The Last Blast 40 – A Series of Talks Commemorating the Closure of Swindon Works

Join us for this special event as part of our week of events commemorating the closure of Swindon Works 40 years ago.  Throughout the day a selection of speakers will give talks on topics around the closure and local authors will be on hand for a book signing.

The event is free to attend but capacity is limited so tickets must be booked in advance.
(Tickets are not required if you just wish to attend the book signing).

A pre-booked lunch option is available to purchase when booking your ticket.

*Our first book signing session will take place from 10am-11am ahead of the first talk.

Talks

*Please note speakers and timings are subject to change.

11.00am Tim Bryan – Swindon Works: Brunel to Beeching

For more than 140 years, Swindon’s railway workshops were at the heart of the Great Western network, their development and history changing the fortunes of the small market town forever.

This talk chronicles the history of the works during what might be loosely called the steam era – from the pioneering days of Brunel and Gooch in the 1840’s to the final years of steam locomotive construction before the effects of dieselisation and Beeching cuts changed the railway landscape forever.

Tim Bryan was curator at the GWR Museum in Swindon from 1983 to 1999 before becoming Head of Collections and Education at STEAM until 2004. After almost 14 years as Head of Collections at the British Motor Museum in Warwickshire Tim joined the SS Great Britain Trust in Bristol, where he is now Brunel Curator and Project Manager.

11.45am Andy Binks – Andy Binks wears Pink Pyjamas, Life in a Railway Factory

Andy will be talking about his personal memories of ‘Life in a Railway Factory’ at Swindon Works. It will be factual, accurate and fun. “I was an Apprentice Mechanical Engineer for 4 years who loved the way of life , and set me up for engineering in the Music industry later in life at EMI Compact Disc in Swindon. Happy Days all round.”

12.30-1.15pm Lunch

There is an option to pre-book lunch in our café with your ticket here.

1.15pm Aaron Marchant – Charting the Next 40 Years: The Future of the Railway Village and Mechanics’ Institution

Swindon’s historic Railway Village and surrounding conservation area has seen a transformation in recent years, with the restoration and renewal of buildings and community spaces.

Leading this effort has been Swindon Heritage Preservation (SHP) who operate four buildings in the Railway Village and are a strategic partner in the ongoing restoration of the Health Hydro.

Vice Chair of SHP, Aaron Marchant, delivers an overview of the work underway to bring the Cricketers back into public use, as well as an update on the future of the Mechanics’ Institution as efforts to save it intensify.

2.00pm Richard Wintle – A picture is only the start of the story

As the national media freelance picture agency for Swindon, Calyx Picture Agency, we covered the events leading to the closure of the rail works, the closure itself, and life after the closure.

The talk gives an overview of our coverage and, with the technology of the time, how we managed to get the pictures of the events recorded and into the papers.

2.45pm Graham Carter – The Life and Death of Charles Collett: The surprising life story of the GWR’s Chief Mechanical Engineer from 1922 to 1941.

Charles Collett is all but forgotten today, despite designing the most iconic locomotives during the GWR’s/Swindon’s ‘golden age’, and after leaving us a huge and growing legacy – making him arguably the most important and certainly the most relevant of all Swindon’s railwaymen.

3.30pm Liz Derrington – Richard Jefferies and the Railways

Liz’s talk will look at the early days of GWR in Swindon through the eyes of Richard Jefferies, nature writer, reporter for local papers and regular commuter to London, who was inspired by the beauty of railway engineering and excited by the new people and prosperity it brought to his home town, but also campaigned for better safety measures.

4.15 pm Q & A

Book Signing

Throughout the day we will also have a selection of local authors doing book signings.  Confirmed authors so far include:

Angela Atkinson
Tim Bryan
John Chandler
Hannah Dosanjh
Rosa Matheson
Peter Timms
Richard Wintle

Book signings will take place at the following times in the Scraggery.

10.00-11.00am, 12.30-1.15pm and 4.15-5.00pm

*A ticket is not required to attend the book signings.