Christmas Memory Tree
Thanks to all of you who supported our Christmas Memory Tree. We raised £740 which was split equally between our current appeal and Macmillan Cancer Support. The tree looked amazing with hundreds of memories tied to it!
Garden Railway and Crazy Golf
Weather permitting our Garden Railway will be open everyday during the school half-term, between 10am and 4pm, from the 15th to 23rd of February. Visitors of all ages may drive a loco (£1.50 for 5 minutes). Our Crazy Golf course will also be open from Monday to Friday of the half term week (17th to the 21st).
Granite’s Shack will also be open for half term from the 17th to the 21st and we are pleased to say that Granite’s Shack now accepts payment by card! This means you can pay for refreshments, Crazy Golf and the Garden Railway by card when the shack is open!
We hope to see you at some point over the half term week to enjoy all that is going on here at the Heritage Centre!
Railway Museum Development
Thank you very much to those of you who donated to our Railway Museum appeal last year! Thanks to your support our volunteers have been working hard and we now have timber walkways and ramps giving visitors access to the inside of some of our exhibits! You’ll be able to use these walkways to enter the Mountsorrel Granite Wagon, which will be set out ready for the Sunday School outings which used to run in the early 20th century. Inside the brake van our mannequin guard will explain the role of a guard in the 1920’s via an audio presentation.
Designs for new interpretation boards for the exhibits are also well advanced and thanks to all this work we have been able to secure another locomotive for display in the museum.
Quarry Bottom Appeal
Our current appeal aims to extend the narrow gauge railway and to open up additional visitor access to the bottom of the old quarry.
So far £3,600 has been raised towards our £5,200 target! This has allowed us to buy and lay the narrow gauge track and work is well advanced. As fund raising continues volunteers will be able to complete the new path around the quarry bottom from the back of the Railway Museum, rejoining the current path network via a new level crossing over the standard gauge sidings next to the water crane. This will provide a new circular path with opportunities for additional displays and things for you to see and do.
Our ongoing work to improve the site is only possible with your continued support so if you haven’t donated to our current appeal you can donate by either cheque or via bank transfer, any amount large or small is greatly appreciated. Please make your cheque payable to “MARCH” (Mountsorrel And Rothley Community Heritage Centre) and send to Mountsorrel And Rothley Community Heritage Centre, 240 Swithland Lane, Rothley, Leicester, LE7 7UE. If you would like to donate via bank transfer please email our fund raising volunteer Malcolm, full details can be found on our how to donate page.
Train Days
The first train running day of 2020 is the 22nd March!
This year trains will be running to the Heritage Centre on:
- Sunday 22nd March
- Thursday 9th April
- Sunday 26th April
- Thursday 28th May
- Sunday 28th June
- Thursday 30th July
- Thursday 13th August
- Sunday 30th August
- Sunday 27th September
- Sunday 25th October
With interesting twists and turns of the line there is much to see from the carriage window, including Swithland Reservior, Bradgate Park, Beacon Hill and the Great Central Railway main line. The return trip takes about 25 minutes. You can take a trip on a Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) taking a circular route stopping at Quorn, Nunckley Hill, Rothley and then back to Quorn.
Wood Chip
Our volunteers are hard at work re-covering our nature trails in wood chip again! It takes a lot of wood chip to keep the ¾ mile of nature trails covered, and we rely entirely on donations of wood chip from local tree surgeons. If any of you knows a tree surgeon or is having any work done at home by a tree surgeon, please ask them to donate the chippings and drop them off at the Heritage Centre. Please note that chippings need to be woody and not have leaves or conifer cuttings. We would be most grateful of any donations they could provide.
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