Clacton Railway Club featured on BBC One's We Are England

BBC One’s We Are England aired on Wednesday, February 23 and visited Clacton Railway Club.

Kelly Mann, 40, of Carters Close is the club treasurer and she detailed the process of BBC One approaching the club for a feature.

She said: “We were contacted via Facebook, BBC said they were looking to run a We Are England episode on a social club.

“They came down to the club to have a chat and we met the filming crew and did a screen test.

“They asked us about the club as they had a tour, a month later they called back and agreed to do a feature on us.”

This is the first time Clacton Railway Club has been featured on a TV show and the episode centred on how the club’s members view it as a second family.

Kelly even compared the club to Peter Kay’s famous show Phoenix Nights.

Halloween night at Clacton Railway Club

She added: “We are very much old school, some of our members have been here for more than 40 years.

“We are very much trying to bring the club into the modern world by appealing to all age brackets and being family friendly.”

Social clubs are trying to attract more types of members while catering to their core group and Clacton Railway Club is no different.

Kelly said: “Post pandemic the costs of living have gone up with electricity and gas, our suppliers have also increased prices.

“To show how grateful we are to our members we froze membership prices this year as a thank you for their support.”

Preparations made for Clacton Railway Club's summer party

Clacton Railway Club runs a variety of events centred on the time of year such as Halloween and Christmas parties.

Kelly emphasised the work done by all staff and volunteers as pivotal in keeping the club going.

She added: “There are so many people working in the background that BBC couldn’t focus on.

“The bar staff are amazing, the committee members, everyone does a great job.”

You can watch the episode on BBC iPlayer.