The popular Heath Park attraction would have had to close for good if an emergency fund had not been set up
ONE of Cardiff’s oldest attractions is set to open its doors for the first time in 2021 after being saved by “very generous” donations from the public.
Heath Park Miniature Railway, located at the heart of Heath Park just north of the University Hospital of Wales, has been a popular day out for families in the city for the last 73 years.
The outdoor railway is owned and run entirely by volunteers of the Cardiff Model Engineering Society and they rely on money earned from days when they are open to the public, meaning the last 12 months have proved difficult.
“Morale has been affected a lot by the pandemic but a small amount of us have been keeping up with the outdoor maintenance, which is a constant job regardless of us being open to the public or not,” says the society’s honorary secretary Rob Matthews.
“The public open days are a big part of our income, so not being open has had a big effect.”
When the country was placed into lockdown last year, the society were forced to cancel eight open days that were scheduled between March and July. However, they still had to pay rent, insurance and gas and electric bills.
To cope with this, an emergency fund was created and the society appealed to the public for their support.
“We always run with a surplus of funds for any problem that might occur, but no one could have planned for Covid,” says Mr Matthews. “Without the emergency fund we would have run out of money and had to close for good. This fund and our own volunteers giving loans and donations kept us going until we opened again in August.”
While he was unable to disclose the total figure raised by the emergency fund, he admitted he was blown away by the kindness of donors. Some members paid their annual subscriptions for the next three or five years, while others simply gave money as a gift.
“The fund has been very successful,” he says. “Everyone has been very generous and it was very humbling to see some of the figures being donated. Most of them were anonymous so we have not even been able to personally thank people in the way we would have liked.”
“For some of our volunteers, the railway is where they meet all their friends and it keeps them active. After nearly 75 years of existing, it would have been extremely sad to see it all lost.
“It has been called one of Cardiff’s hidden gems and in a normal opening season we get thousands of visitors. Many of these were children themselves when they first visited us and now they bring their own children and grandchildren.”
The railway is home to miniature steam, diesel and electric trains and trams on two circuits, and on a normal public open day there is a wide range of refreshments on offer as well as a gift shop.
However, when they were able to reopen last August as restrictions were eased, several protocols had to be put in place.
“We had to keep our main building closed, which included all the catering areas and only allowed the public onto the site in a strict rotation for a single ride. If they wanted additional rides, they had to leave and rejoin the queue.
“We also ran a reduced service where we could enforce social distancing. This allowed us to comply with Covid rules for numbers of people on site and allowed us to run safely but with the minimum number of volunteers, as most of our volunteers are elderly and needed to stay at home.
“On top of this we constructed shields between the coaches and each coach was a bubble. Screens were also constructed in the queuing areas to protect people. We made hand sanitizer available and provided our volunteers with protective equipment.”
Having been able to squeeze in eight open days before the end of 2020, the railway then shut again in December as the Welsh Government told all outdoor events to close.
Now, after cancelling a proposed open day earlier this month, the society are hopeful of opening to the public for the first time in 2021 on April 4.
“We are extremely looking forward to welcoming people back, but we have a lot of testing and driver training to do before this as safety is paramount,” says Matthews. “There is a lot of preparation to do but we have started and will be ready for Easter if allowed.”
- Find out more information on the railway’s public running days by visiting its Facebook page.
- You can donate to the railway’s Covid survival fund by clicking here.
