A bridge too far?
By Pete Wood • Published on Wednesday 2 October 2013, 2:42pm
Greetings one and all,
I have received a plea for help via one of our esteemed members, for a bridge model to be used in a TV advert. If anyone is willing and able to assist at all, the contact details can be found below.
The letter reads as follows:
My name is Ashling Johnson and I'm a set designer for TV commercials. I am currently working on a Unilever ad and in one of our shots we need a Meccano bridge (not too big) something that would be able to fit on a kitchen table about 2/3 feet high by 3/4 feet in length. I'm not sure if you can help me but this is quite specialist obviously and I've been trawling the internet to find something we can use that an existing person may have made or we buy up some old stock and buy it and make it and then donate it back to whomever would be interested.
Perhaps you can help.
Ashling Johnson
If anyone is able to help in any way, please contact either Andrew Luckham at flangebracket50@yahoo.co.uk or Ashling Johnson, at ashlingart@mac.com
Many thanks,
Pete Wood
Request for correspondence
By Pete Wood • Published on Monday 9 September 2013, 5:41pm
Hi all,
I received this letter from a student who's doing a Masters degree in History, with Meccano being the main theme. Please read and respond if you are able to assist him in any way...
Dear Mr Wood
I am a postgraduate student currently reading for my Masters degree in History of Design at the Royal College of Art in London. My dissertation is concerned with the design of boyhood in the mid twentieth century and I am using Meccano and Meccano Magazine as my central case study. I am contacting you to enquire whether any of the members of the Runnymede Meccano Guild would be interested in sharing their personal experiences of Meccano and any recollections that they might have of Meccano Magazine. I am particularly interested in hearing from those who were constructing with Meccano in the 1940s or 1950s and those who read or subscribed to Meccano Magazine in those decades. any of your members would be interested in talking to me or corresponding with me please let me know.
I am happy to communicate via email, regular mail, in person or over the phone - whichever is more convenient.
Yours sincerely
Nick Petters
Nicholas Petters
MA History of Design
Royal College of Art / Victoria & Albert Museum
nicholas.petters@network.rca.ac.uk
New website gallery
By Tim Surtell • Published on Thursday 11 July 2013, 1:58pm
The Runnymede Meccano Guild now has a website gallery where you will find photos and videos from our meetings and also, as time goes by, more in-depth information on specific models written by our members:
https://runnymedemeccanoguild.org.uk/gallery
If you are a guild member, you can now log into our website and add your models to the gallery – all you need to do is request access from Tim Surtell at tim.surtell@runnymedemeccanoguild.org.uk
Update for volunteers needed
By Pete Wood • Published on Thursday 16 May 2013, 12:47pm
To all Guild members,
Thank you for a terrific response to my plea for help! We now have enough volunteers for the morning set up at the June meeting, though so far only one for the afternoon. If you are able to stay back, please let me know, the more we have the quicker we can get away.
Many thanks indeed folks.
All the best,
Pete
Volunteers needed
By Pete Wood • Published on Monday 13 May 2013, 5:22pm
To all Guild members,
In anticipation of the June meeting, I am looking for some willing and able volunteers to assist in setting up the tables before the models start to appear.
I need at least 4 helpers to arrive at 10:30am for setting up, and 4 helpers to stay until around 6:30pm for setting down, but the more the merrier!
You don’t need to be there for both jobs, but if you can do one or the other, or both, please let me know as soon as possible?
I’m asking everyone, but of course if you live half way across the country I won’t be offended if you say no! I am hoping that the majority of local members would be able to assist?
Here is what is required …
Most of the wooden trestle tables are stored in a shed 50 yards from the lobby, and we need some people to relay them across the grass, and then others to take them into the hall, particularly if the ground is wet, so we don’t bring mud into the building.
With luck, this shouldn’t be as much of a problem in June as it was for our first meeting, but either way, it’s a job that requires several people to do in good time.
The table layout will be shown on a board in the entrance, along with allocated table space for models.
Models will not be permitted until 12 noon, unless we can get set up before then, including laying the cloths and cables.
This will give us a fighting chance to make any necessary adjustments.
At the end of the day, in good "Haynes Manual" parlance, dissembly is a reversal of the procedure! J
I look forward to your responses,
Regards
Pete
All New Runnymede Shield
By Pete Wood • Published on Friday 3 May 2013, 5:42pm
Hi folks,
Traditionally, the June meeting has always hosted the Bill Roberts Memorial Trophy competition, in honour of the late Bill Roberts, a highly respected former Guild member.
This has been running since 1987 and it has been decided that the time has come to leave Bill in peace, and refresh this event for future meetings, starting from June 1st 2013.
The Bill Roberts trophy has been replaced with a brand new award, named the "Runnymede Shield", which sports a fresh new all-Meccano logo as its centre-piece, made from genuine parts, highly polished to a dazzling sheen!
This award will be unveiled in all its glory on 1st June.
The format for the competition will follow the same rules and regulations as we had previously, and the winner will be presented with the Shield for their safe-keeping until the following years event, when it must be returned.
They will also be presented with a special commemorative certificate, which is theirs to keep.
The rules for the competition will be included with the meeting reminders when they are issued in the next week or two, but remember to notify the secretary of your intention to enter the competition, and include details of the model you are entering.
With compliments,
Pete Wood
New website subscriptions service
By Tim Surtell • Published on Monday 22 April 2013, 2:05pm
The Runnymede Meccano Guild website has introduced a new subscriptions service, allowing visitors and members to receive an e-mail whenever new content is added.
If you ordered your membership online, you have been automatically subscribed and should be reading this in your e-mail inbox!
If you'd rather not be subscribed, or would like to choose what you are subscribed to (news items, articles and/or events), just click on the link at the foot of this e-mail.