Cheshire Best Kept Stations

News Item

Cheshire Best Kept Stations announce their 2025 Photographic Competition Award ….

Cheshire Best Kept Stations are pleased to announce details of our 2025 Photo Competition in collaboration with Cheshire Life Magazine.

We invite Station Friends groups and other Community Groups to showcase your stations and the work that you are all doing on them.

The theme is Making a Difference.

Show us what makes your station Special:

Is it the people, the gardens, the buildings, even the view from the platforms?

Colour, Composition and Lighting all help to make a great photo.

Time of day and even the season can make a difference.

So plan your photos carefully and take your time.

Modern phones can take excellent quality photos so don’t worry if you don’t have a high spec digital camera.

Essential requirements:

  • Photos must be high resolution and in JPEG format
  • Photographs should have been taken this year
  • The filename of each image should include the name of your station, a title, and the name of the photographer
  • A maximum of three photos per station
  • Any photos that show health and safety contraventions on the railway or station will be disqualified
  • This competition is not open to professional photographers

In submitting photos, you confirm that:

  • All people within the photos have provided consent for them to be used in publicity including print, online and all social media channels
  • If the photos contain images of children under the age of 18 written consent must be secured from the parent or guardian, either directly or via their school/college
  • You are the owner of the image(s) and agree to it/them being used in publicity. Or, the image(s) is/are not your own but you have the relevant permissions/consent to submit on behalf of the owner, and they agree to them being used in publicity. In this case, you must state who you are submitting on behalf of

Your entries should be emailed to nominations@bestkeptstations.org.uk and we should receive them by 17.00 on Saturday 13th September.

We are delighted to be working with Cheshire Life magazine on the competition.

Shortlisted entries will be featured in a subsequent edition of the magazine and there will then be a public online vote via our website.

The winner will be announced at the 2025 Awards Evening when the Cheshire Life Photographic Award will be presented.

Click here for further details of our 2025 Awards including nominations for our Art Project, Community Engagement, Sustainability and Railway 200 Awards which should also be submitted by 3rd October.

Cheshire Best Kept Station Nominated Awards 2025 are announced …..

Cheshire Best Kept Stations are pleased to announce the launch of our 2025 Awards.

Nominations are invited for the following 2025 Nominated Categories by Friday 3rd October 2025 …..

Please note, you do not have to nominate your station in our regular station award categories.
Our team of judges will be out judging Cheshire’s Best Kept Stations for these awards between 9th June and 9th August 2025.

Community Engagement Award
How are you engaging with your members, the travelling public, the local community (including other local community groups of all types including local schools)?

How do you publicise what you do? How do you encourage others to get involved with the station? Does what you do encourage more people to take an interest in the station as well as rail travel generally? How does what you do promote mental wellbeing?

What use do you make of emails, phone calls, websites, blogs, face to face meetings and activities, zoom meetings etc? What sort of activities do you engage in? Do you get involved/work with other groups locally away from your station? How do you hope to expand your community engagement in the future?

This nomination covers anything that you have undertaken between 1st September 2024 and 30th September 2025 inclusive as well as your plans for the future as mentioned above. 

Art Projects Award
Tell us about any art project(s) that you have delivered in the last year

How was the project chosen and what consultation within the community took place? Who was involved in the delivery of the project and how was the project funded? What was the impact of the art-work and how has it improved the station?

Art projects are not simply confined to pictures but can include anything of an artistic nature as well as the written word (such as sculptures, carvings, poetry displays, posters promoting the station or community, inclusivity, booklets etc.).

This nomination includes anything that you have undertaken between 1st September 2024 and 30th September 2025

Sustainability Award
This is a wide-ranging category that covers anything which improves or promotes any type of sustainability at the station. What are you doing to improve the sustainability of your station activities? How are you resourcing your work?  How does your work benefit all types of wildlife in and around the station?  Do you have managed wild flower areas? Possible features could include rainwater harvesting, solar power, composting, use of recycled materials, planting to encourage pollinators, choice of drought resistant and low maintenance plants, the provision of bird and bat boxes, bug hotels, research into wildlife etc. plus working with specialist and other groups that promote sustainability.

Have you undertaken projects and activities to promote walking and cycling to and from the station or in and around your station? Do you provide walks booklets/leaflets?  Do you offer any practical help to others?  Have you organised and led walks that involve the use of rail (or other forms of public transport) in part?

This nomination is for any activities undertaken between 1st September 2024 and 30th  September 2025. 

Railway 200 Award
This year we are celebrating 200 years of modern railways in the world with the coming of the Stockton & Darlington railway. Celebrations are planned across the country with some national events taking place and a special website, www.railway200.co.uk giving news, information and materials to plan an event,

What are you doing to celebrate Railway200? It could be a community event, a commemorative historical display at your station, or simply branding an existing feature to let passengers know. This is a great opportunity to draw attention to the railway and the benefits of travelling by train.

This nomination is for any activities taking place between 1st January and 30th September 2025

Nominations in all of the above categories should consist of up to two sides of A4 plus up to six images, videos, links to YouTube etc or other documents (eg press cuttings) which should be submitted as separate files.

Nominations should be submitted no later than 17.00 on Friday 3rd October 2025 by email to nominations@bestkeptstations.org.uk. Any queries how to compile a nomination may also be made to this email address

Nominations can be submitted by Friends Groups, other Community Groups, Community Rail Partnerships, Train Operating Companies, Local Authorities (including Town and Parish councils) or any other interested stakeholder. 

Click here for details of our 2025 Photographic Competition  which we are partnering with Cheshire Life magazine.

Goostrey Station are celebrating again! ….

Spring 2025 saw FoGS receiving more awards for our work to improve Goostrey station.

In February, we won the Community Engagement Award from Cheshire Best Kept Stations (CBKS) and so we have a tenth totem to display at the station.

This award recognised the variety of ways in which FoGS are involved with local people.

For example, we ran a stall at Rose Day and we contributed to Goostrey Parish Archive’s transport exhibition during Goosfest. We also helped Jodrell Side WI with their project to create a coronation wall-hanging.  And Debbie Goldsmith regularly leads workshops for children at Goostrey Art Studio and in towns like Crewe and Bury.

We were successful in the CBKS photo competition too.  ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ received enough votes from our supporters to secure second place.

In March, FoGS were invited to attend the 20th Community Rail Awards in Newcastle-on-Tyne, where we were competing against 75 Community Rail Partnerships and over 1000 volunteer groups.

Just over 50% of the 227 entries were shortlisted, including all four that FoGS submitted.

Through public voting we were placed third for our photo.  And we achieved enough points in the category It’s Your Station to be in the top 4 out of 40 volunteer groups, so we received a platinum certificate (unfortunately it wasn’t made of metal – just paper!).

 

200 Years of Modern Railways ….

2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway. In September 1825, the first public railway to use steam locomotives was opened, between Stockton and Darlington.

See the web-site Railway 200 for information about how this anniversary is being commemorated nationwide.

Locally, the Friends of Handforth Station (FoHS) are developing several events to help celebrate Railway 200. These include an exhibition of rail-related poems, a joint “open day” with the miniature railway in Handforth’s Meriton Road Park (run by Handforth Model Engineering Society), a new stainless-steel “Railway 200 screen” to match their current “Millennium screen”, and a “Rail Ale Trail”. All profits from all events will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Society, being the chosen charity of the Railway 200 organisation.

The Rail Ale Trail will be hosted by the stations between Manchester Piccadilly and Crewe (the Crewe to Manchester line). Many of these stations have “Friends of” groups, and FoHS are coordinating the organisation of the Rail Ale Trail. The Rail Ale Trail is intended to promote little-known attractions of each station and village/town, not least including at minimum one pub near each station.

The initial planning meeting for the Rail Ale Trail was hosted by FoHS in the Railway Pub (opposite Handforth Station) on Tuesday 18th February. Attendees included other “Friends of” groups on the line, representatives of two local CAMRA groups, the local Robinsons Brewery manager, and the Community Rail Officer for the Crewe to Manchester line. The landlady of The Railway, Sue Norman, provided the morning meeting with tea, coffee and biscuits.

Matthew Curtis, photographer and writer (and long-term CAMRA member) said “A rail trail is the perfect way to enjoy some of the best pubs and discover local beers and nuggets of history along the way.”

Hugh Everett, Secretary of the FoHS, added “This Rail Trail will be promoted all year, and we expect that it will continue for many years to come. It will allow people to appreciate the communities that have grown up around each of the stations since the Crewe to Manchester line was opened in 1842. After all, in North Cheshire we are very close to the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and home to several of its innovations.”

The Rail Ale Trail is expected to open in late Spring. Other Railway 200 events will run throughout 2025.

Joseph Harrop – half a century working on the railway ….

What a lovely surprise! Last year Lynn Gerber contacted Friends of Goostrey Station through our website friendsofgoostreystation.org because she thought we might be interested in a photo of her grandfather Joseph Harrop. Of course, we are!

Joseph was born in March 1895 and started work as a porter at Goostrey Station in January 1911. In the photo, Joseph is seated on the left of the bench.  But who are the other men? Could they be Mr Lockett, Mr Brandreth, Mr Thompson or Mr Wilde who were living in station cottages at the time of the 1911 census? If you can identify either of these people, please get in touch with FoGS chair Craig Sidebotham on 01477 544111.

In September 1914, at the start of WW1, Lynn’s grandfather volunteered for the Royal Marines and he was wounded at Gallipoli. On his return to civilian life at the end of the war, Joseph trained as a signalman at Eccles and he was subsequently employed at several stations on the Crewe-Manchester line. When the system was modernised in 1959, he changed job and became a porter again.

After WW2, Joseph received a commendation for his devotion to duty in Goostrey Home Guard. In 1927 he had joined the St John Ambulance and the training he received allowed him to lead the ambulance section.

On his 65th birthday, Joseph was given a gold wrist watch by British Rail. When he retired in October 1961, officials  presented him with a long-service certificate and he received a clock from the staff at Goostrey, Holmes Chapel and Sandbach stations.

Joseph’s granddaughter Lynn has provided FoGS with a precious glimpse into the life of someone who worked for half a century on the local railway. She described him as a lovely man who was well respected. He was an active member of the labour party and, as a keen gardener, he was also secretary of the Allotment Association and the Gooseberry Society.  She added that ’it’s a really nice feeling to know that my grandfather’s story is still being remembered’.