THE CLUB held its February meeting at the Dursley Community Centre, approximately 60 members were present with president Martin Lee in the chair. He welcomed Bob Usher, guest of Edwin Nuttall and also Rob Carruthers the day’s guest speaker.

Martin then took pleasure in welcoming Peter Lodge as a new member of the club, a sentiment enthusiastically echoed by all members present.

The president reflected on the recent club quiz night which as predicted had been a most enjoyable social occasion, intellectually stretching with excellent entertainment value.

He thanked Edwin Nuttall who had put the whole thing together and presented it with total professionalism.

February takes us to the long awaited Bristol Aircraft museum, now fully open. Then in March we pay a visit to Hereford to tour the Cathedral and the nearby Cider Museum.

April brings our Annual Lunch which this year will be at Westonbirt House. Then in May it is hoped to visit Montacute House, one of the classic Elizabethan Mansions in the care of the National Trust.

Plans for the club mini-break in June, centred on the Isle of Wight, are now in place. They will include visits to Osborne House, historic Carisbrook Castle and the mandatory steam train ride.

A suggestion for July is a visit to the Welsh National Botanical Gardens which will be followed in August by our annual barbecue.

Guest speaker Rob Carruthers gave a talk on “The Vale of Berkeley Railway.” Bob is a volunteer with this group set up to reinstate this line which will run from the main line at Berkeley Road to Sharpness.

Bob gave a history of the Line and outlined plans for its reopening as a public amenity. Originally built to carry coal from the Forest of Dean to the main line at Berkeley Road via the Severn Rail Bridge, the line opened in 1879 but was declared bankrupt in 1883.

It was sold to the GWR and Midland Railway and operated until the Severn Bridge disaster in 1960.

Traffic continued as far as Sharpness, but passenger traffic stopped in 1964 and freight in 1980.That left the movement of nuclear flasks as the only use for the line.

The first act of the VBR group was to lease the diesel shed in 2015 and use it as a machinery workshop. Their business plan includes development of spares manufacture to provide funds for the reinstatement of the line.

Their ultimate objectives are to recreate a passenger carrying branch line from Berkeley Road to Sharpness with full reinstatement of Berkeley Station so preserving and rejuvenating the heritage of the area.

The vote of thanks was proposed by railway enthusiast Don Powell. The president then closed the meeting and members retired to the bar followed by lunch.