THE annual trip by train to the seaside was one of the highlights of the Wolvercote Waterabbits’ programme.

About 600 people, including many children, would pack 10 coaches and head to the coast for a day out.

Colin Smith, a former committee member, wrote in after reading Pamela Tuckwell’s latter about the group’s activities (Memory Lane, October 19).

The Waterabbits, formed in 1978, raised £50,000 for the children’s wards at the John Radcliffe Hospital in 17 years by organising discos, pram races, medieval evenings and Arabian nights and having stalls at fetes.

Heart monitors and infusion pumps were among the equipment the group bought for the hospital.

Mr Smith, of George Moore Close, Donnington, Oxford, tells me that the rail trips raised a lot of money.

He writes: “The train had a brake van in the centre so that people could walk from the front and rear to gets beer, lager and soft drinks.

“There were many flavours of crisps and nuts.

“I can recall getting all the beer from the Co-op, in Iffley Road, on a sale-or-return basis, and taking it to Oxford station the night before we went.

“The crisps would be delivered to my house in about 14 boxes by Smith’s and also taken down the night before.

“They would be put on pallets in safe storage by the railway platform staff, who also helped to load them on the morning of departure.

“A lot of hard work was done by a few committee people, on the outward and return journeys, but nothing went back to the shop.

“Sixty-four tickets would be issued for each coach, so everyone knew when the train arrived where they were sitting.

“They were good days and good trips, but sadly, they won’t return.”

Any memories of the Waterabbits’ rail trips and other activities? Write and let us know.