Chairman appointed at Cholsey

CHOLSEY & Wallingford Railway Prerservation Society board member Michael Palfrey has been appointed as chairman following the retirement of Dr Tony Stead, who stood down at the annual general meeting held on September 17.

In his final report, Tony said that he “always felt that being chair should only be for no more than three years, we need new ideas and new enthusiastic people to drive new projects. I hope my successor gets as much enjoyment from the role as I have.”

An osteopath running his own wellbeing practice in Theale, Michael Palfrey joined the society in the mid-1980s and has been a board member for the last three years. He is a diesel driver and a trainee fireman, and has been on the organising committee of both the Polar Express and the Back to the Forties event.

“My passion for trains started at a young age as a trainspotter on the platform at Pangbourne station,” said Michael. “This passion continues now in the Cholsey & Wallingford Railway and in bringing the enjoyment I have for all things railway to a new audience.

“Tony leaves big shoes to fill and under his leadership over the last three years the railway has been transformed into a better place for our visitors and volunteers alike.

“I’d like to see us continue these advances, increase our volunteer numbers, widen our involvement in school and community groups, and carry on the modernisation of the railway in terms of our management structure and systems, such as a new website and installing wi-fi at Wallingford station.”

Fellow board member Peter Mitchell, who owns Wallingford-based 1925-built GWR Sentinel 4wVBTG Isebrook, has been appointed vice-chairman.