Volunteers are essential to the running of the Avon Valley Railway and they’re always on the lookout for additional help.
As Spring approaches, the heritage railway in Bitton is about to start running its steam and diesel-hauled trains once more and has a variety of volunteer opportunities for anyone 16 years and above to support its work. These roles include onboard their trains as guards or ticket inspectors, in the restoration workshop looking after vintage carriages and wagons, or as part of the Permanent Way team keeping an eye on the three miles of track. Other roles around the station involve meeting and greeting customers as ticket sellers, platform hosts and shop assistants.
Some roles require little previous experience, just a friendly and welcoming approach and a few hours each week. Others, like our steam locomotive drivers and firemen, require a longer-term commitment and many hours of training. However, all of these roles are vital to the running of the railway and they welcome any help.
The next New Volunteers Day is on Sunday 24 February when interested people can find out more about what’s involved. There’ll be long-serving volunteers on hand to talk about the different opportunities on offer and give a flavour of life at the Avon Valley Railway.
Kyle Ashcroft, one of the Trustees for the railway, said, “We’re always looking for more help to run our railway. We’ve got a lot of different roles available depending on people’s interests. We class them as ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ depending on whether you’d like to be more visitor-facing in our shop, ticket office and onboard our trains or more behind the scenes by getting hands on with restoration of our locomotives and carriages. There’s something for everyone.”
If you’re not available on 24 February, but would still like to find out more, please contact Sue Sedley, the railway’s Volunteer Co-ordinator on email hidden; JavaScript is required or call 0117 932 5538. The team would love to welcome you onboard!