Today, poorly or not, we decided to go to Bitton in Bristol. Somewhere we haven’t been for 7 years, but changed our lives forever. This pretty little volunteer run Railway was I got married in 2012! The first members of the public to wed on the line, I immediately fell in love with the place and friendly staff.
Whilst showing me around our possible wedding venue, I happened to glance in the engine shed at a large pile of iron. The Station Master tried to distract my attention back to the steam loco, but I enquired what they were doing up in the shed. It ended up being a Diesel engine used in the D Day landings (WD70031, later named Grumpy on a another war department mission where each loco was named after one of the seven dwarves) and eventually our wedding train.
I couldn’t wait to see the place again and it was a shame that only a couple of volunteers there today were around on our big day. I consoled myself with spam fritters and enjoyed the short train ride up and down the line.
There was a fantastic prop Spitfire, many military vehicles and in the centre of the display… our Grumpy. It’s not a pretty loco, it wasn’t made to be, but it felt like an old friend and I was rather emotional seeing it again.
This was obviously the highlight of my day, other than showing little Betsy. I think she very much enjoyed the Punch and Judy Show featuring Churchill and Hitler.
What a joy also to see our friends Lady She and Jayne Darling too! Lady She gave me an excited squeal when she saw us and gifted Betsy a lovely necklace. I think she was also rather delighted with the Fry’s Chocolate Train too!
1940's Pin-Up Entertainer Kitten von Mew 