Background to one of the most popular events in the Railway Modelling calendar.

The first Modellers' Weekend was held in 1971 at Hassocks in Sussex.  It moved to Missenden Abbey in 1981 and, apart from a short time when the Abbey was destroyed by fire and underwent restoration, has been there ever since.

March 2007 marked the 25th Weekend at the Abbey and the course had grown so that it took over the whole place.  This was due in particular to Martin Brent who took over as Chief Tutor in 1996.

Martin created a new, more practical format. He wanted participants to acquire new skills and build something to show for their weekend's work. He introduced Bob Alderman, Mike Sharman and Ian Rathbone, and as a result attendance steadily increased. The concept of a weekend of uninterrupted hands-on modelling with one-on-one tuition has proved to be a great success.  Places sell out quickly and attendance has increased year on year.

It was Martin who  introduced the Missenden Abbey Railway Modellers Manual, in which he passed on useful tips and techniques gained during his long and successful modelling career. This manual is updated every year, and is now available on a CD-ROM.

After the Weekend in 2000, Martin was diagnosed with leukaemia and Christopher Langdon, who had been to the courses since the early 1980s, became the Course Organizer.  The format has remained the same, but additional tutors now come to help the increasing number of modellers, currently approaching 70.  Participants have come from South Africa, France, Germany, Holland, Denmark and the USA. We also have one or two ladies on the courses.

Bob Alderman, Barry Norman, Ian Rathbone, Iain Rice, Tim Shackleton, Tim Watson, Norman Solomon, and Tony Wright are regular tutors. Each tutor brings with him a unique skill which complements the others.

The Weekend in March has proved very popular, so three courses on two additional weekends have been added:

In 2005, the first 'Electronics for Railway Modellers' was run in conjunction with MERG (Model Electronics Railway Group).

October 2006 saw 'Locomotive Kit Construction' running with Tony Wright and Bob Alderman as tutors.  This has been a huge success.

On the same weekend in 2007, Barry Norman started 'The Craft of Scenery'.  This, too, has attracted many enthusiastic participants.

2010 will see the first 'Railway Modellers’ Week' during the Missenden Abbey Summer School. The dates are 1st-7th August.

From the first course in Hassocks through 25 years at Missenden Abbey, the Modellers' Weekends have come a long way. There are now four courses a year, all designed to give railway modellers a weekend of uninterrupted modelling with expert tuition on hand.

These weekends are among the most popular items in the Railway Modelling calendar.