30 people attended a visual talk at Measham Leisure Centre on The Great Central Railway, whose current aim is to reconnect two halves of the GCR and join them to Network Rail. The speaker illustrated many of the engineering challenges faced by the project, which included replacing a bridge across the Soar Navigation at Loughborough. If you wish to support the GCR please click on the following link: www.gcrailway.co.uk/unify

Before the talk, Michael Griffin, an ACA member and Vice Chairman of the Midland Branch of the Association of Waterway Cruising Clubs, gave the ACA an award for Spout, which has been voted the Best Club Newsletter/Magazine for 2022. It falls upon the ACA as the recipients to be on the judging panel to select next year’s winners. Chairman, Peter Oakden, and Spout Editor, Arran Jenkins, were presented with the award and a commemorative plaque. Our thanks also go to John Roddis, as the previous long-standing editor of Spout magazine.