My interest in 50s stemmed from my being a keen railway photographer, which in their last years meant I spent many hours wearing a rut in the M5 travelling from my home in Derbyshire to chase the 50s on the Exeter to Waterloo route. After the 50s were withdrawn from BR service, and no longer wearing a rut in the M5, once my personal and professional lives became settled my thoughts turned to getting involved with preserving one, which coincided with the setting up of RRRG. 

I've been involved with the project virtually from the start and was one of the small group that travelled to London to hand over the cheque to buy the locomotives, and was also there to see them making the long journey from South Wales to the Peak Distict.  I live the closest of any RRRG Committee member to our Peak Rail base and as such I'm often on site doing hands-on restoration work, or overseeing/organising deliveries.  I also coordinate RRRG's fundraising activities, including looking after the Hornby and Corgi models that we sell and seeking out other sources of merchandise for our sales stand. 

Through my photography interests I've built up a good relationship with the railway press and so I also act as RRRG's Publicity Officer ensuring that project news and photographs reach the magazines on a regular basis.  After coordinating publicity and sales for ten years, I was elected as  Chairman of RRRG in order to oversee the work on 50029 and 50030.