On Tuesday, I was invited to speak top the Coventry branch of the Gauge O Guild (CovGOG) about the current state of our hobby. I can't remember how this came about but I found myself in a church facing 22 railway modellers. They wouldn't let me use the pulpit but did supply a data projector so I couldn't complain too much.
My talk was entitled:
Model Railways
Where is our hobby now and where is it going?
I kicked off with a very short potted history of the hobby trying to spot some of the major turning points such as the appearance of Airfix GMR railways and Hornby's Merchant Navy.
After this we look at the publishing world and see how this has changed over the years. Again, it's brief, but important.
Finally, the contentious stuff. How do I see the hobby developing in the future?
Well, my feeling is that it will stratify into 4 sectors. These are deliberately set up to be discussion points and I was pleased that the audience were happy to have the debate. My big worry was that they would sit there like puddings but they didn't and it made for a great fun evening.
Many people are nervous of public speaking but after years of practise and not a little ego, I enjoy it. With a few different topics available, if there are any clubs out there looking for a speaker, please get in touch and we'll see if something can be sorted out.
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