I hope that everyone was able to have a nice Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. For those of you that had visitors for the holiday hopefully you were able to run your trains for them. Now for things to really get busy in December.
Our big club event for the year is underway. I want to thank Jeff Mitulla for designing the layout and for organizing our display at Brookside Gardens. I also want to thank everyone who volunteered their time to building the display and signed up to docent. I was pleasantly surprised how many members showed up on the first day of building the layout and how much was accomplished. We must have had 15 members come throughout the day. We even had a brand-new member show up to give a hand. I was not able to get back to Brookside until six days later, which was Veteran’s Day. A lot had been accomplished, but we still had a lot of work to do to get the display ready for the club meeting on Sunday. We were able to complete everything hours before the meeting and had trains running before members even showed up. From what I’ve been told, we finished the display in record time and were able to change the club meeting from “come see what we’ve gotten done so far” to “come run your trains”.
For those of you who have not signed up yet to docent, please review the schedule that Verna has sent out and see if you can make some time to volunteer. If you are not receiving the emails, please contact Verna at vernas007@verizon.net. The shifts are only 3.5 hours long and are during the day. The display is not open or operating during the evenings this year. Remember the Brookside Gardens display is the event that brings in the most funds for the club, so we need to make sure that we can staff the hours that it is open.
By the time you read this, we will also be participating in or will have finished our display at Fairfax Station. Once again, thanks to Jeff for planning and organizing that show. Hopefully there is a good weather for the show.
We also have a group of members that are also members of the National Capital Trolley Museum. They will be running trains at the museum for the weekend events there. So, if we have the Brookside Gardens schedule full on the days that you are free and are looking for somewhere to run your trains, contact Arnie Hoffman.
I told you that it is going to be a busy month for the club.
I believe that our main objectives for our events are to inform the public of our club, spread our interest in Garden Railroading, and to grow our membership. Our club has a good number of members, and we should be able to fill scheduling for our events. I would hate for the club to lose an event from the schedule because we don’t have enough members to volunteer for it.
As the year comes to an end, we have seen life starting to get back to normal. It has been a busy year for the club with events, Fun Runs, Team Layout, and monthly meetings.
This coming year appears to be just as busy, if not busier, for the club. Elections and Holiday party in January, indoor meetings for the first couple of months, ECLSTS to kick off our spring, a new website, updated By-laws, a new Policy, Procedures, and Operating document for the club, more shows and events, and then back to Brookside Gardens at the end of the year. I’m looking forward to next year.
On a closing note, I want to wish you all a happy and safe holiday season, that you receive a train- related gift this year, and that you can run your trains as much as possible. Enjoy the time with your family and friends.
George