Over 1,600 people came to the GWR on the gloriously sunny weekend of 27th / 28th September to see Paddington Bear. In between his snacks of marmalade sandwiches hundreds of families enjoyed meeting and having their photographs taken next to the famous bear. And not just that, there were Punch and Judy shows, magic shows, a treasure hunt and children had the chance to colour in a picture of their favourite bear at Winchcombe. At Toddington the Fire Department were on hand to help budding young fire fighters of the future, and the North Gloucestershire Narrow Gauge Railway and a roundabout entertained the crowds. As well as steam and diesel services between Cheltenham Racecourse, Winchcombe and Toddington a genuine London Routemaster bus ran services between Toddington and Winchcombe. Paddington thought it would be fun if the train and the bus had some races, with Paddington himself flagging the bus away from Winchcombe each time. The result from Saturday was two wins to the train, and two wins to the bus. However on Sunday the train won 3 races, the bus only one race. Paddington did suspect that the train was cheating however as twice it left Winchcombe before the bus was ready!

It was a very successful weekend, with Winchcombe station running out of Ice-Creams on Saturday afternoon, and the bus conductor running out of tickets! Building on this success planning is already underway for another Children's Event over the weekend of April 25th / 26th 2009. This time Postman Pat will be visiting the railway so keep your eyes peeled for further details soon!