'The Severn Valley Venturer'

by Ivor Phillips

The history of the 'Severn Valley Venturer' dates back to 1981, a time when a group of Severn Valley Railway Bar Department volunteers were acquiring buffet car vehicles to run on the Railway.

An ex-BR Restaurant Buffet (RB) Coach No.1682 became available and, following an inspection, was purchased and transported to the Valley. Although equipped with a full kitchen, the coach was used only as a bar car, having a fairly large bar/pantry area and a saloon seating 23 customers.

In time, the endlessly enthusiastic volunteers considered the possibility of utilising the kitchen facilities to provide cooked food. The kitchen equipment was duly renovated and a grill service offered on an occasional basis.

In 1984, whilst still looking out for bar cars, an First Open (FO) No.3103 was found to be for sale. This fired the volunteers' imagination, as an FO was the traditional companion to an RB for providing a full restaurant service. This vehicle was acquired and plans made to run 1682 and 3103 as a Sunday lunch train. The service commenced in 1989 as the 'Severn Valley Venturer', offering a three course menu. The expertise was provided by Pete Williamson, the Bar Dept. Manager who had previously been a British Rail chef.

The 'Venturer' was not, and never will be, in competition with the 'Severn Valley Limited'. It is a complementary service, initially picking up diners 'on the day' who could not get seats on the 'Limited'. The 'Venturer's' menu was more basic, the cost lower and it couldn't hope to match the 'Limited's' number of diners, the FO seating a maximum of 42. The 'Venturer' crew pride themselves on offering a good quality meal, served professionally in comfortable and friendly surroundings. Improvement has been a continuous process, with paper tablecloths being replaced by linen, the choice and quality of menu increasing and the service becoming more professional as the crew gained experience.

In 1992, the 'Venturer' started taking advance bookings. In 1995, the Board decided that, as the quality and service offered by the 'Venturer' had reached such a level, its pricing structure would be brought into line with the 'Limited'. The Railway's Catering Leaflet now promotes the 'Limited' and the 'Venturer' alongside each other.

The 'Venturer' is now an entirely volunteer run operation and serves 42 lunches each Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday between March and October. These are usually fully booked well in advance. In addition, we run occasional chartered Specials and, usually, a 'Haggis Special' on New Years Day, complete with piper, when we serve meals of Haggis, Neaps and Tatties.

There is always a need for more volunteers to run the 'Venturer' on a rota basis. We require stewards, cooks and pantry (washing up, etc.) staff. We are a friendly crew and there is a terrific team spirit. We offer you hard work, the satisfaction of a job well done and a discounted staff meal at the end of the day.

There's no need to worry, hardly any of us enjoyed any previous catering experience, and we learned the job as we went along. All you need is the desire to look after our customers, to get involved in something new and different, and to enjoy yourself.

Our goals are to earn revenue for the Railway and to keep our customers coming back for more.

(For further information contact Peter Edkins, Volunteer Liaison Officer who has an office at Bewdley Station [01299-401776], or come and see us in action on any Sunday during the main running season.).

The original version of this article first appeared in the Winter 1996/97 edition of the Severn Valley News (Issue No. 121).

Created on by: Dave Rowley, July 29th 1997
Last modified by Dave Rowley on March 19^th 2005