EVENT DETAILS

When: 7 - 9pm Tues 29th June

Where: Ludlow Brewery

What: An evening of talks and films, live and live streamed in about the significance of the invention of the steam loco and the roll out of the railway network to the development of the UK's industry and culture A chat led by Nick Corston Co-founder of STEAM Co. and patron of Ludlow Fringe 21 and a number of very special guests

Tickets: £5 live (Free online) - limited quantity available, buy here now

Facebook: Like it here on Facebook and be part of the banter

Refreshments will be served and there will be an interval.

Speakers:

The event will include the following speakers Live in the venue (L), Live on a video call (V) or pre-filmed (F)

  • Nick Corston - STEAM Co. and Ludlow Fringe 21 Patron (L)

  • Christian Wolmar - Author and authority on the UK rail system (V)

  • Andrew Adonis - Former transport minister (V)

  • Lawrence Robbins - The Model Railway Club

  • TBC - watch this space for an exciting addition to our line up

  • TBC - watch this space for an exciting addition to our line up

  • TBC - watch this space for an exciting addition to our line up

For more information about each speaker see below

Event overview

It's hard to imagine but the invention of the steam loco and the roll out of the railway network was more significant to the development of the UK's industry and culture than superfast internet access, and certainly happened a lot quicker!

To think that it owes so much to a Geordie Rocket Kid who was working in a coal mine at the age of four, illiterate in his teens, yet had helped launch a global revolution by his twenties.

Bringing together cultural heritage, engineering and model making to ignite the imagination of every child and potentially every adult, what’s not to like about trains.

Ludlow Fringe Patron Nick Corston was born and bred in Ludlow and feels blessed with the life he lived there and has enjoyed since and puts a lot of this down to a few simple gifts he was given by his parents, not least his dad.

One of those was a train set and as part of his work with UK schools to inspire children to be creative and use their imagination, Nick shows a short film clip of him with his dad, aged one (Nick not his dad) and his first trainset - a simple circle of track.

From there Nick loved his model railways, exhibited at Craven Arms and was tickled when he visited a model railway exhibition at Ludlow Methodist Hall with a girlfriend from New York twenty odd years ago to see a layout crediting Nick with part of its construction.

For several years, Nick had helped Mr Chitham, an expert model maker, build this model of Ludlow station that is now on display in the foyer of Ludlow museum.

In Ludlow Brewery, located in Ludlow’s former goods shed at Ludlow Station, this evening event will bring together an eclectic mix of guests to talk not only about model railways but also the history of Ludlow station and how the railways connected the town with the country as well as the significance of the railways to the country and the cultural heritage they leave behind.

STEAM Co.

Nick co-founded the non-profit community enterprise STEAM Co. to help connect our kids with their art and our communities with their schools.

This evening of talks, films and other contributions will appeal to all creative carers - people and organisations who care about children, creativity and all our futures.

To that end Nick will launch a £2m fund to put 22 STEAM Co. Drop Trucks and STEAMsters on the road across the UK for their #Festival22 of Creativity.

It will be live and live streamed globally and we really want you to bring your stories as well as share them on social media in advance with the the tag #ARTofDADS #LudlowFringe21.

#ARTCONNECTS21 AT #LUDLOWFRINGE21

STEAM Co. are delighted that our co-founder Nick Corston has been asked to be #Patron21 for the world renown Ludlow Fringe Festival and be co-curating a programme of live and live streamed #ARTCONNECTS21 events to celebrate, showcase and remind us how our art connects us, whatever it is.

We want everyone to be a part of these events, to bring and share their stories.

Click the image below to see the section from the Ludlow Fringe Programme about this #ArtConnects21 programme