00:00So I'm absolutely thrilled to declare it open.
00:06This ribbon-cutting ceremony has been years in the making.
00:12After battling COVID, rising cost and location problems,
00:18Ashford Model Train Museum has opened a new unit
00:23showcasing railway wonders throughout history.
00:28This has been a dream of project lead Cliff Parsons,
00:33who's got the exhibit running whilst battling terminal kidney and lung cancer.
00:40I'm so pleased, so pleased for everybody and the nation.
00:46This is for the nation and the hobby and the manufacturers to keep the hobby alive
00:51and to try and get children off their mobile phones
00:56and do something useful with their hands for a change.
01:00It's been a pleasure helping Cliff realise his dream
01:03over these last six years since I got involved.
01:07Cliff's not been well,
01:09and I know in the early time that I got involved in 2019 and 2020
01:13was perhaps not in a good way,
01:15but it's been really great to see how bringing the project to fruition,
01:18realising his dream,
01:19has really helped him battle with his cancer,
01:22get back on his feet and really get active again in the hobby.
01:26So, you know, doing this for Cliff has been,
01:29it's been really, really worthwhile and very fulfilling.
01:32The mayor of Ashford was also in attendance
01:36to witness the grand opening.
01:39I think, as I said earlier,
01:41I think God's got cliffs back
01:43because there's limitless room for expansion here.
01:48So, as this wonderful education centre grows,
01:52I think it's in the right place.
01:55So, good luck to them all.
01:57It's a marvellous project.
01:59It is an education centre.
02:01It's so much more than just a railway exhibition.
02:05The passion for model trains also goes beyond this celebration,
02:11proving the hobby is far from running out of steam.
02:16I'm sitting on the Spitfire line,
02:19which can take visitors around the building
02:22and was put together by volunteers,
02:26which really shows the passion
02:27for the train model building community.
02:31Henry Luck for Kane TV in Ashford.
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