Greetings to all our members for 2008 and especially those who have joined us in recent months. Thanks to everyone involved, our Club achieved a significant marker in November when it was reported at Committee that our membership had just reached 150. This compares with the total of some 60-65 when I joined TME 15 years ago and suggests that our mix of activities and facilities are seen as attractive to newcomers as well as continuing to provide a means for members to meet and greet, and compare experiences and problems met in their enjoyment of our hobby. This is important in a Society which has generally denigrated manual skills in recent years but is now waking up to the needs to re-establish traditional training practices in industry and ensure that our youngsters are capable of fulfilling UK Ltd’s needs in future years. After all we should not forget that our enjoyment of modern gadgets and gizmos is dependent on someone, somewhere having designed, developed and made the working originals before mass production could take place.

It is also important to the future of TME in coming years as, with the best will in the world, we are all getting older as time goes on. We need new and younger blood coming to join to ensure survival as the more senior members inevitably pass on over the years. This in turn is important in providing a continuing flow of new ideas and needs from members for your Committee to consider in developing future programmes of events to keep the Club in the vibrant and healthy position it is today.

Mention of the Committee brings me to the AGM. This is on 4 March and is your opportunity to say what you think about the Club and how it is run. The present Committee members do not have a monopoly on the positions they hold, and some at least would welcome the opportunity to step down and have a rest to enjoy being a general member of the Club again. But this is dependent on others being prepared to come forward to take up the reins and take the Club forward. One or two new Committee members each year will provide a steady flow of new thinking, as well as keeping the old ones in order!!

Our next major events will be Easter weekend, 23/24 March, when our tracks will be open for public running in Vivary Park on the Sunday, and at Creech the next day, followed by our annual exhibition over the weekend of 5/6 April. You will find some notes here from Bruce on the help he would like and how you can take part to make it a success. Remember this is the one event each year which can reflect all our various interests, and when we can all come together with a common purpose, not only to assist but also to meet other members and those from the visiting Clubs, as well as our friends in the trade.

Finally, some food for thought. Much has been written in recent years about boiler design and construction to meet our needs within present legislation. Here the national review of inspection, testing, and records practices produced the procedure we now operate for mild steel and copper boilers, but as yet there is not a common approach to design and construction. Australia has a Boiler Code which, subject to maxima for working pressure and capacity, enables anyone to design and build a miniature boiler in mild steel or copper that will be safe to operate with reasonable life expectation. This Code has also been adopted as the standard in New Zealand. A boiler built to these standards is acceptable in Europe but may need minor modifications to meet local construction practices. It could therefore serve as the basis of an International Code of Practice. One difference in mainland Europe is the use of stainless steel in model boiler construction. Hitherto we, the Australians, New Zealanders, and North Americans have shied away from using this material owing to inexperience within the model engineering fraternity. However with the increasing price of copper and the ever present need for anti-corrosion treatment of mild steel boilers, thoughts are turning to adoption of European practice. This year the Australian Miniature Boiler Safety Committee will receive a proposal to incorporate the use of stainless steel in their next Code revision, whilst here the 7 ¼” Society is discussing its possible use, and the Northern Association of Model Engineers would like to see a UK Boiler Code covering design, construction, testing and use of copper, and mild and stainless steel boilers. Whilst there is much to debate, the key issue now is to get the dialogue going on an open minded basis, and involving all the key organisations overseeing the use of miniature steam boilers.

Mike.