Great Western Coffee Shop

Melksham Food and River Festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today (31st August) and tomorrow (1st September) in King George V Park which is 100 yards from the High Street, 10 minute walk from the station.   I will be supporting Melksham Town Council / on their stand, with the Melksham Environment Group and the Friends of Melksham Assembly Hall as well as with my Town Councillor hat on.

Not really a transport event ... except that MEG will be promoting travel by bus or train being more sustainable than private car and we have supplies of leaflets with.a printed train timetable. Yes, I know that GWR and TransWilts have moved on from printed timetables, but here in Melksham we are behind the times and find there is still a call for such documents here.  Faresaver (bus) have not taken the same view, and indeed have provided me with a stock of printed timetables, including the much improved Sunday service that starts tomorrow to Devizes and Bath.

This year, with the closure of Cooper Tires across the river from the festival site, their big works car park is no longer available for the weekend, and there is concern at car parking capacity in the town.  Rather disappointingly the publicity associated with that has failed to suggest people might choose to use the bus, and (indeed) the station car park which should have plenty of capacity and is not reserved just for rail users

For anyone who happens to be in Melksham, come along and see me and the MEG team. But it's not really to reach users here - it's to reach that big wedge of people who still don't know about local public transport.