Young Members

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Young Members at the Avon Valley Railway

The Railway actively encourages young people (aged 13 and above) to become part of the volunteer workforce. The Railway relies on the hard work, dedication and skills of volunteers not only to run the trains, but to restore and maintain the engines, rolling stock, trackwork and buildings.

Young Members Group

The Railway's Young Members Group (YMG) has been specifically set up to engage 13-16 year olds in different activities within the Railway. The group organises working days; when young members can work on something worthwhile and learn how things are done. In the past, the YMG has also been on trips to other Railways to see how they operate.

Many of our young members are involved in "rostered duties" on the train or at Bitton Station, however the working days offer something different for them to be involved in and learn about.

Tracks to the future

The "Tracks to the future" project was set up in 2008, and with the help of a recent grant from The V project in conjunction with GWR Bath, aims to encourage young people between the ages of 16-25 years to be actively involved with the running, restoration and maintenance of the Railway. From the age of 16, training can begin for many Operating roles, or alternatively, you can get involved in many other job such as maintenance and restoration.

Download the "Tracks to the future" project leaflet here PDF - COMING SOON!
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Get Involved

Volunteer Opportunities

Sales & Customer Facing

Booking Office Clerk¹

Ticket Inspector¹

Raffle Sales¹

Shop staff¹

Platform Staff

Group hosts

Admin/Office

Publicity

General Enquiries

Event bookings

Catering

Waiter/Waitress

On-train chefs

Food preparation staff

On-train staff

Special Events

On-train stewards

Car park attendants

Information points

Santa's helpers

Operating

Driver³

Fireman/Secondman²

Cleaner¹

Guard/Shunter²

Engineering

Locomotive restoration

Locomotive maintenance

Carriage maintenance

Wagon restoration

Permanent Way (track work)

Maintenance

Building maintenance

Station maintenance

Gardening

Lineside clearance

Minimum Age & Training Requirements

Minimum ages are implemented for certain roles depending on whether or not they; are safety critical, involve potentially dangerous tasks or involve handling money. Below is the key to minimum ages used in the list above:

¹Minimum age: 16
²Minimum age: 18, or 17 when training under supervision
³Minimum age: 21

Training is given for all operating roles; it is a requirement of joining the Operating Department in any capacity that young members complete training in personal track safety and basic customer service.

This requirement is to ensure that all volunteers enjoy their work in a safe environment whilst benefiting the Railway and its customers.

Join Us

Joining us as a working volunteer is simple, all you need is current Avon Valley Railway Heritage Trust membership. All volunteers need to be members of the AVRHT to insure them for any work they carry out on the Railway. For more information on how to become a member and what the benefits are, see our membership page.

If you want more information about volunteering on the AVR, do not hesitate to contact us. Alternatively visit us at Bitton, and talk to any member of staff, who will be happy to help.

2009 YMG Calendar

The YMG meets at various times through out the year for working days and trips. The following dates have been chosen for 2009. All events are subject to change. Details of each event will be given nearer the time.

Working Days

Saturday 3rd January

Saturday 4th April

Saturday 4th July

Saturday 26th September

Reports

So you can see what the Young Members Group has been getting up to, we will put "reports" of our working days below. These will be written by young members who attended, so you hopefully you get will a young members view of what we do.

The reports are in .pdf format, if you are having difficulty viewing the document, click here.

• Report - 5th July 2008 PDF

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last updated: john lanchester, Tue 2nd Sep 2008