Trustees and Officers
Andy Savage MBE, Chairman of Trust Board
Andy has a half-century long involvement in railway heritage, with a particular involvement in the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways, including a term as Deputy Chairman. Professionally he was a senior railway engineer and became Deputy Chief Inspector of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch at the Department for Transport, following a long career in railway civil engineering and contractor safety. Andy was President of the Permanent Way Institution from 2006 to 2008.
Andy served as the Executive Director of the Railway Heritage Trust from 2010 to 2022. Following his retirement from that post he became a non-executive Director and Chair of the RHT. He had also been a Trustee of the NRHA throughout that period and was elected its Chairman at the end of 2021.
Andy was awarded an MBE in 2021 New Year’s Honours list for services to the rail industry and heritage.
Jeremy Swift, Secretary of the Trust Board
Jerry Swift FPWI MBIFM was, until 2014, Head of Community Rail at Network Rail, a post he occupied (along with a period as Head of Corporate Responsibility) for some 10 years. Working with the Railway Heritage Trust, community rail partnerships and the railway heritage sector, Jerry has been involved in a number of projects including work with the listing bodies on signal boxes and the subsequent history project being run by the Friends of the National Railway Museum, both of which are supported by the RHT. He has been an active champion within Network Rail of alternative new uses for historic railway property and has supported some of the more recent high-profile schemes that have seen a number of heritage railways moving into new territory, such as the extension of the Swanage Railway to Worgret Junction, the return of the Bluebell to East Grinstead, the return of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to Whitby and the subsequent construction by the company of Platform 2, and the return of the Spa Valley Railway to Eridge. Jerry was a member of the Railway Heritage Committee and the Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board until his departure from Network Rail. He remains on the RHDAB’s forum.
Jerry is currently Trust Board Chair at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, a Trustee and Vice Chair of the National Transport Trust and Secretary of the National Railway Heritage Awards.
Lizanne McCloud, Treasurer
Lizanne McCloud is an experienced professional with a background in accounting and a passion for finance.
Originally from South Africa, she completed her accounting degree there and gained practical experience at a small auditing firm before relocating to the UK in 2006.
Since 2007, Lizanne has been dedicated to a career within the Railway, where she has honed her skills in financial management and analysis. Throughout her tenure, she has consistently demonstrated a commitment to making finance accessible and understandable for all stakeholders.
Lizanne is now employed by GTR as Head of Finance for its Great Northern division, and has been the NRHA Treasurer since 2023, managing the financial transfer for us from being a Charity to being a Charitable Incorporated Organisation
Clive Baker FCA, Chairman of the Judges
Clive qualified as a Chartered Accountant and worked in an accounting practice and then as Finance Director of a Printing and Stationery company. His railway interests have been lifelong and included being a volunteer on the Tal-y-llyn Railway. Other interests include worldwide travel, theatre and building conservation with involvement in the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (through the SPAB Fenland & Wash Area Group)
Gavin Johns, Chairman of Adjudicators
Gavin is the Chairman of the Adjudicators after many years volunteering for the Awards as a judge and Joint Chairman of the Judges.
He has long experience as a Chartered Surveyor in managing railway property having joined the BRPB in 1974 until leaving Network Rail in 2008. He maintains an active interest in railways, architecture and all manner of things in between.
Gavin is currently a Trustee of the Swanage Railway Trust and Chairman of the Swanage Railway Company.
Tim Hedley-Jones MVO, RHT nominee and Sponsorship Manager
Tim has an MA in Archaeological Heritage Management, as well as a BA in Archaeology and History. He started his career in the Diplomatic Service but moved to the rail industry in 1999.
Tim had a long period with the various East Coast Operators, mainly as their Property Director, before becoming Programme Manager for Transport for the North on the Trans Pennine Upgrade.
In his period at East Coast Tim worked regularly with the Railway Heritage Trust on a series of award-winning projects, and he became the RHT Executive Director in April 2022, becoming a Trustee of the NRHA at the same time.
Vicky Stretch, Archivist
Vicky Stretch is Network Rail’s Archivist and the Archivist for the National Railway Heritage Awards on a voluntary basis. As well as defining and managing the modern business archive for Network Rail, she looks after a large archive of historical infrastructure engineering drawings dating from the very earliest days of the railway.
For the Awards, Vicky is responsible for organising and preserving the Charity’s archive and providing access to it online.
Vicky started her career as a searchroom assistant at the Cheshire Record Office and from there was successful in getting a trainee archivist post with the BP Archive at the University of Warwick, before gaining her Masters degree in Archives and Records Management at the University of Liverpool. Archivist positions at the
National Railway Museum and the Borthwick Institute were followed by a role as Records Manager for North Yorkshire County Council where she implemented a new
records management programme and pilot Electronic Document and Records Management System.
Vicky joined Network Rail in 2008 to establish their corporate archive as they opened the National Records Centre in York. In 2013 Network Rail was the first
business archive to gain accredited status under the UK standard for Archives.
Vicky is also a member of the Railway Heritage Designations Advisory Board on behalf of Network Rail.
Malcolm Wood, Awards Manager
Malcolm joined the British Railways Board Chief Architect’s Department Western Region office in 1979, later working in Network Southeast, Railtrack and Network Rail on a variety of historic railway buildings. He joined the Railway Heritage Trust as Company Secretary in 2008, retiring from the post at the very end of 2017, although he continues as a member of the RHT Advisory Panel
Since his retirement Malcolm has been both a Judge and a Trustee for the Awards, where he focusses on both designing and obtaining the Award Plaques, and subsequently arranging the unveiling ceremonies for them.
Stephen Oates, Nominee from Heritage Railways Association
Steve is a chartered surveyor, but has wide commercial experience, having founded and managed three successful commercial radio stations, and headed-up an economic development service for a local authority.
Alongside his main professional career, Steve has had a lifelong volunteering commitment, first getting involved in heritage at the age of 13, volunteering at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway (IWSR), where he has contributed in a variety of roles, eventually serving for ten years as its chairman.
Steve is Chief Executive of the Heritage Railways Association, where he actively promotes and protects the interests of heritage railways to government, the rail regulator, the media and other bodies, while ensuring that the Association provides appropriate guidance and leadership to the sector on issues such as safety, heritage, governance, commercial and environmental matters. Steve is also, a trustee of the Heritage Alliance, and serves on the advisory board of the National Railway Museum., as well as being the HRA nominee on the NRHA Trust Board
Peter Waller, Public Relations Officer
Following degrees in history and industrial archaeology, Peter Waller has had a near 40-year career in transport and specialist publishing since he first joined Ian Allan Ltd in 1986. Latterly the company’s Publisher (Books), looking after the company’s entire list, his first involvement with the awards – then under a different name reflecting the involvement of Ian Allan Ltd – came in 1987 when he worked with the late Mike Harris on that year’s award ceremony.
As Public Relations Officer, his role, which he has held now for more than 15 years, is to produce the audio-visual presentation that forms the backdrop to the annual award ceremony whilst also liaising with the press and ensuring that the NRHA’s website is as up-to-date as possible.
Away from the NRHA, Peter is also the secretary of the Online Transport Archive and the author of a number of transport books, most notably on tramways and trolleybuses.
Robert Hayward, Awards Manager
A retired Chartered Surveyor with over 40 years property and consultancy experience with nearly 20 year’s experience working in the rail industry. He has a passion for the historic railway structures and buildings. He has been actively involved in railway preservation as a volunteer on heritage railways since the early 1970’s.
Robert has been a NRHA Judge since 2006 and has been organising the annual NRHA awards ceremony since 2015.