Severn Valley Railway Society Limited
The Severn Valley Railway Society Limited (SVRS) is registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. Registration No 9742. It is a Company with Shareholders, although no dividend is paid, with all profit used to support the running of the Railway. It owns the infrastructure and assets of the SVR, employs the paid staff, and is responsible for the operation, finance, governance, planning, customer service and management of the SVR.
Charlie Wright
Chairman and Director
Charlie is a chartered accountant and chief executive of a group of manufacturing businesses. An active SVR volunteer, he serves as a steam fireman and has led the railway's One Railway organisational restructure, including the successful conversion of the former SVR (Holdings) Plc into the Severn Valley Railway Society Limited.
Diane Malyon
Director
Chairman, Guarantee Board
Diane became a director of Guarantee Board in 1993, taking over as chairman in 2020 and becoming a director of the Holdings Board at the same time.
Diane became a working member at 16 on the Severn Valley Limited and on Bridgnorth based buffet cars in 1978. She moved to the Plant & Machinery Department, assisting with trolley and diesel shunter maintenance, passing out as a shunter driver in 1980, before joining the station staff, concentrating on booking office and station gardens. She also helped found the Severn Valley Venturer dining service. She was co-ordinator for the Santa operation from 1995 to 2019, retiring from the role in January 2020. Diane sits on the Accommodation Forum - a group committed to trying to improve facilities for volunteers on the SVR.
In her "real life", Diane worked in schools for over 30 years before taking early retirement.
Gus Dunster
Director & Chief Executive Officer
Gus is married with two sons, and has been involved in railway preservation since 1988, joining the Railway in 1991 and having been an active volunteer ever since.He's a career railwayman, having joined British Railways straight after leaving college in 1987.
A Member of the Institution of Railway Operators, in his career to date Gus has held a number of operational management positions and in 2022 retired as Avanti West Coast Trains' Executive Director of Operations and Safety, to take up the role of Director at R09 Consulting Ltd.
Phil Swallow
Director
Phil has more than 30 years' experience in technology and business transformation, together with a long-standing passion for heritage railways as a co-owner of the SVR-based locomotive 34027 Taw Valley .
Steve Featherstone
Director
Steve is a career engineer, having worked in both the gas and railway industries. He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a past president of the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers and a past president of the Permanent Way Institution. He is a fellow of the Institution of Gas Engineers, the Permanent Way Institution and the Institution of Civil Engineers.
After a 20-year career in the gas industry, Steve joined the railway industry in 2007 as Network Rail’s national maintenance director with responsibility for 18,000 people and a £1.4 billion annual budget to maintain the national railway infrastructure.
In 2020, Steve established his own consultancy business providing him with an opportunity to work with multiple clients in both non-executive and advisory roles.
Mike Hulme
Deputy Chairman
Mike brings extensive senior rail industry experience, having retired as site managing director of Alstom's rolling stock site at Derby after a career spanning engineering, operations and executive leadership across the rail sector.
Mike has co-chaired the Northern Rail Industry Leaders Group focused on promoting the north’s rail industry, was a board member of Liverpool City Region LEP, and is an Honorary Professor at Aston University Business School, providing support and guidance for the Advanced Services Group.
Mark Whitehouse
Director
Originally from Birmingham, Mark trained as a chartered accountant with Deloitte before spending seven years in a variety of international finance roles with Cadbury. He has worked in the rail industry for 11 years, having joined Virgin Trains in 2011. He was promoted to executive finance director in 2014 – a position he retained through the transition to Avanti West Coast in 2019.
Mark left AWC in 2022 to pursue a portfolio career in the charity/not-for-profit sector and is pleased to have been invited to join the board of SVR(H). He looks forward to supporting the organisation on its journey to securing a financially sustainable future.
Mark lives in Leamington Spa with his wife Nicky and their two children. He is also a member of a running club and an amateur chamber orchestra.
Antony Bartlam
Director
Antony, a structural engineer and long-standing SVR volunteer, will take special responsibility for infrastructure. He played a leading role in coordinating the railway's response to the Mor Brook embankment collapse and has been instrumental in developing long-term infrastructure resilience and inspection programmes.
Paul Appleton
Director
Director, SVR Company Limited.
Paul is passionate about the SVR, having been a member of the SVR since 1973, an active volunteer (as a guard) for the past seven years and, in 2021, achieved his long-standing ambition of moving to Bridgnorth in order to take a more active role at the railway.
Paul is co-chair of the Staffing Committee.
Paul has a lifetime’s experience running his own businesses including organising and running events, and his current event activities are mainly indoor model railway shows, including the Great British Model Railway Show at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon.
Other professional skills include retail management, marketing and publishing. Paul is the publisher of Trackside magazine, of which he is a part owner and also edits various quarterly magazines for other clients.
Peter Pearson
Director
Peter grew up near Stourbridge. He joined the Railway in 1967 later becoming a guard. Absent for some years through family commitments, in 1998 he re-joined the Bridgnorth team, then re-qualified as a guard. Joining the Board in 2013, he has chaired the Audit Committee since then. A barrister, Peter is now retired following a prosecuting career, starting in the Director of Public Prosecutions Department, London, and finishing with over seven years as Legal and Technical Advisor to the Director, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Malawi. He was a governor of an NHS Foundation Trust, and a local councillor.