12th December 2019 · “A Christmas Quiz and Memories from 1969”

Presenter: John Holroyd

The pre-Christmas entertainment was presented courtesy of Deputy Branch Chairman John Holroyd who entertained members and friends with a widely varying programme comprising of his superb photographic slides taken over the past 50 years. This was an evening divided into two sessions, the first of which concentrated on his activities when travelling around the country in 1969. Rail tours into both North and South Wales, Scotland and the West Country brought about interesting scenes at numerous preservation locations all interlinked along the way with local rail activities. Trolley buses made a number of appearances and were to be seen in Cardiff and on Teeside where Cargo Fleet carried out their daily operations. Quite naturally a fair number of photographs described plenty of action on heritage and industrial railways close to home.

After a break for Christmas fare, the second part of the evening comprised of an interesting three part quiz where the presenter tested the knowledge of the audience by challenging them to identify the illustrated locations. From photographs, all taken by himself on his many travels, John offered pictures of stations mainly taken around Europe and to help all to identify the country backed them up with examples of their national locomotives. Beyond Europe the questions broadened out to include South Africa, India and China.

Part two of the challenge concentrated on stations spread throughout the UK, often from long lost localities well away from the main line whilst for the third element members were assisted in their deliberations as locations were put forward in alphabetical order. This finally brought the programme to a conclusion which was a nostalgic and widespread reminder of what has been lost over the passage of time.