Music legends and train buffs came together to celebrate the official opening of a model railway museum.
Icon Jools Holland, The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey, record producer Pete Waterman and railway enthusiast Lady McAlpine attended the ceremony for the Ashford International Model Railway Education Centre (AIMREC) alongside volunteers and councillors.
From left to right: Roger Daltrey, Jools Holland, Pete Waterman and Lady Judy McApline. Picture: Instagram Jool.Holland.Official
The grand opening was the realisation of a 10-plus year dream for project lead Cliff Parsons, who launched the exhibit in Bethersden, between Tenterden and Ashford, while also battling kidney and lung cancer.
“I’m so pleased for everybody and the nation and the hobby and manufacturers to keep the hobby alive and to try and get children off their mobile phones to do something useful with their hands for a change,” he said.
In 2014, AIMREC volunteers had hoped to open at the Klondyke railway works site in Newtown, Ashford, but planning permission was granted for homes to be built on the land.
Six years later, a temporary showroom aimed at highlighting the centre’s potential opened in the £75m Elwick Place leisure complex, also in Ashford.
Unfortunately, though it proved popular, the Covid-19 pandemic saw it close in March 2020 to protect members’ health.
The group were then able to acquire a new premises in Bethersden a year later.
But without the space to display larger model railways, it was back to basics with a collection of smaller exhibits.
Yet, in late 2024, the opportunity arose to take a lease on a hay barn close to the site in Bethersden, which, with the addition of a mezzanine floor, tripled the available space.
It features the winning layout from Series 2 of the Channel 5 series The Great Model Railway Challenge, and a layout built by Channel 4 for their current series of ident videos – a short sequence shown on TV between programmes to identify the channel.
The collection has grown in popularity each year, with more than 2,000 visitors attending the larger space in 2025.
Cliff Parsons was pleased to realise his dream and see the Ashford International Model Railway Education Centre openOne of the models inside the newly opened Ashford International Model Railway Education Centre
Also on site is the miniature railway, known as the Spitfire Line, which can take visitors around the building.
Posting on Instagram after the official launch of the site on Friday, Jools Holland commented: “Delighted to help with the opening of AIMREC with Roger Daltrey, Pete Waterman and Lady Judith McAlpine, who cut the ribbon.
“It’s a huge credit to Cliff Parsons and his team of volunteers.
“It has been Cliff’s dream to create a museum that could house the great layouts, whose owners could no longer manage them or who have sadly gone onto the great layout in the sky.
“It is really worth a visit.”
Volunteer Fred Garner added: “It’s been a pleasure helping Cliff realise his dream over these last six years since I got involved.
“Cliff’s not been well, and I know in the early time that I got involved in 2019 and 2020 was perhaps not in a good way.
“But it’s been really great to see how bringing the project to fruition, realising his dream, has really helped him battle with his cancer, get back on his feet, and really get active again in the hobby.
Lady Judy McApline cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the Ashford International Model Railway Education CentreMayor of Ashford, Cllr Lyn Suddards, at the grand opening of the Ashford International Model Railway Education Centre
“So, you know, doing this for Cliff has been, it’s been really, really worthwhile and very fulfilling.”
Mayor of Ashford, Cllr Lyn Suddards, who was also in attendance, said: “There’s limitless room for expansion here.
“So as this wonderful education centre grows, I think it’s in the right place. So good luck to them all.
“It’s a marvellous project, and it’s so much more than just a railway exhibition.”
The AIMREC collection and shop with tearoom is open most Saturdays throughout the year between 10.30am and 4pm at Mill Farm Business Units.