When October arrives we know it is time for our end of year meeting .It means an early start in the dark and although l used minor roads to avoid road works it took me an extra 30 minutes to arrive at the hall. Fortunately it was good weather for members who have long distances to drive; the familiar red kites were not about! Unbeknown to us as we arrived in Ipsden there were notices advertising a ploughing match on following Sunday close to the village hall! This NHBS meeting was our 28th ; not bad for a little hamlet. Beeches were in full leaf; they looked splendid.
Sue & Andrew Hart were waiting, followed by Colin Doy and we soon had the heaters on and the kettle boiling and it was not long before Rosy Lee was on the menu. Sue Hart did a marvellous job all morning, toiling in the kitchen, cooking and arranging Bacon Butty service; many thanks Sue. Colin & Andrew made a good team arranging tables and chairs and special display area for our speaker, Martin Way who brought many artefacts from coaching days. His title was The Golden Age of Coaching, the history of the Turnpike Roads and Stage Coaching, mainly on the Oxford to Gloucester Road. It was a very interesting talk and his table demonstration was illuminating. l have booked him for 2020 , to talk about English Canals, Their
Engineering Achievements & Failures and the people who live on the
cut.
Above; Two pictures of model coaches made by guest speaker Martin Way.
Left; Ta
ble display of coaching artefacts
Above and Left; Organiser of the meeting Mick Mullens with guest speaker martin Way
Below; NHBS member Colin Doy demonstrating his skill on the post horn!!
A big thank you also to Fiona Wrixon for running the raffle and thank
you all for making the raffle a bit of fun. There were 13 prizes in all
which is a good contribution; thank you all.
The competition this year was a “Display of One’s Own Choosing” and showed collectors’ personal interests. It was great success with 8 entries, all of a high quality. l asked Martin Way, our speaker, to judge the winner as h
e was a neutral judge.
Above and below; Competition entries
Right; Martin Way judging the competition entries.
The
winner was Peter Ferguson, second was Jim Speed, and third was John Dew.
There were several tables laid out with Brass Bargains, and much dealing. For me, the day was 
worth arranging and it was a good very friendly get-together
Well done to all for making it a success
As we were all converging on Ipsden, and most of the committee would be there it was agreed and arranged to hold our September committee meeting a few weeks later to coincide with the Ipsden meeting. This saved doubling up many miles of driving for committee members.
Thank you all for making this get-together a friendly social event. I look forward to seeing you all again on the first Saturday in October 2020, which will be 3rd Oct.
Mick Mullens