Alvin Barker
Alvin Barker was the longest serving Chairman of the Severn Valley Railway Association and was also a director of SVR(H) and the Charitable Trust.
As of 2023[update] he is a trustee of The 82045 Steam Locomotive Trust and chair of the SVR 46443 Fund.
He became SVRA Chairman in 1987 in succession to Chris Thomas.[1] Early in his time as Chairman he was involved in plans for the rationalisation and improvement of volunteer sleeping accommodation at Bewdley and provision of accommodation at Kidderminster.[2] He was promoter of a number of SVRA fund raising raffles including ‘Steam Snacks” and 1501 in 1987[3], “Beds and Bunks in 1988[4] and “Tyre a Mogul in 1994”. In 2000 he relinquished the Chairmanship of the SVRA to Stewart Clark but continued as Vice Chairman.[5]
Alvin was appointed to the Board of SVR(H) in 1992.[6] In 2006 he became a director of the SVR Rolling Stock Trust.[7] He resigned as a director of both SVR(H) and the Charitable Trust in 2011.[8]
He and two colleagues launched the SVRA Macclesfield Branch on 17 December 1980.[9]
In 1997 he was project leader for the construction of ‘Tranter Towers’, the new Bridgnorth MPD offices,[10] and in 1998 led the team which dismantled the Bristol Bath Road turntable and arranged its transportation to Eardington.[11]
From 2006 he took an active role in developing plans for the Diesel Depot, culminating in a detailed proposal published in 2009.[12]
Alvin became a trustee of the 82045 Steam Locomotive Trust in 2009.