In 2022 we ran two holidays, four day trips, the Annual Dinner, the Christmas Social and a factory tour, so I am glad to say that some sort of normality is returning. Attendance at some events was less than we had pre-pandemic, but in 2023 we have a fuller programme and are getting more interest.

Operators still require commitment and deposits a long time in advance, and you will have seen that the Scarborough Holiday in September had to be moved to Eastbourne because the hotel closed earlier this month. Fortunately the holiday company has found us an alternative hotel on the same dates, but in Eastbourne, rather than Scarborough.

You have already heard about our recruiting activities within the Company and, as an Activities Group, we are very aware that we have to run events with a wide appeal across the age range of our members, hence you will have noticed that a number of our activities are being run at the weekend to allow working members to attend and hopefully will attract members with families, although the proposed Family Fun Day at the Railworld Wildlife Haven attracted almost no interest and has been cancelled.

We do however still need to run events that are of interest to retired members. For instance we recognise that the holidays will be of limited interest to those still working, but they still prove very popular with older members.

The challenge is to find events that will attract sufficient numbers of younger members still working to be viable and any suggestions from members are always welcome. This year we have included a potential trip to a twenty-twenty cricket match, because our survey of working members told us that they were interested in sporting events, but so far there has been very limited interest. We will only run events that actually attract sufficient people to make them viable, and we cannot expect our volunteer Committee members to put effort into planning events that we are not fairly sure will be able to go ahead.

For this year we still have spaces on most trips except for the trip to see Fisherman’s Friends the Musical in Cambridge on April 28th. The Annual Dinner is filling up and note that we will not be able to accommodate late bookings as we have to commit numbers to the Holiday Inn earlier this year, so if you have not booked, get your booking in now.  Booking forms are available here on the table! A few rooms are still available for Eastbourne in September and Thoresby Hall next January.

I would like to thank Garth Perry, Beverley Spridgeon and Anna Errico for their work on the Activities Group, without which we would not have a programme and I hope we shall see you at the Annual Dinner, our Christmas Social and many other trips through 2023.

Bob Gregory-Smith

29/03/2023