Bluebell Railway Preservation Society

Society AGM
Sheffield Park Station, Saturday 15th June 2024 commencing at 4pm.

Members will have received notice of this meeting, and a Call for Nominations (deadline 31 March) with the Winter 2023 edition of Bluebell News.

The following BRPS AGM documents are in the post but are published here as PDF downloads as a backup and for the benefit of members, especially those overseas:

     BRPS AGM Document 2024 - as revised 5 June 2024 **
     Combined Report and Accounts Booklet 2023
     BRPS Proxy Voting Form.

             Gavin Bennett
             Secretary

** Due to an unfortunate error, the wrong election statement and photograph was published in the AGM document for one of the candidates. All the statements are re-issued to avoid drawing attention to a single candidate.
These are included in the revised document, online, and have been sent by post to members.

Members' Day

On AGM Day, 15th June, the Railway is once again throwing open its doors for members to see what goes on behind the scenes. Departments will show what they do so members can get an idea of just what makes the Railway work. The idea of the day is to hopefully encourage members to see what is going on at their Railway and show them where they can help, either by volunteering or by other contribution.

We've made a few changes to the format from last year's very successful event, particularly to give members more time to explore the railway before attending the AGM itself. The service will begin earlier than a normal Saturday (first departures 9.20 am from Sheffield Park, 10.15 am from East Grinstead) and still have plenty of time to look around. The meeting will take place in a marquee on the top car park at Sheffield Park, commencing at 4 pm. Afterwards, there will be a social event with food and drink available. Trains will leave for East Grinstead after the AGM at 6.45 pm and later at 9.00 pm so, if you chose to arrive by rail, you can get home afterwards.

Event Details

At Sheffield Park, a highlight of the day will be the formal renaming of 34059 Sir Archibald Sinclair, planned to take place at 12.00. Throughout the day, we are expecting that all areas within the loco yard (running shed, works, Atlantic House and maintenance shed) will be open to view the progress being made on the various restorations and overhauls that are underway. Various loco owning groups will have stands and will be on hand to update you on their respective projects.

On the station, Friends of Sheffield Park and the Museum Team will have displays and representatives too. We also hope to display restored Pullman Car No 54 for viewing.

At Horsted Keynes, ~~there will be tours of the Carriage & Wagon works, where you can see the progress being made on a number of carriages as they continue their journey back to full operational service.~~ [*] The SR Coach Group will have a display and be on hand to discuss their work on our Maunsell and Bulleid coaches. The wagon group will also have a display and stand to show visitors the progress they are making. On Platform 1/2 of the station, the Infrastructure teams will be mounting a display to explain the work they are undertaking there and the 1305 (Thumper) team will have a stand where they will be on hand to explain how they are bringing this unit, currently located nearby, back to working order. At the south end of Platform 2 there will be a meeting point for the S&T Department, from where you will be able to review proposals for the new Sheffield Park Signal Box, study the layout for the final East Grinstead signalling and view a display of unusual signalling features.

At all our stations, staff will be happy to answer questions and, subject to operational requirements, show you how things work in their particular part of the Railway. It is also hoped that guided visits to some of the signal boxes will be possible, subject to permission of the signalman.

Don't forget that a lot of the individual project and owning group will have sales stands as part of their displays so please do support them where you can.

We hope that even more of you will join us on our Society AGM day this year to enjoy everything the Bluebell has to offer. Do take the opportunity to join in a conversation with Society management about how to take the Railway forward for the future and hopefully find ways in which you can help the Railway on that journey.

On behalf of the Chairman, Roy Watts, we look forward to seeing you.

         Keith Leppard, Trustee

* Due to delays in completing the replacement of the shed wall, it will not now be possible to open the carriage works to visitors on 15 June. The SRCG and Goods Division will have displays on the dock at the south end of Platform 5.

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