History of the Society & Awards

History of the Society

The 7 ¼” Gauge Society was the brain child of our late President and once Chairman, Dr Brian Rogers (1973/74), who in March 1973 placed an advert in the “Model Engineer” magazine, looking for enthusiasts to attend a proposed meeting, which eventually took place in West House School, Edgbaston, Birmingham with the aim of forming a Society to encompass all things 7 ¼” and 7 ½” gauge.

The meeting was attended by around 35 people and many joined at the meeting with several more soon afterwards. The Society held its first AGM in 1974, at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire, the site of the original Echills Wood Railway. Subsequent AGMs have been held in a wide variety of places including Northern Ireland and Belgium (see list, below).

There have been many notable people from within the miniature railway field involved with the Society besides Brian Rogers our founder, such as Alan Pratt, Robin Butterell and Charles Simpson, the latter giving his name to an annual prize that is awarded to the person deemed to have done most to “further the aims of the Society” during the previous year(s). That person is nominated by the membership and the final decision is taken by the Committee. (See list of recipients, below) In some years an extra award was made for people from outside the UK, which remains the main base of the Society and occasionally there have been two winners in a single year.

The Society mainstay, its prestigious full-colour magazine, started out as a Xerox-ed News Letter, and didn’t take on its current highly polished finish till some time later. It is now sent out to members in more than 25 different counties around the world. In itself it is a potted history of the Society and all the back numbers are archived and available to be viewed on this site by members.

List of previous A.G.M Venues.

1975 Stockton Park

1976 Porters Hill

1977 Malden MES

1978 Knott End

1979 Betws-y-Coed

1980 Walsall

1981 Hemsby

1982 Runcorn

1983 Echills Wood

1984 Beer

1985 East Herts

1986 Runcorn

1987 Hemsby

1988 Moors Valley

1989 Weston Park, Shops.

1990 Millerbeck

1991 Echills Wood

1992 Beale (Pangbourne)

1993 Ruswarp

1994 Betws-y-Coed

1995 Frimley & Ascot

1996 Comrie

1997 Bentley Park, Sussex

1998 Sutton Coldfield

1999 Drumawhey

2000 Weston Park

2001 Beer

2002 Comrie

2003 Frimley Lodge

2004 Hereford

2005 Millerbeck

2006 Betws-y-coed

2007 P.T.V.F. Brussels

2008 Comrie

2009 Leyland

2010 Echills Wood, Kingsbury.

2011 North Wilts MES Swindon

2012 Woking Miniature Railway Society, Mizens.

2013 Teesside Small Gauge Railway, Stockton-on-Tees.

2014 East Somerset Society of Model Engineers, Shepton Mallet

2015 Hereford Society of Model Engineers, Broomy Hill

2016 Pecorama, Devon.

2017 Burnley and Pendle Miniature Railway Society, Burnley

2018 Scottish Model Engineering Trust - Perth

2019 Newport Model Engineering Society, Wales

2020 AGM held virtually due to Covid

2021 Echills Wood, Kingsbury

2022 Echills Wood, Kingsbury

2023 Bedford Model Engineering Society

2024 Rainsbrook Valley Railway, Rugby.

Charles Simpson Awards

This annual award is given to a person/s who have been nominated by members who they consider have contributed the most to further the aims of the society. (A recipient can only receive the award once)

1981 Dennis Evans.

1982 Steve Reed.

1983 Derek Burwell.

1984 Don Witheridge.

1985 George and Frank Smith.

1986 John Goulden.

1987 Leo and Bonnie Whisstock. Jean Villette (overseas).

1988 Len Hough. John Hagan (overseas).

1989 Fred Beacham. Luc Tennstedt (overseas).

1990 Geoff Nicholson. Bep Blom (overseas).

1991 John Dabson. Clint Ensworth (overseas).

1992 Arthur Bailey and Jim Haylock.

1993 Ron Green and Bob Smith.

1994 Brett Rogers.

1995 Colin Cartwright.

1996 Robin Butterell.

1997 No nominations.

1998 Dick Stockings and Larry Jones.

1999 David Tedford

2000 David Holroyde

2001 Mrs Anne Hazlewood

2002 Alan Westby

2003 John Milner

2004 Frank Sidebottom

2005 Ivan Smith

2006 Tony Gosling and Arthur Bezeck

2007 Claude Magdelyns

2008 Nigel Musson and Derek Payne

2009 Gareth Jenkins

2010 Jeff Stevens

2011 Rex Mounfield

2012 Mark Sharphouse

2013 Simon Hazlewood

2014 Robert Smith

2015 Colin Edmondson

2016 Anthony Siddall and Chris Baker (overseas)

2017 Mike Bailey

2018 Jeff Fox

2019 Mathew Rainer

2020 Not awarded

2021 Not awarded

2022 Antony Knowles
2023 Terry Robinson

2024 Tim Morton Jones

The Brian Reading Award First awarded 2010

This annual award is to recognise excellent model engineering skills and is given for the best model brought to an AGM.

2010 Don Ketley

2011 Cyril Chandler

2012 Paul Edmonds

2013 Derek Brown

2014 Gerry Clarke

2015 John Green

2016 Colin Edmondson

2017 Adrian Hinchcliffe

2018 Gordon Roberts

2019 Ian Dixon

2020 Not awarded

2021 Simon Mulford

2022 John Cross

2023 Frank Lewis

2024 John Dalton

The Junior Trophy First awarded 2012

The idea for this prestigious award came from one of our founder members William Heller (Member No 4) who, most probably, was the youngest of the original enthusiastic group who founded our Society.

The handsome Trophy, together with a scroll, is awarded annually to a junior member who during the year has made a significant contribution to further the aims of our Society.

2012 Alex Webb

2013 Saffy Hickson-Marshall

2014 No nomination

2015 Tom Moody & James Newby

2016 Not Awarded

2017 Ian Manning

2018 No nomination

2019 Robert Woolsey

2020 Not awarded

2021 Not awarded

2022 Not awarded

2023 James Harrison