History of the Society & Awards
Dr. Brian Rogers - Our Founder
7.1/4 AGM Brussels
7.1/4 AGM Leyland
Brian Reading Award
Junior Trophy
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
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
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
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
