Painting above show The Manor House in 1951 under renovation, before becoming used by Solihull clubs including Solihull Model Railway.

Club Officers

President

The only recorded instance we have found of a club President is in Model Railway Constructor of December 1951 and is R.W. Mewett of Solihull, who was also the founder member.

Chairman

From minutes of a committee meeting of 1979, the first known recorded Chairman was the late Keith Meldrum of Shirley from at the latest 29th October 1979 to approximately April 1981. John L. P. Ross of Hall Green was then the Chairman until 20th April 1993. He was followed by Robin Thomas of Solihull, who was replaced by Jim Holloway of Shirley on 14th September 1993. Jim was succeeded by Alan Rumney of Solihull on 31st March 1998. Ray Savory of Sheldon took over on 12th April 2002, followed by current Chairman at the time of writing, Robert Reynolds of Shirley on 13th April 2004.

Vice Chairman

This post was created to assist the Chairman and the first holder was Alan Rumney of Solihull from 5th April 1988 to 31st March 1998. He was replaced by John L. P. Ross of Hall Green who is still the Vice Chairman at the time of writing.

Treasurer

The earliest known Treasurer was John Woollaston, then of Hall Green, who held the post from at latest 29th October 1979 and had been succeeded by Cyril Jewkes of Shirley around 1980, but certainly by 16th April 1985. Mike Pidgeon of Solihull took over on 7th April 1987. Jim Holloway of Shirley was then Treasurer from 20th April 1993 until the time of writing, with a short break for John Russell of Solihull to be Treasurer from 14th September 1993 to 28th September 1993.

Secretary

This post is by far the best recorded one as the Secretary is nearly always included as a contact in Club Registers in model railway magazines. The first Secretary appears to have been R. Smith of Solihull, from the formation of the club around November 1951 until between December 1952 and July 1953. From around this time a P.M. Downes of Olton was the Secretary. There is more research to be done after this date, but we have found the names of the Secretaries for the following dates:

R.W. Mewett of Earlswood July 1965
R.M. Wyatt of Major's Green December 1968
L.W. Stibbs of Perry Barr February 1970, late 1971
D.A. Brewer of Harborne December 1976
L.W. Stibbs of Perry Barr July 1979
Keith Meldrum of Shirley at latest 29th October 1979

The minutes of our Annual General Meetings are available from 1985 and these show that John Wollaston, then of Hall Green, was the Secretary from at latest 16th April 1985 until 5th April 1988. He was replaced by John A. A. Farrell of Solihull, who was in turn replaced by John t of Solihull on 24th April 1990, in place at the time of writing.

JT.