One of the 80 Gromits that are appearing all over Bristol

The GWR did not die in 1948 when the railways were nationalised, and indeed the name has come back very strongly during the privatised era.  Today, the spirit of Brunel is possibly stronger than it has ever been and the electrification of what everyone calls the Great Western mainline is bringing a new energy to the network.

We recognise that the GWR community is one of the strongest forces in railway preservation throughout the world and that GWR fans are possibly the most passionate anywhere.   Maybe that is because we firmly believe that the GWR was and is the best!

At Everything GWR we have been working for 2 years now to build an on-line community around the GWR, something that pulls together anything and everything associated with the railway.  We are pleased with the progress we have made in that short time but our eventual aim is that we will become the Portal to find all things GWR online.

This is a huge task and we know that we cannot do this alone and on a shoestring.   We need as many people as possible to be involved, to guide and inspire us to develop things further. We need suggestions, ideas, contributions and so we have decided to set up a membership facility.

Many of the ideas that we wish to develop are already costing us money in terms of web design costs and lack of funds is holding us back.  For example, we have not yet got our GWR auction up and running so that people can buy and sell GWR themed items;  we have not done much on the modelling side of things; we want to create some much higher quality GWR films;  we want to organise special events and to invest in having some Everything GWR merchandise produced.  We would like to sponsor our own GWR preservation projects and campaign on a whole host of other issues.

Beyond this, there will be lots of other ideas that you may have and which we have not thought of yet.  Please send them to us and we will look into their feasibility.

So we are asking you to join us and contribute just £2.77 a month to help us fund this development.  As is often said, this is probably the equivalent cost of a very small drink at the pub and it will make a massive difference to our ability to build an active, campaigning community to ensure that the GWR lives forever.  In return, you will get access to our small but growing HD film collection on Vimeo, you will get early information about what is happening and doubtless all sorts of other benefits as we grow.  As you can see, Wallace and Gromit have already joined us!

We thank you for your fantastic support up to now. With your small contribution, we can take this to the next stage.  Please sign up today so we can fund the exciting period ahead.

All the very best

Howard and Steve