January letter

Dear everyone.
A model making shop in Nottingham is closing down, not due to lack of trade, but simply changed circumstances. It has been very busy over the last few weeks, especially with model train enthusiasts who have found all kinds of bargains there as a result of the clearance sale.
Many of the customers are middle-aged and older men for whom model railways is a fascinating hobby. It’s all tied up with the earlier age of steam, trainspotting, steam locomotives thundering through our local stations, and the excitement of a steam train taking some of us on our holidays.
Steam locomotives are to be found in railway museums, and many men especially give a great deal of their leisure time in restoring them, and yet others enjoy being engine drivers for steam preservation railways and fulfilling other roles.
The age of steam also reminds many of us of a time when it was still a way for people to travel out of their local communities and explore new ground. Cars coaches, aircraft and holiday cruisers have taken over much of this role since.
Model steam railway engines and preservation societies have created a healthy kind of looking back, but there are many other forms of looking back that are simply a kind of nostalgia where there is an unwillingness to change. Such attitudes can have a negative effect on our personalities.
My prayer is that we may all appreciate things from past, live in the present and move forward into the future, because life is like a journey or even a pilgrimage where we have to move on, striving to achieve good objectives with a good end in view. Sydney Carter’s Hymn ‘One more step along the world I go,’ reminds us of this when he writes.
‘It’s from the Old I travel to the New, keep me travelling along with You.’
We all need to keep on moving and preparing for new experiences whatever age we may be.
My wish is that 2019 may be a progressive and happy year for us all.
Sincerely, David.

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