THE first half of this season of meetings organised by the Redditch & Alcester Group of the GWR finished on a high note with Richard Icke giving a very professional presentation of a slide show Steam on the Cambrian.

As well as a fine selection of photographs of the scenic line running from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli, Richard provided the increased size audience with a number of interesting and informative facts.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, January 25, at 8pm at The Parish Centre, Alcester Road, Studley when Colin Bennet will present a slide show Steam and Diesel in the Midlands.

This will cover service trains and special trains and excursions that have operated in the Midlands area from the 1960s up until the present day hauled by steam and diesel locomotives.

The meeting is open to everyone, even if they are not GWR members.

On the GWR at Toddington every seat on the Santa Specials sold in advance and the trains operated over the Boxing Day and New Year period.

No more trains will run until March but the railway will be anything but quiet with a lot of maintenance work being undertaken and preparations being made for the extension to Broadway, which should start this year.