MODEL boat, truck and rail enthusiasts from as far away as Carlisle turned up in Huddersfield to enjoy an afternoon playing with their remote-controlled toys.

Huddersfield Society of Model Engineers regularly holds open days and regattas.

Their HQ at Highfields boasts a purpose-built boating lake and a high level railway track to take different sized locomotives.

More than 50 people attended the open day to the delight of club secretary Richard Lyons, a computer network manager at Greenhead College. He said: “We are one of the town’s best-kept secrets and we are just trying to get the word out that we are here and it would be nice for young people to see what we do instead of just playing with their computers.”

The club, which dates from 1919, has its own pond which opened the day before war was declared in 1939.

Richard added: “Huddersfield has a great model heritage and at one time people used to come here in their thousands. I got into it by accident almost when my wife bought me a little remote-controlled model boat one Christmas and I went sailing it at the lake in Greenhead Park.

“The Examiner happened to report it for a feature they were doing and I got some ribbing at work with colleagues calling me Admiral Lyons! Someone mentioned that there was a model club and the rest is history.”