NORTH WEST MECCANO GUILD


Clicking on many of the pictures enlarges them and provides extra information. The models are usually attributed to the builder.

The Guild is always interested in preventing good Meccano going to waste. If you have any Meccano to re-cycle, please contact the Secretary or a member at one of our events.

Click  “Exhibitions” for a calendar of our events. Or “Event Details” for information about individual ones.

Click “North West” for information about Meccano on display and  Meccano related locations in the North West of England.

News  July to December 2014

Mini Maker Faire at the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester 26th. & 27th. July.


We had to organise this event at rather short notice, so that we only had 5 displays on 11 tables. We were on the top floor of the warehouse built in 1830 for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. There was plenty of room, and quite good natural light. Enough windows could be opened to prevent us wilting in the heat on two very hot days. There were lots of interested visitors and Meccanographs and hand  operated models were kept busy. Over 2000 people visited the Maker Faire during the weekend.

          It is hoped that there will be a page of other photographs of our displays attached to the Gallery Page soon.

 There were numerous other displays, many featuring 3D printing.  A soldering workshop looked particularly busy. They can be viewed on:

http://makerfairemanchester.com/



Lincolnshire Steam Fair, 16th. & 17th. August.

Chris. Harris and the Nightingales attended this event. Their models were displayed in a large permanent exhibition hall with many other exhibits including many from the NMMG. Two of  the Nightingales’ models are shown below.

Toys For Boys,  Waterloo, 30th. & 31st. August.

Unfortunately, only 5 members were able to attend but, nevertheless were able to fill 10 tables with models and used  2 more for a Hands-On Workshop. We had a few problems with an electricity virus which caused Neville to exhibit a model of a Union Pacific Locomotive Repair Shop rather than a working locomotive and delays in getting Dick’s Kangaroo Crane to work. Derrick’s Lowry Bridge went up and down a good number of times. The Chairman of the the Friends  of the Church was pleased to see that the model of the Märklin Ship (see the Masham report for a picture) had a Blue Funnel, which was very familiar to him. (The Blue Funnel Line operated out of Liverpool)

Chris Harris has produced a video of some of our models shown at recent meeting:

Annual General Meeting,   4th. October 2014.

   Approximately 20 members were able to attend and displayed an interesting selection of models, some of which are shown on the separate page of the Model Gallery. New ones included two small scale models of locomotives by Jon Hall and two large Plastic Meccano models by Ian Corlett and Roger Marsh. The Guild’s officers are unchanged. The usual hot-pot was efficiently served by Jean Damp and her assistants from the church. It was not possible to arrange the date of the next meeting, but it is hoped to hold it towards the end of March. Chris. Harris collected a good number of names for an exhibition at the Bury Transport Museum where we held a successful one earlier this year. It is believed that we will be able to obtain and fit in some extra tables.

Chris Harris has produced a video of some of our models shown at recent meetings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BrXAHke7Z4

Engineering Fun Day at Heron Mill at Beetham near Milnthorpe. 11th. October      

This is an event organised monthly in the Barn at Heron Mill by some of the Volunteers. About a dozen children of various ages attend regularly. On this occasion the North West Meccano Guild was invited to provide materials and assistance. An additional attraction was Colin Reid and his Loom. Three other members also came and some parents also helped. We brought both Plastic and Metal Meccano. Nearly all the plastic models were designed by the builders themselves. Some of the metal Meccano was vintage but we brought some very modern sets obtained cheaply from Tesco Direct. We expected that mostly small models would be built, but old No. 0  Set models were the most popular. We had to hurriedly make up extra sets. The results can be seen in the photographs.