Memories of Blandford, the Somerset and Dorset Railway and the Railway Hotel will be shared by Mike Beale at the Last Friday talk hosted by Blandford Town Museum at the Parish Centre in the Tabernacle.
Mike is a chartered civil engineer who worked for 20 years with British Rail and a further 13 as an international railway consultant. He has an interest in all aspects of industrial and transport heritage, particularly railways.
Until 2016, Mike was a trustee of the Somerset and Dorset (S&D) Railway Trust, an organisation of which he has been a member since 1974, and was chairman from 1985-91.
Although he now lives in Wiltshire, his family’s links to Blandford and the S&D span four generations.
His grandfather Thomas Victor Beale spent all his working life on the line, following in the footsteps of his own father who joined the S&D in 1880. Thomas Victor moved from Highbridge to Blandford in 1907, and in 1916 married Edith Pratt, whose parents Frederick and Elizabeth were the licensees of the Railway Hotel.
Mike’s father was born in Blandford but moved to Bath to join the S&D as a locomotive cleaner and fireman before realising his childhood ambition of becoming an engine driver. Mike, who was born in Bath, remembers with affection his visits to his grandparents in Blandford.
His talk will explore his family’s links with both the town of Blandford and the railway which served its transport needs for over 100 years and had a profound impact on its social history.
The talk is on Friday, April 29, starting at 6.30pm and admission is £5 for museum members, £8 for non-members. Drinks and home-made food will be available from 6.30pm, and the talk will start at 7.30pm.