The current situation with Coronavirus/COVID-19 has placed the club in a difficult position.
We have suspended all club meetings, social activities and get togethers for the time being.
As such, we are currently unable to commit to opening to the public when the museum is open.
On behalf of the club I apologise for the inconvenience, but trust you understand that the health and safety of our members is paramount.
As discussed at the last general meeting, a wonderful piece remembering early members of the club, Sid & Yvette Harvey, has been written by life member Don Finlayson — thanks Don!
By a terrific stroke of coincidence, a few months ago a member of the public gave us the above newspaper clipping above from May 1963 which is directly relevant to the story. Head over to the Harveys’ page to read all about it.
George’s funeral was very well attended last Friday and Don Finlayson has written a lovely obituary for George. It is now available on George’s Memorial Page.
George Sumner in 2011 when he was awarded his life membership certificate by Tony Gray.
Paul Webb phoned me yesterday to let me know the sad news that George Sumner passed away in hospital on Friday night (26th January 2018).
George was one of the longest continuous members of the club having joined in 1983 . He was awarded life membership in 2011: Life membership for George Sumner
Update (2nd Feb): George’s funeral will be held next Friday (9th Feb) at 10am at Bowra & O’Dea Cannington (corner of George St West and Albany Hwy): https://bowraodea.com.au/notice/29217/
Don Finlayson has supplied a couple of obituaries for Bruce Norton and Len Hughes who both passed away earlier this year. These have now been added to the club’s Memoriam page.
Thanks Don!
Wishing all members and friends of the WAMRC a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!
The new public layout roster volunteering form is now on the whiteboard at the club. Please make sure you drop in to the club before mid-January and put your name down for your preferred dates. I’ve also added a second sheet where you can specify specific dates (or ranges of dates) where you know you will not be available.
Sadly, long time WAMRC member Ian Rourke passed away just before Christmas last year after a long battle with illness. Fellow WAMRC member Norm Chapple presented a moving eulogy at his funeral, and with the permission of Ian’s family and Norm we have been allowed to reproduce it on Ian’s memorial page.
The club will hold a Silent Auction on the night of the General and Annual General Meetings (17th July).
The items for sale are club stock which are no longer required for club running nights.
For sale will be various American outline locomotives and rolling stock.
A reserve price of $10 for powered items (i.e. locos — whether running or not) and $5 for non powered item (i.e. wagons, passenger cars or anything else) applies.
Come one, come all — and bring cash!
The AGM was held a couple of weeks ago and there is little to report — apart from the fact that George Sumner was unanimously voted to life membership of the club in recognition of his 27 years of uninterrupted dedication and service to the club.
Unfortunately George was unable to make it to the AGM as he wasn’t too well, so we had to wait a couple of weeks to surprise him. The photo above shows President Tony Gray (right) presenting George with a certificate. A life membership section staff is also being prepared and will be given to George once it is ready.
Image: George Sumner (left) holding his Life Membership certificate
The Secretary (Ross) will be away with work on the 16th March, so rather than press-ganging someone else into taking the minutes, the committee intends to delay the next regular general meeting by a week to Wednesday 23rd March (still at 8pm in the clubrooms). Formal notice of the meeting will go out this coming Wednesday (2nd March) as normal.
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We received a nice note from our travelling President a few days ago. Sounds like his trip is going well:
Hi, Yes we are still alive! Mind you we just about got fried alive going across the Nullarbor; 43°C for about 5 days in a row. Philip island was nice and cool. In Portland, Victoria at the moment with some bad weather on its way tonight; 30 to 40mm rain forecast. At this stage we will be home on the 7th March, a week before my rostered day on. Say hi to the other members for me.
Thanks Mark & Beryl
Half their luck — after 14 nights of minimums greater than 20°C, I could do with a bit of ‘bad weather’ about now…
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Finally, the N‑Scale boys finally got cracking last Wednesday night and knocked up four wooden frames in a little over an hour (see picture above) — each one measuring 2.4 x 1 metre. And that was in spite of all the *ahem* ‘helpful advice and encouragement’ *cough* from the rest of the assembled peanut gallery club members. 🙂