North West
Welcome to the North West Regional Group Page. The group was formed in 1958. Although based in Manchester, we cover the geographical areas of North West England and North Wales.
Our aim to provide a varied programme of indoor meetings and outdoor visits to locations or areas which will be of interest to members (and guests) who wish to study, research, or simply explore the history of railways, canals, and industrial archaeology.
The main point of contact is the NW Group Secretary: nwgroupsec@rchs.org.uk
Go to the NW Group Events page to see a list of forthcoming North-West Group events
Go to the Events Page to see a list of all RCHS events
A listing of all NW walks and other outdoor events during the 21 years 1995-2016 may be found here: NW Outdoor Events 1995-2016. We welcome suggestions for future walks, either from this list or elsewhere in the NW region.
We provide a programme of monthly indoor meetings that starts in October and ends in April. The meetings are usually held on the second Saturday in the month at the Friends’ Meeting House, 6 Mount Street in central Manchester (see below) and normally commence at 14:00 hours. A voluntary contribution of £2.50 is suggested to help to defray the meeting expenses..
Each month the Group arranges a walk or visit to a railway or canal location (examples are the Sept 2016 canal walk and the walk around Rudyard Lake & Environs, and occasionally to industrial and transport museums and record offices that have significant holdings of transport-related material.
For the past few years we have had an annual rail tour, using scheduled trains (examples is the 2016 Rail Tour & the 2017 Rail Tour , and a pre-Christmas short walk and lunch (e.g. 2016 Pre-Christmas Event).
Our series of annual Coach Tour, designed to appeal to both walkers and non-walkers has been interrupted by Covid restrictions: click Tour Notes (28th June 2018) for details of the last Memorable Canal Visits tour.
NW Group was responsible for organising a 4-day programme of talks and visits to accompany the Society’s 2019 AGM. For the tour notes, click here: 2019 AGM Weekend Tour Notes
Members of other Regional Groups and visitors are welcome to take part in these meetings and visits.
For further information about NW Group, please contact: nwgroupsec@rchs.org.uk
RCHS members may find a list of all NW Group officers on the North West Group Contacts page.
Location of the Friends’ Meeting House
The Friends’ Meeting House is located at 6 Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NS. Mount Street connects Peter Street with Albert Square and is immediately to the rear of the Central Library adjacent to the Town Hall (see Location Map). The nearest Metrolink tram stop is St. Peter’s Square in front of the main entrance to Central Library. Oxford Road and Deansgate railway stations are about about five minutes walk away. The nearest car parks are in Watson Street and Manchester Central (formerly GMEX).