Once again FoGS hired a stall at Goostrey Rose Day.
It’s such a good opportunity to display photos of our work and to encourage more local people to join us. We were delighted that our DoE volunteer was there all day. First he helped the Rose Day volunteers to put up the stall awnings and then he talked to visitors to FoGS stall (who included Sarah Russell MP).
15 people completed our questionnaire. All agreed that it was important to have a railway station in the village, especially as it is on the main line from Crewe to Manchester. Half of them usually walked to Goostrey station and a third used it daily or weekly. One person suggested that Goostrey should be a request stop for the Manchester Airport service. It was good to hear that all had noticed improvements since FoGS was established in 2012. One commented that the flowers look amazing, while another wrote that the work FoGS do, both at the station and in the community, is invaluable.
FoGS is a small group of enthusiastic volunteers who want passengers to enjoy using Goostrey Staton. We keep the area tidy, tend flowering plants and encourage children’s art. It’s also important that we continue to improve biodiversity and our understanding of the history of our local railway. Extra help is always welcome. You can find out more by contacting Craig Sidebotham on 01477 544111 or by looking at our website.

On the morning of Friday 3rd July there was an art unveiling ceremony at Delamere Station to celebrate the recently installed art panels created by the pupils of Delamere C of E Academy Primary School.

At 10.30am Community Rail Officer Sarah Muir gave a short welcome speech to the invited guests who had assembled on Pl.2 to attend the unveiling. Sarah then handed over to Delamere school pupils and Arts Council representatives Ellie and Esme who cut the red ribbon on these colourful panels which are on display in the stone waiting shelter on this platform. The pair were given a big round of applause by the invited guests who included their incoming head teacher Juliette Inskip, project funders and Delamere Station volunteers.

Lead station volunteer Dave Sutton came up with the idea for the platform art last year and contacted the school who were keen to help. Sarah Muir of the Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership helped to coordinate the project and worked with Johnsons of Nantwich who printed the children’s artwork on the aluminium panels.

The colourful and creative pictures feature scenes and landmarks from the local area.

Lead volunteer David Sutton said “I thought the artwork was sensational and showed off our community, its school, station and forest,”

We would like to thank Delamere C of E Primary Academy for providing the artwork for their local station.

Thanks also go to Cross Country, Northern Trains Ltd, Friends of Delamere Station and Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership for their funding and support of this project.

Again on 3rd July at 11.30am there was an art unveiling morning at Mouldsworth Station to celebrate the recently installed panels which feature the colourful and creative artwork from the pupils of nearby Ashton Hayes Primary School. The pictures were inspired by train travel and scenes from the local area. The art panels can be found along Platform1 and also in the stone waiting shelter on Platform.2.

Community Rail officer Sarah Muir kicked off proceedings with a short welcome speech and then handed over to Eric Hogg who is a Year 5 pupil from the school and along with parents  Clair and Neil Hogg is also a volunteer at the station out of school hours. Eric delivered a fantastic speech of his own before snipping the red ribbon on one of the panels and receiving a round of applause from  the assembled guests and  fellow pupils. Clair Hogg came up with the idea to brighten the station up with some artwork last year and invited the school to help. The panels were produced by print and design company Johnsons of Nantwich.

Eric Hogg said “As a Mouldsworth station volunteer and pupil at Ashton Hayes Primary School I was very proud to unveil the artwork created by my school. We all enjoyed drawing trains and the countryside. We hope everyone enjoys the artwork for many years to come.”

On Saturday 20th June 2026 Handforth Town Council commemorated Armed Forces Day at the Handforth Youth and Community Centre. The event included a display of military vehicles, a bouncy castle, live music (provided by local radio station Cheshire’s Silk 106.9) and stalls selling food and drink.  In addition, several local clubs and societies were represented by their own individual stalls.

The Friends of Handforth Station (FoHS) were pleased to contribute to the event by hosting a stall. Information was available about Network Rail’s plans for lift installation at Handforth station, images and photographs of work FoHS has done for the local community, and of wartime railway memorabilia and posters.

The FoHS also ran a looped slideshow on a large screen, showing photos and diagrams on the topic of Handforth’s two wartime military branch lines.

Among the many visitors to the FoHS stall was a local historian from Wilmslow, who was keen to discuss RAF 61 MU (Handforth’s  wartime RAF Maintenance Unit).

Perhaps the most significant visitor to the FoHS stall was the Rt. Hon. Esther McVey, MP for the Tatton constituency. She discussed the Access For All lifts project with FoHS members Rosemary Thomason and Roger Small. Esther said that she had contacted the CEO of Network Rail to try to speed up the installation of lifts, now more than seven years in the making!

Rosemary Thomason, Chair of the FoHS, said, ‘We were pleased to have been able to contribute to the Armed Forces Day event. We were delighted that Esther McVey visited our stall and we welcome her support, as our local MP, in progressing lift installation at the station.’

May was a busy month for FoGS.

We’re delighted that Sylvia and Megan have renewed the plants in all the platform tubs. Their aim is to have a colourful display throughout the year. Thanks go to Wickes for donating bags of compost.

On 7th May, Debbie and Jenny welcomed Goostrey cubs to Goostrey Art Studio. The challenge was to make a wind chime. The photo shows how much the children enjoyed the craft session!

At the end of May, three members of Friends of Chapel en le Frith Station came to Goostrey. It’s good to meet others who also want to improve their local station, and afterwards Sue Murdoch commented ‘We came away with lots of ideas.’  The visitors were impressed by the restoration of our wooden Victorian building. They want to put together a case to renovate their station building. Currently there’s a hole in the roof, water damage and rooms full of items left by a former user. We discovered that Chapel and Goostrey volunteers share an interest in monitoring biodiversity around the railway through GIS and the iNaturalist App, so hopefully we can work on this together.

FoGS are always looking for new members. You can meet us on the second Sunday of the month at Goostrey Station.

Alternatively, please contact Craig on 01477 544111.

Gavin has uploaded a wealth of information onto FoGS’ website https://www.friendsofgoostreystation.org/ so you can read about our achievements and about greener travel locally.