As the Design Stage progresses for the provision of lifts at Handforth Train Station, plans continue for making the station more inclusive in other areas. The Friends of Handforth Station are hoping to welcome new rail users who have previously found rail travel from the station difficult.

Jenny Barnes, the Chair and the Arts Coordinator of FoHS, said, “Most of us welcome the return of the noise and bustle of life as the pandemic restrictions ease, but we must remember that some of our community find life’s excitement challenging. We want to make our station more friendly for them.”

The FoHS have partnered with the Seashell Trust, who support students with complex learning difficulties, disabilities and additional communication needs.

Jenny added, “The Seashell Trust have been wonderful advocates of our campaign for step-free access. They have also helped us understand what inclusivity means for their students.”

The Seashell Trust (headquartered near the border between Handforth and Cheadle Hulme) asked the fibreglass sculptor Kristian Movahed to create a soothing and reassuring seat for their students. The curvaceous and welcoming Avoseat was born.

The FoHS are now proposing to install a similar Avoseat on the Handforth Station concourse outside the ticket office.

Kristian Movahed, a fiberglass specialist who has contributed to Manchester’s Bee in the City,  will be visiting Handforth Station with his Avoseat  on Wednesday 26^th May between 10.30am and 1.30pm. “Please come along, have a look and tell us what you think,” he said.

News from Friends of Goostrey Station ….

The Friends of Goostrey Station are keen to improve the environment around Goostrey railway station.

This includes creating bug hotels and mounting boxes for birds and bats.

Members have identified Pipistrelles using a bat detector and they have spotted nesting blue-tits.

Now there are plans to introduce plant species that encourage wildlife.

Since June 2019, vice chair Craig Sidebotham has been recording the various species and habitats around the station using a Geographical Information System (GIS) which has software to create maps.

These can be seen on the FOGS website friendsofgoostreystation.org

Currently Craig is using the same software to create GIS maps which will allow people to catalogue and monitor plastic pollution washed up on the beaches of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.

So this is where FOGS goes global!

Craig’s friend Andrew Gaunt lives on the volcanic island of Faial, one of the nine islands in the archipelago.

As a former mariner, he has great affinity with and respect for the sea. In the summer of 2018, Andrew carried out his first beach clean in a remote location to the west of the island; he filled a small bag to the brim with plastic debris.

Now he collects sackfuls each week and is intrigued by what he can deduce from closer examination of the rubbish. Analysis indicates that much of it originates in the lobster, mussel and net trawling industries of North America.

Andrew has identified the names, telephone numbers and licences of fishing boat owners.

He has found plastics originating from as far north as Greenland and as far south as South Africa.  In addition, he can work out how long plastics have been in the ocean (and for some that is over 20 years).

Hundreds of plastic bottle tops regularly make land fall.

And there are multitudes of single flip flops, shotgun cartridge cases, plastic pegs, printer cartridges, plastic lighters and nurdles.  Nurdles are very small plastic pellets, the building blocks of all plastic products around the world; they are negligently lost during transport from petrochemical production sites all around the globe.

Andrew’s beach cleans are posted on Instagram (hashtag midatlanticmarconi).

Recently he has started to work with students from the University of the Azores and with enthusiasts in Cornwall (hashtag turnthetidecornwall).

The aim is to raise awareness of plastic pollution in our oceans and Friends of Goostrey Station are delighted to help.

The Friends of Handforth Station continue to work with many in the community as they plan design enhancements for the installation of lifts to the station’s platforms. Throughout the pandemic they have been holding workshops and other meetings remotely … using Zoom …..

The most recent project was developed from Handforth Grange school’s Handforth gets Global initiative. Local artist Lorna Green was introduced by FoHS to the school, who appointed her to work with their pupils using video-conferencing (this time MS-Teams).

Jenny Barnes, the Chair of FoHS, said “FoHS have worked with local artists for many years, and this current initiative is part of our strategy to connect our network of artists with local schools. Our promotion of online activities like these alleviates some pressure on the timetable and gives everyone a bit of a different creative space.

“I’m glad to say that our Zoom meetings run very smoothly, with no arguments or shouting, and we may try out MS-Teams next time.

“Handforth Gets Global is a great theme and is giving us lots of opportunity to re-connect with the schools and be creative. We’d love to display the result of the school’s work at the station when COVID-19 regulations allow – in the meantime we will rely on our website gallery and social media sharing.”

Jessica  Dolby, Assistant Head at Handforth Grange, said “The children were very keen and produced many wonderfully creative globes. The workshops also allowed the children to show off their knowledge of different countries around the world.

“Any works that aren’t perishable will be kept for when the children return to school, which we now know will be very soon.”

Lorna added “I ran three workshops via MS-Teams which went very well. The children were fully engrossed and made some beautiful, imaginative and thought provoking works in both 3D and 2D using a wide variety of materials sourced from their homes.

“The children are well used to MS-Teams and I found I could see each child individually if the teacher highlighted them, which felt very much like normal one-to-one teaching.”

Friends of Handforth Station are now planning to discuss with other stations on the railway line, as well as their twin station Malahide in Ireland, about involvement in similar projects.