By Ann Middleton of Didcot Railway Centre

Last year at Didcot Railway Centre we tried something new and increased our opening times.

When we first moved to Didcot in the 1960s, our volunteers opened a few times a year for enthusiasts.

As the centre grew we started to open at weekends and we ran trains on the first and last weekends of the month.

We started to employ staff so we could open more often and settled into a pattern of opening every weekend and in school holidays.

Even though we published our opening days on our website and in our leaflet, we still had visitors turning up when we were closed and of course we had to turn them away.

So, last year, we decided to open daily from the beginning of March until the beginning of October.

And we are doing the same again this year so we will be every day from the February Half Term until our Day Out With Thomas on the first weekend in October.

We are going to be very busy this year with new events.

We are delighted that TV presenter and former member of the British Railways Board Prue Leith will be launching ‘Lady of Legend’ at 11.15am on Friday, April 5.

There will be lots going on, including demonstrations of Edwardian cooking by Christine Wallace on the Saturday and Sunday.

Herald Series:

We are still looking for people to come dressed in Edwardian costume to create a real Edwardian atmosphere.

We will have some costumes available and there will be free entry for suitably dressed Edwardians but these complimentary tickets must be booked in advance – there will be no free entry on the day.

If you are interested, pleased email jeanette.howse@btinternet.com or call 0777 1967633.

On Sunday, March 3, Victoria, one of our volunteers, is running another Little Engineers’ Workshop.

We want to inspire children and young people to think about engineering as a career and these family workshops have been a great success.

The subject this time is pulleys and the children will see how increasing the number of pulleys makes it easier to lift weights.

We’ve got a lot of pulleys at Didcot Railway Centre and the day will include a "Spot the Pulleys Around DRC" activity.

The workshops are included in our normal admission charge.

There is no need to book and no extra to pay so come along on the day.

So if you’re looking for something to do, why not come along.