The tenth anniversary LittleLEC was held at the Guildford Model Engineering Societies track at Stoke Park over the weekend of 24th & 25th June 2017. You can see all the pictures below.
The weather was kind to us and a real fun time was had by all who attended. The competition was won this year by Bill Roebuck from the Swansea society driving his 3½” Mona. With a good load Bill managed to complete 6 laps of the track with an efficiency of 0.454%, calculated by using the original track diagram prepared by Peter Langridge for the first LittleLEC held there ten years ago.
In second place was Craig Weatherley also driving a Mona and achieving an efficiency of 0.320%. Third was Guildford’s Paul Tompkins driving a specially adapted 5” gauge Railmotor named “Lightfoot” with 0.314% efficiency.
It was a joy to see so many youngsters taking part, both Paul Tompkins’ children and Les Pritchard’s grandson had spirited runs under the guidance of their mentors and they will we are sure be strong contenders at future competitions.
One of the highlights of the weekend was the attendance of Peter Langridge the founder of LittleLEC. Peter was in the rehabilitation ward at Farnham Hospital but his family obtained permission for him to come for a few hours albeit in a wheelchair.
Peter shown here with his family, including son Roy and grandson Scott competing on their Titch's (built by Peter).
We know Peter enjoyed himself and to continue with the organisation and promotional work that he dedicated so much time to, Guildford MES has agreed to take over the guardianship of the event to ensure that LittleLEC continues. Therefore, we are actively looking for model engineering societies who would be prepared to hold the event in the future. Any society interested can contact us at: littlelec@gmes.org.uk.
We are pleased to announce that the venue for the 2018 event is on the south coast at the Worthing Society’s track. It is to be held over the weekend of 16th & 17th June and unlike Guildford they can accommodate 2½” locomotives in addition to the usual 3½” & 5” types. Anyone wishing to participate can contact the society at: secretary.wdsme@gmail.com.