Bluebell board rings in changes
THE Bluebell Railway has appointed its first director of people services while making several changes to its board.
Chris Barber comes from a railway family; his grandfather was a signalman on the East Coast Main Line and his father worked on the engineering side of signalling. He himself has a background in human resources and is currently head of business change for Thales UK.
Chris brings experience at director level of transactional human resources including recruitment and selection, policy, discipline, and grievance procedures. His applied human resources skills include change management, organisational design and development, learning and development, succession planning, and talent management.
He has been HR director, director of music, and latterly chairman of the Musical Museum at Brentford. He has a passion for the heritage movement generally and steam in particular; for many years he was involved in the preservation and running of Burrell scenic steam road locomotive Dragon.
Chris said: “Just like any organisation, the people at the Bluebell Railway are vital to its future success. We have a dedicated team of paid staff and volunteers who make the railway such a great place for people to work at and visit.
“I want to build on this by looking at the life cycle for paid staff and volunteers to ensure this is fully aligned to the strategic business and preservation aims of the railway. I look forward to liaising with – and listening to – people in all parts of the organisation to consider improvements to make the railway an even better place to work and visit”
Bluebell Railway plc chairman Geoff Mee said: “Chris Barber’s appointment reflects the importance we place as a business on our people. The railway relies on the dedication of its paid staff and volunteers to provide our passengers with a first-rate experience. This new addition to the board indicates our recognition of the work of all our people.”
Meanwhile, Steve Trigg has been appointed as the new finance director. Now semi-retired, he has been a finance director for various companies covering different sectors, including house building, recruitment, oil and gas, and most recently mergers and acquisitions.
He grew up around railways as his father was a rail enthusiast, and he spent many hours at Didcot Railway Centre entre.
Steve said: “The Bluebell Railway, like all other businesses, is in a difficult financial position because of the general economic situation.
“I look forward to meeting the staff and volunteers to see how we can best work together to tackle the economic headwinds and put the railway on a firmer financial footing.”
He has replaced David Burch,- who has stood down from the board because of work commitments.
Long-serving directors Bob Pamment and Mike Ellis have stood down as rolling stock director and operations director respectively.
Bluebell Railway Preservation Society chairman Paul Churchman will be interim rolling stock director and vice-chairman Neil Glaskin returns for the time being to the role he previously held as operations director.