A huge thankyou to all our members and Friends of the Great Central who generously supported our annual fundraiser. Our annual raffles are now our single biggest income and helps to continue our restoration work at Rothley.

The lucky winners are;-
£100 - 41510- Paul Rees, Melton Mowbray
£75- 06387- R Whitehead, Northampton
£75- 44434- Ralph Beardmore, Loughborough
£50- 23585- A Hutchinson, Sutton in Ashfield
£50- 44671- D Lowe, Wigston
£25- 03638- M Kirby
£25- 25981- D McCracknell
£25- 20341- I Watson
£25- 15120- P Adams
£25- 44947- Mrs Bussingham
£25- 09249- Miss D Sexton
£25- 42341- D Eldridge
£25- 21658- J Wright
£25- 20204- Donated by R Howkins
£25- 36627- Anon donation

Following all expenses this resulted in a profit of £2970.40, plus a further £1212 in donations giving a final income of £4172.40

Progress has been steady in the last two months. With the water tanks safely mounted into the roof space over the toilet area, work started in replacing the original toilet door frames and new panelling cut to size for the toilet walls.
Once the toilet walls were in place the corridor and vestibule flooring along with the toilet floors could be fitted. We no longer had to walk the plank over the gaps.

Work commenced on fitting the water feed pipes to the tanks and checking with the plans as to where they ran.

At the north end five of the six teak panels have now been fitted and the sixth
is ready to fit. They are secured every four inches by brass screws along both
long edges. For the first fix we used Phillips headed screws to hold the panels
in place against the curve of the coach. Four of the five panels have had the
screws changed to slotted head brass screws.

The remaining north end side door has been removed as it will need quite a bit
of TLC, it has dropped by over half an inch. The east side toilet opening window
was removed to aid cleaning it and found to be beyond repair, so a new one
will need fabricating.

Work has now commenced on the sanding and preparation of the frame on
the east side ready for panelling. 6 teak panels have been extracted from the
store and one has been cut to size ready to begin sanding, shellac sizing and
varnishing.

A short update on the 2 LNER Beavertails.

1719 went on hire to the Strathspey railway once its overhaul was completed last year It had a successful season running around 8,000 miles last year and then spent the winter in covered storage. The preseason check found 1 spring had slipped but this was soon fixed and the coach is now back in regular use.

1729 went into storage at the one;one facility in Margate and was behind Bittern, but could not be viewed. Bittern has now been moved and 1729 is being/has been moved into the public display area, where it should be for a few years

Another great result for our funds, with another £4369.40 (Including added on donations) towards our small group’s  restoration work, We could not function without your continued support, which now totals £68218 over the 25 years of raffles. The terrific work that has been achieved is there for yourselves and our visitors to enjoy. Long may it continue.

           All of the winners should have received their cheques by now and are:-

1st Prize £250 29310 G Hefferman;
2nd £125 30884 J White;
3rd £100 44994 S Taylor;
4th £75 36811 J Hill;
10 x £10 prizes 35431 (D Fuszard) 36586 (P Stanbridge) 30573 (H Saunderson) 5733 (M Tyler}
25872 (R Barry} 44501 (C James} 30170 (J Heineman) 19786 (J Atherley) 17674 (M Davis)
16813 (Mrs J Ferguson).

TTO 23981

Components for the two corridor connectors of LNER TTO 23981 returned to Rothley following manufacture and renovation work.

TTO 23981