Teddy Bear Family Day at Bressingham

Meeting a large teddy bear

As each special event comes round at Bressingham, I am trying to attend as many as possible so that I can share some of what happens. Since I come with my family it gives me the opportunity to enjoy myself as well so that I can hopefully be more objective in my reporting.

Today's weather forecast threatened heavy showers, and as we arrived at 11:00 it had just started to rain. I always feel a little downhearted when going to any event when the weather is inclement. Anyone organising an outdoor event works incredibly hard to bring things together, and nothing must dash their spirits more than a rainy day. Just because it's not sunny and dry doesn't mean that any less effort has put into the planning and organisation beforehand.

No. 662 Martello

Whilst escaping the shower in Alastairs we could see plenty of black smoke rising from behind the locomotive sheds, and guessed that the standard gauge line was in operation today. This was shortly confirmed as mid-way through our first go on the Gallopers we saw the plume of smoke moving and Martello appeared at the level crossing.

Riding with the brakeman

With the rain now a light drizzle we headed to the standard gauge platform and were Martello's first passengers of the day. Brian, the brakeman for the day, offered a ride in the cab area with him. What three and a half year old boy could resist! One thing I have observed is that where possible (ie. no safety risk) the staff and volunteers are really adept at accommodating children - whether it's holding a flag or riding next to the guard - they try and involve them which makes it great fun, and something for them to remember about the day. As a parent it's great to see them enjoy themselves.

With the rain behind us and the sun having made an appearance we attempted to join the magic show. Unfortunately I had made the fatal mistake of letting my son borrow mummy's digital camera for the first time so that he could take some of his own pictures. Apologies to Poz for not watching (at least we caught you at the Christmas event last year) and the Teddy Bear Doctor for not attending, but all efforts to persuade him otherwise failed, and the camera had to be prised from his hands at the end of the day. Apologies too if you were one of the people he ran up to shouting "Smile" at. For me it was quite amazing that it took under an hour for him to learn not just to point and click, but to change mode and cycle back through the images. At least we know what to buy for his birthday now!

Carl, today's Garden Line guard

With the Waveney Valley line out of action due to platform improvement work we made full use of our three rides on the Gallopers as well as numerous rides on the Nursery and Garden lines and another ride on Martello.

I asked Brian if Seymour had been back at all since his retirement and was pleasantly surprised when he said that he'd seen him earlier. Sadly I didn't see him myself, but am sure that our paths will cross again before too long.

The other purpose of my visit was to get a few images of the day in general where possible. I would like to thank the parents who gave their permission for me to take pictures of their children for Bressingham's online gallery. I have not included any of them here as they were only intended for the gallery.