Star’s front row seat for sporting history
- Local newspaper week
Part-time painter on right track
Thursday 26th March 2009, 10:39AM GMT.
A series of 1960s-inspired posters showing all six of the stations along the historic 16-mile Severn Valley Railway could be yours!
For the colourful posters have been created and are being reproduced for sale in a bid to raise funds for the tourist attraction’s flood damage appeal.
* See the posters below
They are the handiwork of Alan Reade who has indulged his passion for art to help the Bridgnorth to Kidderminster heritage line.
Mr Reade, of Claverley, near Bridgnorth, is a civil engineer by trade, and an artist in his spare time.
He designed the posters to sell with all proceeds going to the flood appeal, which was launched following the flood devastation suffered by the railway line in 2007.
The 68-year-old said he wanted to do something different to help the tourist attraction.
He has produced artwork for commercial purposes all his professional life, but also paints watercolours as a hobby, selling scores of landscapes, mostly of Shropshire, through galleries in Ludlow, Church Stretton, Craven Arms and Bridgnorth, over the past 40 years.
For the Church Stretton Arts Festival last year Mr Reade produced four paintings of Severn Valley Railway steam trains in the countryside near Hampton Loade, with the idea that the proceeds would go to the SVR flood relief fund.
But none of the paintings sold so it was back to the drawing board for a new fundraising idea.
Mr Reade said: “I decided to try to raise funds by producing colourful 60s-style posters representing each of the six principal stations on the famous tourist line from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster.”
Prints of all the posters, framed or unframed and in various sizes, are available from the Engine House Visitor and Education Centre at Highley, which is open whenever the SVR trains are running. For more details call (01299) 403816.
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
LIVE traffic updates
Road, rail and airport - latest
Our new, live traffic and travel updates service - check before you set out.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.