Members' Area

For More Information

about the Great Western Society, its Board, policies, procedures and operation see also:

The Great Western Society

GWS Annual General Meeting 2025

The 2025 Annual General Meeting will be held at The Main Hall, Didcot Civic Hall, Britwell Road, Didcot OX11 7HN on Saturday 11 October 2025 at 2pm. Tea and coffee will be available from 1.30 pm.

The meeting will be in person only. Members not attending in person should avail themselves of proxy voting form (see below).

Available to download are:

The Annual Report and summary accounts (.6Mb .pdf file)
The Full Accounts (440kb .pdf file)
Proxy form (130kb .pdf file).

At the conclusion of the AGM there will be a talk by Simon Townsend, our Museum Mentor, and an Informal Meeting of members. This is a general discussion between the Board, representatives of the Great Western Trust, Great Western Preservations Limited and the Society membership attending. There will be time available for questions or comments about any Society function.

To walk to the Civic Hall from Didcot Parkway station, cross the road at the crossing and turn right. At the road junction turn left up Haydon Road (Julians car park will be on your left). When you get to the crossroads, turn right onto Lydalls Road. Continue along Lydalls Road until the road bends down to the right. Don’t take that bend, but instead turn left (almost straight on) onto Lydalls Close. Continue and take the bend left onto Britwell Road. Walk past the park on the right-hand side until you reach the Civic Hall at the top of the road on the right. The entrance is on the left-hand side of the building. The walk takes about 11 minutes

The X34 or X35 bus from Stop R4 outside Didcot Parkway station takes you to the top of Haydon Road (Stop H1). Having got off the bus, turn right onto the Broadway, walk past the fire station and the Civic Hall will be reached in about 5 minutes just after the pedestrian crossing. Bus departure times are 13:05 (X35) and 13:20 (X34).

Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting

Saturday 7^th June 2025, commencing at 4 pm.

Public Refreshment Room, Didcot Railway Centre, Didcot OX11 7NJ

We have been undertaking a review of the governing document for the Great Western Society. An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) has been called to seek approval for a resolution to adopt the revised Articles of Association. A booklet with the details is available.

Update: the Resolution was passed at the EGM and the Articles of Association are now in force.

Great Western Trust Digital Archive

The Great Western Trust has now scanned:

The Charles R Gordon Stewart Ticket Collection
Great Western Railway Magazine (1862-1949)
British Railways Magazine (1950-1962)
Western Region Magazine (1963 -
Western Rail News
WW1 Roll of Honour

Members are most welcome to browse their website at: https://www.greatwesterntrust.org.uk

Renewing your membership

Buy Renewals online

We usually send a renewal notice out to members towards the end of the month when the renewal is due. This will be sent by post unless we have your email address. If you haven’t already registered your email address for Membership matters, you can do that here (See below).

You can renew your membership online but we also welcome cheques by post or payments via internet banking using the bank account details on your renewal notice. If you renew early, your new membership year will start the day after the expiry date.

If we haven’t heard from you, we will send you a reminder notice by post. Three months after the expiry of your membership, your membership will be terminated in accordance with the Society’s Memorandum and Articles of Association.

Our membership rates increased from 1 October 2022. However, if you pay your subscription by Direct Debit (not by standing order), the rate will not be increased. If you wish to set up a Direct Debit, please download the Direct Debit Form or use the form enclosed with Echo number 238. The Reference, bottom left of the form, is GWS, followed by your membership number and then your surname (or as many letters as will fit). It is important that this is completed because the form does not include your home address. The form should be returned at least three weeks before your membership renewal date (preferably earlier) to:

Membership Secretary
Great Western Society
Didcot Railway Centre
Didcot
Oxon OX11 7NJ

Please note that we no longer offer a reduced membership rate for new members who are over 60 years of age. This is consistent with many other organisations. From 1 October 2022, we also withdrew the option to move to over 60 membership for existing members. If you were already paying the reduced rate on 1 October 2022, we will continue to offer that membership class to you.

Contacting the Membership Team

Membership is run by a small group of volunteers. You can email us using membership@didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk, or write to us at the Didcot address. If you wish to telephone, please call 01235 817200 on a Tuesday or Friday between 10 am and 3 pm. Ask to be put through to the Membership Team.

If you change your mailing or email address

Please email or write to us with any changes to your contact details.

DRC - Opening and Events Updates

For most events members don't need to book and can just show their membership card at the ticket office.

PREMIUM SPECIAL EVENTS: We sometimes ask members to book and occasionally pay a modest fee to attend premium events as the costs of steaming three locomotives or more are significant.

May we have your e-mail address?

To help us upgrade the Membership system and improve communications, we're asking members to advise us of their e-mail address so we can add it to your membership record

Members - Please Submit Your E-mail Address