Worcestershire Community Rail Partnership is very sad to announce that our first Chair, William Whiting, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Sunday 29th January 2023.
We send our deep condolences to his family.

William was the essence of partnership. He had a shared understanding with railway companies, local authorities and West Midlands Rail Executive of the challenges facing the industry in delivering the best services for passengers and communities, and he worked with them constructively, pragmatically but robustly to seek the best solutions. His influence was wide. He chaired the Stourbridge Line User Group up to his death and had previously chaired Railfuture West Midlands and been a Board member of Railfuture UK.

William will be greatly missed by all of us at WCRP. He was our first Chair, was instrumental in establishing WCRP in 2019, and led its many successful station adoption, marketing and educational initiatives. He came to the end of his 3 year service as Chair only in December 2022, and was rightly especially proud of his role in the ‘Platform Community Education Scheme’ which won the Community Rail Network’s 2022 award in its category titled ‘Influencing Positive Change & Sustainability’, words which precisely sum up William’s values and focus.

Ian Baxter, WCRP Chair 2023 said “William was a gentleman, bringing drive, energy and endless enthusiasm to WCRP. Having worked with him over many years from the industry part of the table, I was privileged to have him hand the WCRP baton to me just before Christmas. His death is a shock and a very great loss. We will work hard to continue to build on his legacy.”