Phil Girdlestone’s ashes laid to rest at Boston Lodge

Cedric Lodge, James Evans and Chris Newman were in attendance to represent the AST Trust at the memorial ceremony for Phil Girdlestone held at Boston Lodge on Saturday 18th May 2017.

The event was attended by around 40 people amongst whom were Phil’s elder brother Roland, FR General Manager Paul Lewin, and steam engineers Shaun McMahon and Nigel Day.  The party assembled on the platform at Porthmadog’s Harbour Station from where it was transported by train the short distance to Boston Lodge station where they disembarked to make the short climb to the memorial plinth sited above the workshops.  There, as the rain clouds held back, funeral celebrant Tim Clark read out a thoroughly researched anthology of Phil’s life.

Celebrants were then taken for a short ride along the Welsh Highland line to and from Hafod y Llyn, before reassembling in Spooner’s Cafe for further readings and for Phil’s brother Roland to receive a pre-publication copy of Phil’s autobiography.

The photos below were taken by Chris Newman during the event.

Leave a Reply