SVR Charitable Trust - Trustees
For more information about the Trust, see the Trust's website
Tim Hargest
Acting Chairman and Trustee
Tim has worked in global Information Technology for 36 years, currently a Vice President of Uniper, a major European energy generation and trading company. He holds degrees from two local universities, a first degree in Physics (Birmingham) and a Master of Business Administration (Warwick). He’s also a Chartered IT Professional Fellow of the British Computer Society. His professional experience includes the establishment & execution of major IT programmes, considerable experience of IT during corporate disposals, mergers & acquisitions and the development & implementation of corporate strategy, particularly in a multinational & technological context. Tim hopes that the latter experience will be of particular value to the Trust and complementary to other Trustees’ expertise. His other interests include hill walking, sailing & classical music.
Tim has been a heritage railway enthusiast and frequent visitor to the SVR since childhood, a member since his teens and a regular working member (as a signalman) since 2013. Tim’s also Treasurer & Trustee to the Erlestoke Manor Fund. Incidentally, Tim’s wife Jane (a GP) is also a working member as the SVR’s Chief Medical Officer.
Tim joined the trustees in 2021.
Ron Treverton-Jones
Acting Vice-Chairman & Trustee
As the Chairman of stockbrokers EFG Harris Allday, Ron was already familiar with the Charitable Trust's work before he joined the board of trustees. Not only was he the chairman of our investment committee, but also his company EFG Harris Allday joined our Corporate Partnership Club, and supported the Railway through event sponsorship.
With his robust background in investment, Ron is particularly interested in improving the financial wellbeing of the SVR, and is keen on developing a new generation of engineers within the Heritage Skills Training Academy. Ron's expertise in helping to identify trusts and grant-making bodies is proving invaluable, as the Charitable Trust looks increasingly to these sources of income in the future.
Mike Ball
Trustee, and Chairman of SVR (Holdings) Plc
Mike was elected to the position of Deputy Chairman of the SVR Holdings Plc in 2011 and was elected as Chairman in 2021. Mike joined the Railway in 1986. He was Chairman of the Operating Committee for seven years and was heavily involved in the fundraising following the storm damage of 2007. Mike worked for Honeywell of the USA and for Bull of France in a career spanning 35 years. Prior to taking early retirement, Mike’s role was Bull’s Director of Customer Services for the UK and Ireland, a multi-million pound business with a staff of some 800 people.
Paul Fathers
Trustee
Paul Fathers is well known to many people on the SVR. He’s been a staunch supporter and volunteer since his teenage years back in the 1960s. With a professional engineering background, he brings a wealth of experience with him. In his ‘day job’ Paul is a regional inspector for the Security System and Alarms Inspections Board. He has been involved in many SVR development projects, and was a founding member and vice chairman of the SVR Rolling Stock Trust, the precursor of the current SVR Charitable Trust. He will play a key role in assisting the Charity to develop its fundraising strategy and contribute to its governance.
David Owen
Trustee
David’s involvement with the SVR started back in 1973, when his company Rubery Owen bought 150,000 shares to support the extension of the line from Hampton Loade to Bewdley. He served as a Director of SVR Holdings until last year, and brings a vast amount of business acumen to his role with the Charity. He is a keen supporter of the Heritage Skills Training Academy, in which young people are apprenticed to learn the skills needed to maintain and restore the SVR’s rolling stock.
Laura Shoaf
Trustee
Laura is managing director of Transport for West Midlands. She has more than 25 years international experience delivering integrated economic and spatial regeneration and is the first woman in England to a lead a strategic transport authority.
She has held a number of senior roles in the West Midlands including head of strategic planning and implementation at the Black Country Consortium, the Black Country director of transport and the strategic director for transport at the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority. She joined the trustees in 2020.
Diane Malyon
Trustee, Charitable Trust, Chairman, SVR Company Ltd.
Director, Holdings Board.
Diane joined the Trust board in 2021.
She became a director of SVR Company (Guarantee) Board in 1993, taking over as chairman in 2020 and becoming a director of the SVR (Holdings) plc 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 and continues as part of its management team and is a regular cook. She was co-ordinator for the vital Santa operation from 1995 to 2019, retiring from the role in January 2020. Diane is chair of the Staffing Committee, which focusses on volunteers, in partnership with the Volunteer Liaison Office and she sits on the Accommodation Forum - a group committed to trying to improve facilities for volunteers on the SVR..
In her "real life", Diane worked as a Primary School teacher for over 30 years and, for the five years before taking early retirement, became an Acting Headteacher raising the attainment of failing schools. She makes use of her professional skills and knowledge in supporting the development of educational and people centred activities.