Great Western Coffee Shop

Last September, we brought you the rail minister as our keynote speaker.  This April, we've just had an offer to speak accepted by a very different, but again very high profile, guest.   If you're concerned with travel and transport in, around or through Wiltshire, this is one you won't want to miss.

Tease!  :P ;D

Katie Price?

Or Maybe a certain Ex Mp who has a fondness for Railways ?.

Pete Waterman?  (They should be so lucky.)

I like the ideas - but won't confirm, deny or hint further at this stage.

Why the secrecy?

Is the guest so special you are worried about over subscription? If it's someone genuinely interesting then we could be using biro in our diaries now, rather than pencil.

On the other hand, if its just another transient, er, here today, and if I may say so, gone tomorrow politician (apologies Sir Robin), then perhaps even the pencils need not be sharpened.

 :P

An excellent question, the answer to which would be - err - one of those further hints I said I wasn't giving, would it not?  ;D

Initial details will (I expect) first come through to friends at http://transwilts.org/tw/friends-area and to supporters at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?board=41.0 ... we have had discussions on venue capacity ... whether well founded concerns or not, I know not.

I think I've worked it out...............it's BNM isn't it? He's going to describe his recent experiences at the Paddington gateline via the medium of mime/contemporary dance?  :)

That explains why he was practising riding his unicycle backwards through a hoop of fire when I saw him the other day...

A meeting for representatives of travel and transport groups in Wiltshire and other interested bodies and individuals - linking up public transport people in the community so that we can learn, share goals and experiences, and co-ordinate approaches and targets.   Run every 6 months by TransWilts - http://www.transwilts.org

Red Lion Hotel, Milford Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 2AN (a 10 minute walk from the railway station, and many buses stop right outside!)

Arrival from 09:30 for coffee

10:00 - 11:20 Trains  (An insider's view on planning and operations;  Friends update; Strategy 2020)
11:20 - 12:00 Buses  (The future direction and shape of Wiltshire's bus network and community involvement)
12:00 - 12:30 Questions

12:30 - 13:30 Networking Lunch

13:30 - 15:00 "Question Time" with Christian Wolmar (http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk) and Nigel Harris (https://twitter.com/RAIL?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
... with an especial look at current and Community Rail matters

We're three months away from this meeting as I write, so the agenda / topics are provisional - there is a very great deal happening at present.  

We're just concluding the SW franchise responses, learning into the amended timescales detailed by Hendy and their implications, and on the TransWilts digesting the growth that's been so rapid but is now threatened with being capped due to lack of capacity on trains.  On the bus side, Wiltshire Council's public consultation is currently running - that will conclude at the start of April.  Significant changes are implemented on bus services in the Vale of Pewsey in about 2 weeks time, and we have learned in the last week that the "Hopper" which takes people from North and West Wilts to the Royal United Hospital will cease running at around the time of the meeting.

So .. the timings of the train and bus segments, and the 'question time' discussions are fairly well set, but the specific details within those sections will be set closer to the time.

16th April 2016 is the 50th anniversary of the last day of rail services on the line through Devizes, and the last day of service to stations between Chippenham and Trowbridge, including Melksham.  These closures were part of the "Beeching Axe" - commonly acknowledged to have gone too far, and indeed Melksham station re-opened in 1985 and is curently enjoying something of a resurgence.

Fifty years to the day after the last train called prior to closure, the TransWilts Forum will take place in Salisbury - in the morning we'll be updating you on present and future train and bus progress in Witshire, and in the afternoon we'll have "Question time" with Nigel Harris and Christian Wolmar - emminent national contributors on public transport (primarily rail) issues.

Entrance is free, but please let us know if you're coming so that we can have a rough idea of numbers

Event flyer: http://atrebatia.info/TWeventflyer0416_singleside.pdf

Last day of service - 16th April 1966
[img]http://www.wellho.net/pix/from717307.jpg[/img]

Recent picture - February 2016
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/new717307.jpg)

"Swindon to Salisbury rail return for ^14.40 - Find out How at the Forum event!"

So says the email I've just received about the TransWilts Forum in Salisbury on 16th April.

Would it not be better to tell Swindon folk about 'via Melksham' and the Warminster split before the event? Telling them afterward they could have saved ^16.60 may not go down too well!

The email requests an email to [secretary email address] to tell us if you are attending - to be acknowledged in turn by an individual confirmation of receipt which will include appropriate 'getting here' data.  What you have received is a short agenda and invite message.

Ahh I see. Glad to hear folk from Swindon/Chippenham will be given fare info before attending.   :)

Just a few days to go .. further details on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/1579316922389700/permalink/1595116207476438/

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/forumface20160416.jpg)

... agenda/text there as follows:


Coffee Shop members all very welcome indeed ... please send me a message or let me know in some other way if you're coming

Thanks, grahame, but unfortunately I'm working this Saturday.

I'd have loved to be there, though, to hear and see more about the proposed Melksham extension!  :o :D ;D

We understand that Nigel Harris has been admitted to hospital - "Nothing Life Threatenting" - and we wish him a speedy recovery. Rather than postpone the event at the 59th minutes of the 11th hour, Question time will continue with Christial Wolmar and Paul Johnson - former chair of the Westinghouse / Knorr Bremse, of the Rail Industry association and on the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). Paul's chair of the TransWilts CIC and will be telling you earlier in the day about progress at Wilton and Corsham, and other TransWilts projects he's leading on.