately over the last winter we lost around 50 members due to death or illness that I was advised of. Those who resigned made it clear that their reasons were due to ill health rather than the Society offering and wished us well for the future. We have had a total of 30 new members this year so far many of whom were recruited at the Manchester and York model railway exhibitions. Well done and thanks to the teams involved at both these shows! The

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||| |---|---| |Membership Year|to Dec 2024| |Po| |Ordinary members|885| |Corporate members|31| |Honorary members|18| |Total|934|

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On another, but different membership related matter, as you will be aware we need to recruit two Principal Officers

Publications Officer’s report

“The next major publication will be Peter Taylor’s much anticipated book of carriage drawings...”

Roger Mellor

of the cost before the next book was published. Over recent years we have published one or more books each financial year which means that we are not recovering enough of the cost to finance the next one. We are discussing options, one of which is to offer new books to members at cost. We may experiment with this method with the modelling book as not all Society members are modellers.

During the year we have produced four excellent issues of Magazine. We continue to be blessed by Society members who contribute many quality articles on a variety of subjects. I would also pay tribute to Martin Nield whose editorship has contributed hugely to the continued success and quality of Magazine . I must also thank Gavin Clark who is retiring at the AGM and has been doing the typesetting and layouts of Magazine for the last 10 years. As I say each year, it is the best line society publication of its kind and remains the bedrock of our offer.

The next major book will be Peter Taylor’s much anticipated volume of LYR Arc Roof Carriage Drawings . The book represents a major step forward in the information available about the carriage fleet and the vehicles represented remained the backbone of the stock through to the end of the L&YR period. In addition to drawings of each carriage there are larger scale drawings of carriage bogies, corridor connections, gas lamps and standard compartment details.

A major budgeting issue for the Society is the burgeoning price of postage. The postage costs for Magazine now equal or exceed the printing cost, which drives up the membership subscription. In order to give members a lower cost option we are investigating the possibility of offering digital membership. One of the issues with this is that whilst it may be acceptable to read periodicals like LYR Focus and Magazine digitally, it would be far less satisfactory with a large book. One option might be to receive the periodicals digitally and pay for books at cost when they are published. We are continuing to discuss this with a

The planned book on modelling the L&YR continues to make good progress led by Tim Birch. An enormous amount of information has been collected and the job of sifting through it and finalising the format of the book is under way.

As promised, we published LMS Central Division Miscellany Part Two covering the years from 1931 to 1947. This completes the Miscellany series which now covers the L&YR period, the LMS era and British Railways up to 1966 in its five volumes.

The financial model we have successfully used over many years to supply substantial books to members as part of their membership is under strain. When we only produced a book every two or three years it was possible to recover a significant part

LYR Focus 88 was another splendid issue with a variety of articles covering a range of subjects. Like LYR Focus 87 , it was an extra large 64 page issue rather that the normal 48 pages.

We are quite relaxed about allowing Magazine . Thanks go to Noel Coates, my successors to go through the Robin Pennie and Peter Taylor for same process. In Magazine 304 I their outstanding contribution to what have suggested a structure that would arrives through your letterbox, and involve up to four new volunteers to Tim Birch for what will arrive in the combining their efforts. I have found near future. To Andrew Wright and Paul the last 30 years immensely rewarding Whitworth for their work on the Virtual and great fun; I have also made Museum, Barry Steventon for his hard friendships that will last a lifetime. work and professionalism dealing with Please think about it and give me a Sales (and his partner Rowena for her call to discuss it. We will provide the support), and Stuart Byford for his work specialist software and training - so on the website. come on - give me a call!

view to offering at least one digital option in time for the 2026 renewal.

The digitisation of our back catalogue of periodicals has continued apace and there are many treasures to be found by clicking on the Member’s area of the website. Brian Farrimond deserves huge thanks for the work that he has done on this project.

As the Chairman has mentioned in his review, I shall be retiring at the 2026 AGM after 30 years involvement in Society publications. We have appealed for volunteers to take over but so far had no takers. I want to echo what the Chairman has said in his review. We are NOT looking for someone who can do what I now do.

And finally, to all our contributors and you, our members, who continue to support us by your membership.

Publications really is a team effort. I’ve already recorded my thanks to Martin Nield and Gavin Clark for their work on

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Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Carriage Drawings - Arc Roof Stock Peter Taylor
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We recognise that several members of the committee, including me, were able to retire in their fifties with good final salary pensions that enabled them to devote huge amounts of time to the Society. That opportunity no longer exists and we need more volunteers to take over different parts of the job. Nor do we expect to maintain the same format and quality. When I first volunteered I had no experience of publications and could hardly use a computer and I learnt by trial and error.

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Diagram 42 - 5 Compartment Brake 3rd - 349 built
The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society
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Information Officer’s report

“The Manchester Archives drawings scanning project is now virtually complete...”

Chris Leach

The Information Group has continued to be busy on your behalf. The enquiry service continues to provide answers to a wide variety of questions and examples include the L&YR’s involvement in emigrant traffic from Hull; a request from the Spen Valley Civic Society for photos of Cleckheaton station; requests for information about Wakefield carriage depot, Kitsonbuilt 0-4-0 loco No 885 and L&YR Simplex loco No.1; the circumstances surrounding accidental death in Barnsley in 1893 involving travelling crane; the job description for a ‘railway wagon lifter’; and drawings of a Barton Wright 0-6-0 and a Hughes compound 0-8-0.

images have now been received and given meaningful file names which match the catalogue lists which were compiled by Robin Pennie and his cataloguing team. Both the drawing scans and catalogue lists have been uploaded to the Society’s OneDrive grouped under five headings: locomotives, carriages, wagons, infrastructure and road vehicles. Quite a few drawings were not scanned because of their poor condition and further checking is taking place to see if any of them have been missed. A decision on how the drawings will be made available, possibly through the Virtual Museum, is still to be made. In the meantime any drawing image can be obtained by contacting me.

Kevin Turville has been continuing to organise and add to the photo collection and much work on scanning new collections which have been donated has been completed by Noel Coates. More photos remain to be scanned once a procedure for this work has been developed. Work to identify material in archives other than Manchester has not been making rapid progress, but a project to gather details of other archives’ holdings by harvesting their electronic catalogues is in the early stages.

Help has also been given to authors in terms of information and images from our collections.

More archival material is being scanned by other committee members and will be available in due course. There remains more material to be added to our collections and we anticipate being able to restart the cataloguing process thanks to two volunteers coming forward to take on this project.

Society drawings, photographic collection and other archives

The drawings scanning project is

now virtually complete. A total of 890

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Treasurer’s report

“This financial year has been the biggest trading year we have ever had...”

Noel Coates

This financial year has been the biggest trading year we have ever had and sales of our publications reached £6000. As well as the usual journals, two books went out to members: one financed by a benefactor, the other completed a quintet of major photographic histories about the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway.

The breakdown of our income this year is much as normal (the average for the last five years is £53,905). Income from members joining, rejoining, and adding a donation was slightly less than last year. Gift Aid is always a huge chunk to receive, though this time it was hugely increased by us being able to claim the benefactor’s contribution. Book sales, mostly through the Online shop but also at two major exhibitions were, higher and a significant portion of our income (11%). Bank interest has continued at better levels; this year it was the equivalent of 10 members.

The main items of expenditure are the usual ones: printing and postage costs (around £40,000) whilst advertising reached £4,876. Expenditure on meetings and travel has, once again, been reduced to small amounts as travel to the Committee meetings is not always claimed and just two exhibitions were attended, though they did produce record sales as mentioned above. Other items and annual costs were largely as predicted but in the case of Archive purchase this is much less than previous years as material has not been forthcoming. The objective of scanning the Society’s drawings collection at Manchester has been completed with £11,000 spent. This allows us access to more material for publication as well as being able to make the documents available through the Virtual Museum. We continued the policy of sending out two booklets in one mailing where possible. The Editor spent £753 out of the £910 he was holding on 1 July 2024. Overall we spent more than we have ever done at over £71,200, and I think this will remain a record for many years.

The accounts have been handed to our Independent Examiners for scrutiny and their testimonials will be sent to

One of the many treasures to be found in our Virtual Museum

the Charity Commissioner in our Annual Return to them and will be reported at the AGM. I must thank the two gentlemen concerned for the professional manner in which they approach the fulfilment of their post.

Looking forward to the next financial year and our planned spending and the Budget are very much in line with previous years with a book about carriages likely to be the biggest single expense. Having enough money in our reserves means UK subscriptions can be held at £39 but International will need to go up to £58 as postage costs have again risen greatly.

Accounts for the year 1 July 2024 - 30 June 2025

RECEIPTS 2024/2025

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||| |---|---| |Item|£| |Subscriptions|33058.00| |Donations - with Membership|2324.00| |Donations - General|66.05| |Sales - pre-loved items|277.00| |Bank Interest|424.09| |Gift Aid|10157.87| |Sales - Publications, Binders etc|1588.50| |Sales - Signal Box book Part One & Two|213.00| |Sales - Manchester Victoria & its Signalling|500.50| |Sales - Introduction to LYR|62.50| |Sales - Manchester Victoria pictorial booklet|132.00| |Sales - LMS Central Division Miscellany Pt 1|396.00| |Sales - Last Levers on the Fylde|504.00| |Sales - Central Div Misc - BR Days|362.90| |Sales - LYR Goods Workings A-D|137.40| |Sales - Private Owner Wagon Sketches|2142.36| |Sales - Longridge Branch|600.00| |Sales - Transfers/Drawings/Photos etc.|56.00| |Sales - Members book offers|433.75| |Lanky Day Out donations|1655.00| |AGM - Members subsistence|550.00| |Total|55640.92|

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PAYMENTS 2024/2025

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||| |---|---| |Item|£| |Officers’ operational expenses| |Secretary|Nil| |Membership Officer|553.51| |Treasurer|21.47| |Publication Sales Officer|979.84| |Sub total|1554.82|

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PAYMENTS 2024/2025 continued

ASSETS & LIABILITIES 2023/2024

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||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |General expenses|Assets|£| |Publications storage unit rental charge|3050.94|Cash in Deposit Account|26854.34| |Advertising & recruitment|4876.00|Cash in Current Account|614.60| |Archives purchased|1694.39|Cash in PayPal Account|133.49| |Public Liability Insurance|173.52|Funds with Treasurer|26.53| |Trustee Liability Insurance|272.00|Funds with Editor|157.39| |Trustee expenses|225.29|Cash Total|27786.35| |Exhibitions - travel & stand maintenance|160.00| |AGM hire of meeting room 2024|134.00|Stock & Equipment|£| |AGM notices & reports|440.00|Stock of publications, books, binders,|tba| |AGM Minutes|272.00|CDs etc. - trade value| |Annual Society Contacts & general leaflets|230.00|Sound system (to be written off at 33% over 3 years)|Written Off| |Membership forms and cards|148.00|Photo scanners (to be written off at 33% over 3 years)|177.67| |Membermojo subscription|300.00|Liabilities|£| |Adobe Creative Cloud licences (see Notes to Accounts - 1|1440.00|Items not yet drawn on|Nil| |Website transaction charges - Shopify & Stripe|624.50| |Website transaction charges - PayPal & Square|337.52|Budget| |Friends of the NRM|50.00| |Sub total|14428.16|1 July 2025 - 30 June 2026| |Budget|£| |Other expenses|Print 4 Magazines|7600.00| |Members book offers|337.88|Print 2 LYR Focus|4400.00| |Zoom subscription|155.88|Print|LYR Arc Roof Carriage Drawings|book|10000.00| |Spring meeting subsistence|1807.20|Postage of Magazines|8000.00| |Summer meeting room hire & catering|635.30|Postage of Journals & books|6000.00| |AGM subsistence|459.00|Replenish publications|500.00| |Scan drawings collection|11092.86|Publications storage unit rental charge|3000.00| |Website hosting|221.97|PayPal, Shopify & Square charges|800.00| |Website development (S Byford)|300.00|Expenses (Membership & Publication Sales Officers)|2500.00| |Sub total|15010.09|Website maintenance|1200.00| |General expenses|1500.00| |Publications|AGM expenses including printing|700.00| |Magazine 300 - 303 print|7759.00|Contact Leaflet (annual)|300.00| |LYR Focus 88 - print|2610.00|Publicity & Recruitment|2500.00| |Private Owner Wagon Sketches - print|2656.00|Committee expenses|400.00| |LMS Central Div Miscellany Pt 2 - print|9300.00|Exhibition expenses & development|300.00| |Reprint Activity booklet|333.00|Insurances|500.00| |Reprint Bookmarks|160.80|Sub total|50200.00| |Sub total|22818.80|Archive purchase (see Notes to Accounts - 2)|2000.00| |75th Anniversary funding|1000.00| |Postage, editorial & sales platform expenses|ee|Total|53200.00| |Publications pack & postage - Magazine 300-303|10931.87|Print|Modelling the L&YR|(if ready)|4000.00| |Publications pack & postage - LYR Focus 88|2197.21|ee|Total|57200.00| |Publications pack & postage - LMS Central Div Misc Pt2|3918.79| |Stationery etc|72.16|Source of Funds|£| |Shopify commission fees|271.41|Subscriptions 840 members @ £39 (Int £58)|33100.00| |Other postage|9.95|Donations and Interest|1500.00| |Sub total|17401.39|Publications sales income|4000.00| |Total payments|71213.26|Gift Aid|8500.00| |Sub total|47100.00| |Notes to the Accounts:| |From Business Reserve|6100| |Our Adobe Creative Cloud software is now on an annual subscription for each user.| |Total|53200.00| |ee| |The amount spent depends on what becomes available in any one year.| |Sales of|Modelling the L&YR|to members at cost|4000.00| |The report of the Independent Examiners will be available at the Annual General able at the Annual General| |Total|57200.00|

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Notes to the Accounts:

1. Our Adobe Creative Cloud software is now on an annual subscription for each user.

2. The amount spent depends on what becomes available in any one year. The report of the Independent Examiners will be available at the Annual General able at the Annual General Meeting and confirmed in the minutes of that meeting.

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The L&YR Society

Registered Charity No.1098492

How to get to the AGM...

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The 74th Annual General Meeting of The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society will be held on Saturday 11th October 2025 at the Oxenhope Community Centre starting at 10.30am.

Our Purpose

The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society is devoted to the dissemination of information about the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway throughout its 75 years of existence and beyond. The Society has established an ongoing permanent record of its findings through its publications, which are widely available from the website, exhibition stands and specialist booksellers. It works closely with the National Railway Museum, Manchester Archives and other relevant bodies to ensure that original documents, photographs and other materials are professionally preserved and made accessible to all.

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PARTNERS IN EXCELLENCE
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www.lyrs.org.uk

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29 Lower Cribden Avenue Rossendale BB4 6SW INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2025 I have examined the financial records of the Lancashire and yorkshi￿ Railway Society for the year ended 30 June 2025 and can confirm that: il gross payments are £71213-26, and ill gross receipts are £56188-92. These figures are included in the Treasurer's Report for the Agenda, Report and Accounts for the 74th Annual General Meeting. In my opinion, the Accounts set out therein show a true and fair view of the state of affai￿ of the Society as at 30 June 2025. Keith Walmsley Independent Examiner