Celebrating our Former Committee Members
On Thursday 13 June we celebrated a few hundred years’ of volunteering for the Friends. This event had been on the drawing board for several years, and finally we were able to invite 10 former Committee members for a lunch at Herriots Hotel, Skipton.
Former Committee members who attended included Edward Album, Mark Rand, Pat Rand, Margaret Hargreaves, Paul Kampen, Paul Levet, Colin Luckett, Rod Metcalfe, Martin Pearson and Rachel Pearson.
Jon Tomlinson, our Vice Chair, explained why the board decided to celebrate the achievements of our colleagues. “The volunteers attending this lunch provide a living link to the campaign to save the line from closure and the subsequent work to restore stations to their past glory and provide services to passengers. The plans now being developed and implemented – working closely with partners – follow on from the wonderful legacy we have inherited.”
Edward gave a brief talk of how the Friends were formed, the challenges they faced in the 80’s and also gave a few anecdotes on the government characters we had to persuade why the line was worth saving. He also brought along a copy of the letter confirming the saving of the line from the former government minister, railway celebrity and our President, Michael Portillo.
A small gift, which was individual to each person, was presented at the end of the meal.
Mark Chung, Damian Smith, Jill Tiernan and Jon Tomlinson attended on behalf of the current board.
