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Severn Valley Railway Charitable Trust Ltd is a Registered Charity, Number 1092723, for the purpose of raising funds to support the SVR. It is commonly referred to on the SVR as the '''Charitable Trust'''. Its objectives are to help fund restoration and maintenance projects, to help arrest the decline of heritage engineering skills and to safeguard the long-term future and operational capability of the Railway.
It is a membership body. Governance is through up to nine trustees, including ex officio the chairman (or their nominee) from each of [[SVR(H)]] and [[Severn Valley Railway Company Limited]]. Its salaried executive director of development is Shelagh Paterson.
== Origins and Objects ==
*''the provision of education and skills training used in the restoration, repair and operation of historic railways to ensure their long term survival''"
The Trust is a member of the Heritage Trust Network, an umbrella organisation for built heritage preservation groups and individuals formed in 2016 from the Association of Preservation Trusts (UK-APT). Members work to restore built heritage and bring historic buildings back into community use.<ref>[http://www.heritagetrustnetwork.org.uk/our-members/severn-valley-railway-charitable-trust/ www.heritagetrustnetwork.org.uk]</ref>.
===Shareholding in SVR(H)===
The Trust is a [[Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) PLC#Notable_shareholdings|minor shareholder in SVR(H)]] by way of donated or bequeathed shares. In the 2012 Share Offer existing shareholders with small numbers of shares who did not want to increase their holding were invited to donate their shares to the Trust. In 2019 2020 the market value was £24,435<ref name=accounts20>Report and Financial Statements to 30 June 2020, via Companies House</ref>.
==Support==
The Trust supports a variety of projects including rolling stock, infrastructure, permanent way, diesel, [[Bridgnorth#Bridgnorth_Development_Project|Bridgnorth Development Projectdevelopment]], education and access. Its annual report and accounts, available online from Companies House, lists the projects it has supported in the previous year and the amounts committed. Major projects include:
*The Charitable Trust funds most of the costs of the SVR’s [[Heritage Skills Training Academy]] and team of apprentices. It costs £21,000 to fund an apprentice for one year, and the Trust funded £98,457 in 2019.
*It secured an HLF grant of £95,000 and contributed over £500,000 to the overhaul of [[GWR 4930 Hagley Hall | 4930 Hagley Hall]]
*At [[Falling Sands Viaduct]] it raised £1.25m for major repairs, completed in 2021.
*Applications for the [[2020 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic|Fight Back Fund]] for which the SVR received £250,000 grant from The [[:Category:Lottery funding#National_Lottery_Heritage_Fund|National Lottery Heritage Emergency Fund]] and £906,000 from the Culture Recovery Fund.<ref>[https://www.shropshirestar.com/entertainment/attractions/2020/07/15/severn-valley-railway-receives-250000-funding-boost-ahead-of-reopening/ Smith, R., 'Severn Valley Railway receives £250,000 funding boost ahead of reopening', Shropshire Star, 15 July 2020] (Retrieved 15 July 2020)</ref><ref>[https://www.gov.uk/government/news/445-heritage-organisations-saved-by-103-million-investment-from-government Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport] (Retrieved 9 October 2020)</ref> In October 2017 the Trust announced it was establishing an [[The Engine House#Commemorative_Garden|In Memory Garden]] for SVR supporters, close to [[The Engine House]].
===Charitable expenditure===
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| 2019 || style="text-align:right;" | £695,990 ||
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| 2020 || style="text-align:right;" | £2,141,254 || Includes £691k Falling Sands Viaduct renovation and £503k bequest allocated to 4930 Hagley Hall.<ref name=accounts20/>
|-
|}
It has sought to develop large scale fundraising, including [[:Category:Lottery funding#National_Lottery_Heritage_Fund|lottery]] funding.
To generate support from "influential individuals" the Trust may typically invite a small group to spend a day on the SVR using an Observation Saloon to make conducted visits to workshops to met meet staff and volunteer craftsmen.<ref>2013 Annual Report</ref>
*In addition to gifts it seeks pledges or future bequests. Those leaving a gift in their Will to the SVR Charitable Trust are invited to join the '''Guardians' Club'''.<ref name=CTDonation>[https://www.svrtrust.org.uk/index.php?page=Make%20a%20donation Charitable Trust Website 'Make a Donation'] (retrieved 12 August 2019)</ref>
*Individuals donating over £100 or giving regular gifts by monthly contributions are invited to join the '''Patrons' Club'''.<ref name=CTDonation/>
*It has the support of Corporate partners
In May 2016, the Trust secured a grant of £75,000 from the a [https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rail-tourism-winners-announced Department for Transport towards competition], for a project scheme to adapt a carriage to wheelchair use to complete transform the Railway’s travel offering for disabled passengers. The scheme involved the restoration and conversion of [[BR 4399 Tourist Standard Open]] and [[BR 80776 Brake Gangwayed|80776]], and the SVR’s fleet purchase of lightweight, portable ramps for each of the Railway’s [[:Category:Wheelchair-accessible adapted carriages, and rebuilding a second carriage to provide |wheelchair-accessible dining facilitiescarriages]].
===Fundraising events===
*The Charitable Trust took over the organisation of the annual [[Peep Behind the Scenes]] day for 2017.
*14 June 2017: Charity Race Day at Worcester Racecourse raising £23,000.<ref>SVR Twitter 15 June 2017</ref>
*11 June 2018: Annual Charity Race Day at Worcester Racecourse raising £13,000.<ref>[https://www.svrlive.com/epjuly18 'Express Points', July 2018]</ref>.
===Endowment Future Fund===
The Trust set up an endowment Future Fund, the income from which is intended to allow sustainable investment on the Railway in years to come. It has aspirations to grow the Fund to £2 million by 2020 and eventually to £10 million.<ref>SVRLive Charitable Trust page, 26 April 2017</ref> It appointed professional investment managers, Brewin Dolphin, to manage the investment. Donations to the Future Fund were matched, pound for pound, by a [[:Category:Lottery funding#National_Lottery_Heritage_Fund|Heritage Lottery Fund]] Catalyst programme grant of up to £500,000 which was awarded in 2013 and reached on 26 May 2017, giving a total fund value of over £1 million. By June 2020 it had grown to £1.48 million<ref name=accounts20/>.
===Current appeals and restricted funding===
The Trust's website lists its current appeals (11 as at 2021) and the annual report and accounts details funds restricted by the donor to particular items or projects (19 16 as at 20192020)<ref name=accounts20/>.
==Rolling stock==
*L.M.S. & B.R. Coach Fund transferred ownership of its carriages to the Charitable Trust in 2007, following which it became a department within the Trust. The department maintains a [[L.M.S. & B.R. Coach Department Sales Coach | sales coach]] at [[Bridgnorth]].
*Three carriages were also acquired from [[The LNER (SVR) Coach Fund | the LNER (SVR) Coach Fund]] in 2010, at which time [[The LNER Carriage Group | the LNER Carriage Group]] similarly became a department within the Charitable Trust. In early 2016, the [[The LNER (SVR) Coach Fund|LNER (SVR) Coach Fund]] and the [[Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) PLC|SVR Holdings Company]] transferred the ownership of their LNER carriages to the Charitable Trust, resulting in the Trust now owning all nine LNER carriages based on the SVR.
*Les Johnson and John Hancock (ownership of [[BR 993898 'Shark' Ballast Plough Brake]])<ref>[https://www.svrlive.com/bloct21 Branch Lines October 2021]</ref>
==See also==
