Strictly champion opens new model railway extension
260 METRES OF TRACK ADDED TO WINDMILL CIRCUIT
STRICTLY champion Joanne Clifton made a quickstep to officially open the new Waltham Windmill model railway extension.
The winner of the Strictly Come Dancing championship in 2016 with Ore Oduba told, as she cut the ribbon to open the extension, she had long admired the railway since a little girl growing up in Waltham.
The 38-year-old star was the toast of Grimsby and Cleethorpes Model Engineering Society, which has added 260 metres of track taking the circuit to just over a quarter of a mile.
It was a project suggested by chairman of the track extension sub-committee, (Tesco), Barry Green.
He and other officers from the society welcomed Joanne and her family to the track side where she cut the ribbon.
She said: “Ever since I was a threeyear-old girl looking out of my bedroom window at the windmill, it has been a special place and everytime I come back we go for a walk here.”
She added: “We thanked the Grimsby and Cleethorpes Model Engineering Society for their years and years of hard work. It is a wonderful railway and is helping aspiring engineers of the future to get gets into the world of engineering.”
Chairman of the the track extension committee, Barry Green said: “It is a dream come true. When I first suggested the idea of a track extension at a club meeting around 10 years ago, it is fair to say it did not attract 100 per cent support and I seriously wondered if I had opened my mouth once too often.
“Many doubts were cast on the viability of such a plan, particularly in view of the 6ft difference in the level of our existing site and the ground beyond the trees where the bulk of the extension was planned.”
He told how ABP had supported with a £5,000 grant and Siemens gave £1,000. Grimsby firm Brian Plant also gave £5,000 and transported tonnes of soil to bring the track level to the same as the station. Barry said Chris Carr, of Carr&Carr builders, gave their time to make the project a reality.
Barry thanked all the supporters who visit the track every Sunday from April to the end of October and on special occasions. He added: “I do hope you feel that my dream was worth waiting for and that thousands of you, in the local and wider community, will enjoy it for years to come.”