Normally the club holds its members' running day on the first Saturday of the month, however because of Christmas and the New Year it was decided to hold it last Saturday, January 11.

The members as usual were eager to run their locos and rolling stock, and of course to enjoy the usual sausage sizzle lunch provided on these occasions.

This month however was decidedly different to the norm.

Firstly young member Nathan Moore was celebrating his twentieth birthday. So he decided to do something different to include all the members in the occasion.

Nathan very kindly provided an appettising range of nibblies for all to enjoy. Needles to say this was greeted with a good round of applause and birthday wishes to Nathan.

Then we were all surprised by a visit from one of the early ex-members of the club whom we had not seen for some time. It was very good to catchup with Keith Warwick again.

Keith and his wife live in Harrington. Keith had been a very keen member of the club in the early days along with other Harrington people like Bruce Mc Keechy.

So we are all hoping that Keith will be coming back to the club as a member.

There was a decidedly continental flavour added to the running day by Rolf Freier. Rolf is a new member who originally comes from Germany, so of course all his locos and rolling stock was of German origin.

Anyone who has seen these models will confirm they are in the best tradition of Teutonic precision and perfection.

It is also rumoured that Rolf is a bit of an electronic whiz kid. So I'm sure his expertise will be called on in the not too distant future.

There is a lot of speculation on how the club will celebrate its 35^th anniversary next year. But no decision will be made until the general meeting in March. As you can imagine there are many ideas floating around and members are eagerly looking forward to this event.