We Won - 2014 Poynton Awards for Customer Excellence (PACE)

We won - 2014 Poynton Awards for Customer Excellence (PACE)

We are delighted to announce that the museum won the 2014 Poynton Award for Customer Excellence (PACE, Our category this year was Business - Other) for the 2nd year running. Many thanks to everyone who voted for us. To read more about the awards and the other category winners see tinyurl.com/nevy7ag

We wish all our supporters, friends and volunteers a very Merry Christmas

we saw this lovely festive wish here

Certificate of Excellence

We have heard from Trip Advisor that we have been awarded a Certificate of Excellence for a wonderful 5/5 score. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to add comments and photos to the site after their visit.

Walk around Poynton's mining heritage

Poynton Town Council has created a walk to celebrate the rich mining heritage that the village possesses. Few visitors realise that Poynton once had the largest coalfield in Cheshire, with 74 pits.

Although coalmining ceased in 1935, there remain many clues to this former industry and the walk is designed to provide a glimpse into Poynton’s fascinating industrial past.

Refreshments and toilets are available along the route. There are 2 downloads of the walk available:

A simplified brochure, available HERE *

A fully detailed walk, available HERE *

* ADDITIONAL WALKING MAPS are available from Poynton Civic Hall.They are 50p each or £3.00 for a set of 8.

We know that many of you have Facebook and/or Twitter accounts so do please use the buttons at the top of our site to follow us.

You can also find us on You Tube and Flickr if you want to see what we look like.

We also have a stray cat that seems to have adopted us. She too now has her own Facebook account so if you want a rather unusual view of what we are getting up to you can follow her by clicking on the photo here.

Name the Teddy

Many thanks to everyone who bought a "name" at AstlePark over the weekend and helped us raise funds. The winning name was Sentinel and here he is with his new owner.

Road Closure - Middlewood Road

We have been informed about roadworks over the weekend 7/8 June that will affect the normal route to the museum.
Cheshire East will be closing the section of Middlewood Road, from Park Lane to Anson Road, on Saturday 7th... and Sunday 8th June, to carry out essential drainage root cutting work. The diversion route will be via Coppice Road, Shrigley Road and Anson Road, or vice versa. To view the diversion route click here

The closure will be put in place at 8am and removed at 5pm on each of the respective days. Access will be provided for residents and deliveries. However, the access point may be via the diversion route, depending on which end of the Middlewood Road section the contractor is operating. The usual caveats apply, with regard to potential overruns on the respective days. For any further information please call Cheshire East Highways on T. 0300 123 5020.

Coaches from the 1000 Engine Rally to the museum Saturday 21 June

The ticket includes return trip from AstlePark & entrance to museum.

Coach ticket price Adults £8.75, Children under 16 £4.25

NB Safety regulations mean everyone must have their own seat.

The museum has many changes and additions with more engines running than ever. The Craft Centre will be in operation and the wonderful scale model of Poynton is available to see. Saturday 21st promises to be an evening you must not miss.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to the museum and showing you our great new exhibits and developments.

Our thanks once again to Andy McCarthy of McCarthy Coaches for his generous donation which helps keep the trip prices low.

Important Notes

Reserve your tickets by sending an email to and give your full name, type and number of tickets you require.

Reserved tickets to be collected from the museum trailer at AstlePark on Saturday 21st by 14:00* or they will be offered for general sale.

(* or earlier if announced at rally field)

Tickets must be shown to bus driver and at the museum entry desk for Museum tickets. Normal museum entry conditions apply.

Coaches depart Astle Park 18:30 or when full. Last coach estimated departure from the museum 21:00. No refund if you miss the bus.

Additional information:-

A raffle will be held on the Saturday evening at the museum, with lots of great prizes. This will be drawn before the buses leave the museum.

Hot Pot supper £5. Order your ticket now - first come, first served.

At the rally field we will also be inviting you to “Name the Teddy” (with suitably appropriate engine names) to help us raise funds.

At last - a good use for your Council Tax Bill

The museum has just heard that it has been successful in its bid for a Community Grant of £1500 from Poynton Town Council towards putting down tarmac on the driveway to the museum.

As a thank you to Poynton for its support, the museum is offering free admission to Poynton residents (for up to four people per household) on Saturday 17th May when they show at the door their 2014 Council Tax bill with an SK12 post code.

As well as having one of the largest collection of engines in Europe at the museum (many of which will be running that day) they have a giant model of Poynton c1900 showing the collieries of the area.On Saturday 17th we will have volunteer local historians on duty to answer any queries you have about the town and will point out some of the highlights on our scale model.

Additionally, as the 17th May is also International Night of Museums (when museums across the world are asked to open late) the museum will not close at 5pm as normal but stay open until 8pm so visitors can enjoy engines at twilight.

Bring along your Council Tax bill and enjoy free entry as a resident of Poynton.

Hare & Hounds Classic Vehicle Club - Sunday 27 April

We have been chosen as the venue at the end of a 45 mile run for the local classic car club on Sunday 27 April "Drive It Day". The club who meet on the 3rd Wednesday of every month at the High Lane Conservative Club, Stockport, will be enjoying their run and lunch at a local pub before arriving at the museum around 2pm.

Visitors to the museum that afternoon will be able to enjoy seeing these wonderful cars in the car park as well as all the usual exhibits and displays.

Videos taken over the Easter weekend

Thanks to Ian, one of our volunteers, there are several short videos on You Tube showing some of our engines running. Here are some links you might find useful. Additionally you can find photos and videos on our Facebook page here - remember to "Like" our page so you can keep up to date with all our news.

Robey steam engine

Blackstone 1915 hot bulb engine

Sentinel Ganz there are 3 parts to this one

National gas & oil 1930 LH type

Blackstone 32HP spray injection

National oil & gas engine 1913 KO type

Wood bodging - pole lathe

More videos taken by Ian over the months can be found here