Whitwell and Reepham Model Engineering Club
TOP FIELD LIGHT RAILWAY
Charity No.1194692
Trustees Report for year ending 31[st] December 2022.
First of all we would like to thank all those who have attended and helped onsite and off-site throughout the year, without the volunteers we wouldn’t have been able to achieve half of what we’ve achieved this year. So a big thank you! 2022 was a very good year for us at Top Field Light Railway both financially and generally. Financially as you will see from the club accounts, this is the best financial position we’ve been in since the club was formed in 2016. With Covid now out of the way we were able to go out to places with the portable track and finally pay off the last chunk of the portable track fund. This was achieved during the superb late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Steam Rally at Strumpshaw in the beginning of June. The event also allowed us to boost the Tihany fund and remove a significant chunk from the loan. Funds were further boosted at the Colne Valley Miniature Railways Gala, Hellesdon Carnival, Thursford Steam Rally and a good Whitwell Steam Rally.
Our own running days on-site have also helped to boost the funds, with Tihany performing well on most of the first Sunday running days. This year we also introduced operating on the third Sunday in the month, spearheaded by a suggestion that we could operate a simple service utilising a battery electric loco and the toast rack coach as and when required. These trains are better known as “Top Field Trundles” and allow us members to have a works party as well as provide a train ride which only took donations. Next year we hope to build upon this and advertise them a little more.
Locomotives:
All Club -based and privately owned locos have performed well, with Tihany being the mainstay of steam traction, with the Kent’s Scamp, Stuart’s “Hughes” loco and the newly acquired “No.2” helping out both on and off-site. In July we held another successful, if slightly slimmed down Miniature Mayhem Gala. However the event was boosted by the visit of Colne Valleys “Erin”, we would like to thank the owner for bringing his locomotive along and allowing us to have a play. On the same event we also played host to the M&GN Circle, who held their annual summer meeting with us for the day. In September we held a new event, the Minimal Gauge Gala, which was another successful event and one which can be improved next year. It was boosted by another visiting loco “No.2” also, “Nelson” from the Cromer Light Railway. Our thanks go to Mick, Dave, Alan and Peter for supporting our event. In total we had five forms of motive power operating throughout the day. This included our first triple header.
Strumpshaw Steam Rally:
Strumpshaw again was another brilliant steam event, despite a few locomotive issues on the Friday, which eventually left us with only the Scamp (which performed faultlessly) during the afternoon. On the Saturday though we were joined by “Edward Watkins” a Station Road Steam “General Gordon”, owned by the two Ollie’s who we’d met previously at the Colne Valley Gala. She was a superb loco and enabled us to operate a two train service with two steam locomotives.
Operationally Strumpshaw was a success with two trains operating, allowing us to send one train out, fill up the second and as soon as the first arrives, send the second train straight out. The system worked very much like the LNER’s “Jazz Service”.
Projects:
Projects during 2022 have included the usual track repairs (the straight section through Mustn’t Grumble does now require serious work). Earlier in the year we were asked by the landowner to remove the top section of track to allow him to install a new boundary fence. As a result a new “temporary” platform was constructed and named “Roman Road Halt”.
All Track and Permanent Way materials were successfully recovered, apart from half a dozen fence posts and wire which were damaged during the late summer. The run-round loop at Mill Lane station was complete in time for the Miniature Mayhem Gala, where it was thoroughly tested.
The Bay Platform at Mill Lane was also re-aligned and extended during the summer.
Summary:
We hope that as trustees of this charity you are happy with how we deal with the day-to-day running of the club and if you have any ideas or things which you consider important to the fabric of the club, please come and see us.
In the New Year we were approached by the landowner to discuss our aspirations for crossing the main entrance to the campsite and he informed us that he didn’t want any further railway developments on that part of the site. This obviously means that we can no longer extend our railway to where we envisaged, furthermore we negotiated an extra strip of land to enable us to construct a suitably sized terminus station at that end of the site. This does mean that 2022 did end on a major disappointment, however it does mean that we now know our boundary within the site. We can concentrate all our efforts on developing and making better what we have constructed already. It’s a superb opportunity, not the one we wanted but nevertheless its the cards we’ve been dealt. Our priority in 2023 must now be to turn to the redevelopment of this area, as well as maintaining the section of line we already have. We must also think about a new set of goals for the club, what do we want to do and what we want to achieve.
INCOME for the year ending 31[st] December 2022. £4,875.
EXPENDITURE for the year ending 31[st] December 2022. £4,678.
W&RMEC Trustees Report for the year ending 31[st] December 2022.
Whitwell & Reepham Model Engineering Club (Charity No. 1194692) TOP FIELD LIGHT RAILWAY Financial Statement for 12 months ending 31-12-2022.
INCOME: Membership Fees for 2022.
| ADULT 26 + full year (£25) 25 half year (£12.50) 00 YOUTH 19 to 25 full year (£18) 07 half year (£9) 01 JUNIOR 10 to 18 full year (£6) 07 half year (£3) 02 Day membership (£4) 01 Membership fees paid in 2022 CURRENT MEMBERSHIP: 25 + 8 + 9 + 3 Honorary. TOTAL 45 members. |
£ 625.00 £ 135.00 £ 48.00 £ 4.00 £ 812.00 |
|---|---|
Income from ticket sales, donations and misc. sales for 2022.
| Donations DM/CL/NGS/JM/SSR/AW/and Misc. donations. Donation: Stuart Hughes for 6 month’s rent. Donation: Rob Ewles for Drivers Tender for Tihany. Donation: Portable Railway Club for Hydraulic Lifting Table Fund. Donations: Rob Ewles (£100) Dan Mason (£20) Gauge glass for Tihany. Misc. Donations: Sunday 15th May: TFLR Third Sunday. Misc. Donations: Sunday 15th May: Colne Valley MR Gala. Sponsorship by Miniature Railway Workshop for 1,500 leaflets. Sunday 3rd April passengers: 42 Adults & 24 children Sunday 17th April passengers: 21 Adults & 16 children Sunday 1st May passengers: 23 Adults & 13 children Strumpshaw 2nd June passengers: 191 Adults & 224 children Strumpshaw 3rd June passengers: 239 Adults & 217 children Strumpshaw 3rd June Day Rovers: 10 Adults & 10 children Strumpshaw 4th June passengers: 227 Adults & 216 children Mayhem Gala Sunday 3rd July passengers: 51 Adults & 28 children Mayhem Gala Sunday 3rd July Day Rovers: 2 Adults & 2 children Hellesdon Carnival 16th July passengers: 106 Children & 59 Adults Thursford Steam Gala 24th July 67 Children; 55 Adult; 2 Rover Steam Gala 30th July passengers: 119 Adults, 91 Children 2 Rover Steam Gala 31st July passengers: 116 Adults, 86 Children Sunday 7th August passengers 4 Adults; 10 Children Bylaugh 13th/14th August passengers 6 Adults; 15 Children Sunday 4th September passengers 13 Adults; 2 Children Sunday 2nd October passengers 22 Adults; 12 Children; Adult Rover Sale of second-hand Railway Books and Jigsaws Sale of TFLR tea mugs: 3 x £5.00 Sale of TFLR lapel badges: 11 x £6.50 Income 2022 |
£ 110.00 £ 120.00 £ 500.00 £ 100.00 £ 120.00 £ 21.00 £ 28.00 £ 110.57 £ 108.00 £ 58.00 £ 59.00 £ 415.00 £ 456.00 £ 80.00 £ 443.00 £ 130.00 £ 16.00 £ 165.00 £ 128.00 £ 339.00 £ 318.00 £ 18.00 £ 21.00 £ 28.00 £ 61.00 £ 6.00 £ 15.00 £ 71.50 £4,045.07 |
|---|---|
Total Income for 2022 £4,857.07
Whitwell & Reepham Model Engineering Club (Charity No. 1194692) TOP FIELD LIGHT RAILWAY Financial Statement for 12 months ending 31-12-2022.
Expenditure:
| Northern Association membership fees of £8.50 waived this year Walker Midgely Insurance premium 10 x instalments (£158.57) TFLR Website ‘Tsohost’ domain name renewal TFLR Website ‘SiteGround’ webhosting renewal Purchase of Tender for Tihany SumUp card reader (£17 + VAT) Hire of committee room £5 x 5 Strumpshaw 3 extra passes £45 – entry postage £2.35 Vista Print 1,500 TFLR leaflets £98.58 + delivery £11.99 Signal Fuel 4 bags coal 2 bags charcoal (less £20.00 refund) TFLR portable track loan repayment Hellesdon Carnival donation to Friends of Kinsale Junior School Rent January to June; 6 x £20/month to Hercules MSL. Rent July to December; 6 x £20/month to Hercules MSL Loan repayment for purchase of Tihany “Test” pressure gauge and fittings Cost of TFLR tea mugs 3 x £2.50 Cost of TFLR lapel badges 11 x £3.11 SumUp transaction fees for 2022 on income of £ 289.00 PayPal transaction fees for 2022 on income of £123.00 |
£ 00.00 £1,585.70 £ 08.34 £ 172.66 £ 500.00 £ 20.40 £ 25.00 £ 47.35 £ 110.57 £ 35.40 £ 779.70 £ 33.00 £ 120.00 £ 120.00 £1,000.00 £ 65.00 £ 7.50 £ 34.21 £ 10.78 £ 2.91 £4,678.52 |
|---|---|
Total Income for 2022 £4,857.07 Total Expenditure for 2022 £4,678.52 Surplus of Income over Expenditure for 2022 £ 178.55 Total cash assets at 31-12-2021 brought forward £ 432.72
Total to carry forward to 2023 £ 611.27
Whitwell & Reepham Model Engineering Club accounts prepared by John Mason (Trustee/Treasurer) for account year ending 31st December 2022.