I would have liked to attend this but, unfortunately, ...
Alas, I've been caught between a rock and a hard place too, and not able to attend. As the show's being run by Peter, Paul, Bob and Sarah for TransWilts, together with external experts who have been doing the technical and business case work, that's not really a problem though I would rather (from a purely personal point) have been in Trowbridge.
I understand we have a full house of signups and it should be a good day (but the odd late gatecrasher won't be turned away). Paul Johnson, chair of TransWilts and former chair of the Swindon and Wiltshire
LEP» is our strategic development lead (where I look after shorter term tactics like filling trains) and will be telling people of progress and issues for Wilton, Corsham and Royal Wootton Bassett proposed stations. Peter Blackburn, our Presdint, will be chairing the meeting and has long experience of the station development in Melksham (where he was involved long before I was) and Corsham. Our Bobm providing current service / situation updates for attendees, Sarah Trott on admin and keeping those three in order!
When we set up TransWilts to move to an appropriate service, the definition of "appropriate service" was a woolly one, and there was a range of options / opinions as to what would be appropriate. Although there was an expectation on failure in some quarters, there was also a serious question as to whether an appropriate service would be at a rather higher level than we in fact started with. With passenger numbers well above expectations, it's turned out that the current service level was sufficient to generate interest and success of the trial, to the extent that there's a requirement to move onwards to satisfy additional demand, and indeed to forecast future demand including new stations in Wiltshire. The Wilton case has progressed well, and Paul and I noted how much in line that case is with Peter Hendy's philosophy for development when we had a chance to meet him the other week, and to welcome Paul Maynard, the rail minister, on a special train that stopped at the site.
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