AGM 2026

We had our first Annual General Meeting in May 2026, as part of the May social meeting. 22 members attended, and the committee was re-elected en bloc, along with the report (below) being accepted. There were also two new members elected to the committee, which strengthens us nicely. The current committee membership and constitution can be found here. Some of the the issues discussed at the AGM can be found in the May 2026 Social meeting report here.

Committee Report to the May 2026 AGM

Inauguration: We adopted our constitution at the Inaugural Meeting as part of the social meeting in May 2025, to improve the security of our annual show cash float and collect monies at the next show using card readers, both of which require a bank account and therefor a formal constitution. We elected a small committee to see this through, of Mark Dale (Chair), Andrew Mott (Show Manager), Mark Hallgate (Treasurer), Roger Simpson (Secretary) and Charlie Forbes (Vice Chair), who have met on 4 occasions (as per constitution) to progress these goals. 

Membership: 14 people joined as members at the Inaugural Meeting and over the year this has climbed to 34, though one further member sadly passed away at the end of the year. Rather than membership cards we have issued each member with a named lanyard. Membership remains free as (thankfully) we have no regular meeting costs. 

Life Memberships: At the March 2026 social meeting we awarded life memberships to three members who have been responsible for keeping the group going over the years and establishing our annual show, Roger Bugg, Robert Telford and Martyn Chapman.

Website: Roger has kept the website going with regular social meeting reports and updates on our activities, and it also helps reach more people interested in attending the show, based on the activity reports for the website. We also have a Facebook group which assists with this. 

Social Meetings: The traditional programme of monthly social meetings and the annual Golden Valley Light Railway invitational have all been very well-attended and attracting an increasing number of regulars over the course of the year. Relations with our host at Portland College Coffee Shop remain very convivial and this allows us to provide an exceptional value offer (i.e. completely free) to members and guests.

Members Competition: The Committee have set up a members’ micro layout competition which is already stimulating some exciting model making and demonstrating the incredible diversity of members’ interests and approaches.  

Narrow Gauge Now: Andrew would like to thank everyone for their help and support with last year’s event. He is always on the lookout for new exhibits in any narrow-gauge scale, so please ask for details of any suitable layouts you see at exhibitions. Hopefully, we have lined up some excellent layouts for this year and beyond! But don’t forget, this is an event for our own members to display their work, so please let me know if you wish to do so. We can always find space for more of the specialised traders, so please mention NGN26 if you are dealing with someone who does not yet attend.  

Finances: We have a healthy float ready for the next NGN 2026, with most of it in the newly acquired Virgin Money Club/Society Bank Account and a small float as petty cash. Some of the operating profit from NGN25was used for the Christmas Drinks and the purchase of Display Cabinets through the 009 society so we can attend local shows to promote both the club and society. We are now looking at setting up card readers so that we will hopefully be able to take card payments at NGN26.

Future Plans: We are looking at increasing our presence in the region by having an information stand at some other local model railway events, including sharing the role with other area groups of the 009 Society.

And Finally: In the final analysis this is still all about the fun and pleasure of sharing our narrow-gauge model railway activities!

This page last updated 28/05/2026