Model railway club losing home as it marks 75 years

A picture of Matthew Porteous. He is standing inside St Edmundsbury Cathedral. Behind him pillars and stained glassed windows can be seen. Tables that will hold the model railway tracks are standing. He is facing the camera with an expressionless face. He has black glasses, dark thinning hair and a grey beard. He is wearing a black jumper with a black polo top underneath.Image source, Darren Rozier/BBC
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Chairman of the club, Matthew Porteous, said model railway clubs often relied on low rent prices to keep them sustained

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A model railway club is facing homelessness as it marks its 75th anniversary.

The Bury St Edmunds Model Railway Club, external, in Suffolk, celebrated its anniversary during a model railway exhibition at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, external on Saturday.

While it is one of few clubs to reach its diamond anniversary, it will lose its current home at a local farm on 14 October due to the owner selling the site.

Exhibition manager, Chris Day, and chairman of the club, Matthew Porteous, both said the club faced paying high rent for a new space.

Image source, Darren Rozier/BBC
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The 75th anniversary event included Thomas the Tank Engine themed model railway tracks for children

"There aren't many clubs who have managed to achieve [75 years] consistently," Mr Day said ahead of the anniversary event.

"Some clubs have broken their length of service but we've been very, very fortunate that we've reached 75, albeit as a lot of people know we are sadly losing our club facility but we're working on that.

"Commercial rents are horrendously expensive and unfortunately in this day and age a farm building which is what we have currently is an expensive entity because it is an asset to the farm."

Mr Porteous added: "Clubs like ours do rely on people being prepared to let us be somewhere at a non-commercial rate."

Image source, Darren Rozier/BBC
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Chris Day said the club was currently hunting for a new home in Bury St Edmunds

Despite the threat of homelessness, the men remained positive and were delighted to be celebrating their anniversary at the cathedral which Mr Day called a "splendid venue".

Mr Porteous said he saw that the cathedral had held a beer festival and thought it might be willing to hold an event for the club.

"I wrote to the dean and said, what about it," Mr Porteous explained.

"He wrote back and said fine - it was as simple as that.

"My feeling is it will bring a lot of people who wouldn't usually come into the cathedral into the cathedral, and I think that's what they want as well."

The anniversary event saw 40 traders with their model train layouts.

Image source, Darren Rozier/BBC
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Mr Porteous said he hoped more people of younger generations found interest in model railway

Mr Porteous said while the club consisted of members of an older age, he had seen some interest from younger generations.

"There's a lot of enthusiasm for the young if my grandchildren are anything to go by," he explained.

"The first thing they say when they walk through the door is, 'Grandpa, Grandpa, Grandpa, can we go and play with the trains?'.

"I think the young enjoy it, it's really a question of them sustaining that interest.

"We do get people who join when they come close to retirement and that's a trend that has always been there.

"The worry is that the young are going to get distracted by video games and all those other things that are out there available to them that simply weren't there 50 or 60 years ago."

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