Happy First Birthday to the Friends of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The following information gives the progress which has been made by the Friends during the year: 1. Seven very productive meetings of the Friends and the Annual General Meeting have been held this year. The next meeting will be held on the 3rd November. 2. The Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Committee were elected at the Annual General Meeting. Officers and committee consists of people from County Durham, Darlington, Stockton on Tees and the Tees Valley. 3. The Rt. Hon. Lord Foster of Bishop Auckland, P.C., DL., graciiously consented to be the President of the Friends 4. The Friends have received help and support from two eminent archaeologists. 5. The vision, aims and objectives of the Friends have been agreed. 6. The constitution has been agreed. 7. The Friends Business Plan which described how the vision, aims and objectives of the Friends will be carried out has been agreed and sent to all parties. An update is being produced. The business plan includes the project plan which gives details of how the work will develop towards achieving the goals the Friends have set for themselves. The project plans consists of the developing the group, defining the route of the 1825 line, ownership of the 1825 line, the 1825 line structures, publicity, accurate historical data and recognition, on going care and maintenance, access and interpretation, the Conservation Management Plan, events and grant applications and funding. 8. The commitment of Members of Parliament whose constituencies are on the route of the 1825 line has been secured. 9. Durham County Council, Darlington Borough Council and Stockton on Tees Borough Council and the town and Parish Councils along the route have given their support to the work of the Friends and working links have been formed 10, Working links have also been formed with the Brussleton Incline Group, The River Wear Conservation Trust, Sustrans, the Bishop Line, Locomotion at Shildon and the Weardale Railway. Working links are being developed with Network Rail and the Beamish Museum. 11. The 1825 line has been mapped, clearly identified and verified as accurate by the Archaeology Section of Durham County Council and Tees Archaeology and academics specialising in industrial history. The map has been put onto Google Earth with the buildings and structures along the line inserted. 12. Walks along the line have been held in from the Eastern Transport Corridor in Darlington to Oak Tree in Middleton St. George and from Shildon to West Auckland via the Brussleton Incline. The walk from the Shildon to West Auckland took place on the 189th anniversary of the opening of the S & D Railway. 13. Six articles about the work of the Friends have appeared in the Northern Echo and a report has appeared in the national Heritage Railway magazine, 14. Representations have been made by the Friends to Darlington Borough Council about a proposed major housing development in east Darlington which will use the trackbed of the 1825 line for an access road. 15. A Facebook page was established in early October 2013 and now has 122 members. Within hours of it being established messages of support was coming in from the USA, France, Germany and the UK. There was one from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA where the Wright Brothers made the first airplane flight in 1903 suggesting a link. 16. The Friends have a website which is friendsofthestocktonanddarlingtonrailway.webs/ 17. Talks about the work of the Friends have was given to the Darlington Railway Heritage Group, residents of Middleton Hall Retirement Village and Egglescliffe Parish Council. 18. The next meeting of the Friends on the 3rd November will take forward the Conservation Management Plan for the 1825 line and making an application for funding. 19. Work has started on a Conference in June next year to raise the profile of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and bring key players in to take the project forward.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 09:07:42 +0000
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