Our Club Rooms
The
Redditch Model Railway Club was formed on
Thursday 1st June 1967 at the White Hart
Public House in Headless Cross,
Redditch. Since then the Club has had four
homes:
The first club room
This
large double garage at the rear of the Co-op
store in Evesham Street in Redditch town
centre was the first home of Redditch Model
Railway Club from 1st June 1967 until around
18th August 1970. The building was around
18ft x 12ft and had one sky light. It was
located under what is now part of the
Kingfisher Shopping Centre and is about
where the stock room is of the former "Next" store
between the Waterstones Book Shop and Coffee1 in the present shopping centre.
The second club room
Due
to redevelopment of the town centre by the
Redditch Development Corporation the Club
had to move from it's first home. Following
agreement with the Trustees of the Smallwood
Alms House the Club relocated to an attic
room in their building in Smallwood from
18th August 1970. The room which was around
36ft by 25ft was located above the central
function room in the building. One of the
two windows in the room is shown in the
picture to the left between the name of
building. This base provided stability for
the Club and was home for the 27 years. Due
to redevelopment of the building the Club
moved out on 28th February 1997.
The third club room
From 28th
February 1997 the Club moved to Park
House (150 Evesham Street) which at the
time was leased by the Women's Royal
Voluntary Service (WRVS) from Redditch
Borough Council mainly for the provision
of the town's meals on wheels service.
The Club made use of a number of rooms
within the building. There was a change
in landlord in 2000 when the WVRS
re-located. The building had suffered
from a lack of any real maintenance for
many years and in early 2006 the Council
finally decided the building was
uneconomic to keep and repair. The
Council decided to demolish the building
which was finally approved at a meeting
of the Council on Monday 23rd October
2006. Redditch Model Railway Club
continued to use the building until
Tuesday 27th June 2006 when we moved to
our fourth home. Park House was
demolished during August and September
2007.
After many years of being a vacant plot of land
developers started the construction of a mix use
development of shops and apartments on the site at
the end of February 2016. However before much
construction took place the site was put up
for sale by the developer. Following a sale
of the site the plans for the new building
were changed so that the development only
includes apartments. On competition the new
building has been called Bonham House.
The forth club room
On
Tuesday 27th June 2006 the Club moved into it's fourth
home which is contained within this much larger
industrial unit on one of the Industrial Estates in
Redditch.
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