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 2021[update] he is a director of The 82045 Steam Locomotive Trust.
Alvin Barker and two colleagues launched the SVRA Macclesfield Branch on 17 December 1980.[1] He became SVRA Chairman in 1987 in succession to Chris Thomas.[2] 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.[3] He was promoter of a number of SVRA fund raising raffles including ‘Steam Snacks” and 1501 in 1987.[4], “Beds and Bunks in 1988[5] and “Tyre a Mogul in 1994”
Alvin was appointed to the Board of SVR(H) in 1992.[6]. In 1997 he was project leader for the construction of ‘Tranter Towers’, the new Bridgnorth MPD offices,[7] and in 1998 led the team which dismantled the Bristol Bath Road turntable and arranged its transportation to Eardington.[8] In 2000 he relinquished the Chairmanship of the SVRA to Stewart Clark but continued as Vice Chairman.[9] In 2006 he became a director of the SVR Rolling Stock Trust.[10] From 2006 he took an active role in developing plans for the Diesel Depot, culminating in a detailed proposal published in 2009.[11]
Alvin became a director of the 82045 Steam Locomotive Trust in 2009. He resigned as a director of both SVR(H) and the Charitable Trust in 2011.[12]