The Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership are proud to announce their Childrens Art Competition …..

The Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership has announced a children’s art competition called the MY CHESHIRE POSTER AWARDS to provide a teaching resource for children who are unable to go to school due to the Coronavirus.

They have teamed up with Chester artist Nicky Thompson to design the awards which are open to all Cheshire children aged 4-11.

The awards are split into 2 age categories: 4-7 and 8-11…with a winner and two runners up in each bracket.

All winners and runners-up will receive a professional set of coloured pencils, and the two overall winners will see their designs adorn 12 station platforms on the Mid Cheshire Line Stations that connects Chester to Manchester via Northwich, Knutsford, Altrincham and Stockport.

The inspiration for the competition is Nicky’s recent Made In Chester exhibition at The Grosvenor Museum.

Click here to look at some of the entries that have already been received.

John Hulme, a member of the Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership and President of Cheshire Best Kept Stations said:

“We hope this project will help teachers and mums and dads by providing an interesting art project to work on with their children, and it will give everyone an opportunity to look at Nicky’s iconic artworks and the history behind them.

“The competition is open to all school children up to 11, no matter which city, town or village you come from.

“All we ask is that the painting is of your favourite place in Cheshire.

“We are working on something really special for the prize giving event, so watch this space!’

Mr Mark Barker, Chair of Cheshire Best Kept Stations said: 

“This poster competition is a great way of involving children in a worthwhile project and helping them to think about their towns and communities.”

Mr David Briggs, the Lord-Lieutenant of Cheshire said:

“This Art Competition has my full support and I am looking forward to seeing our children’s paintings of beautiful Cheshire.

“In these fast changing times, this is a fantastic opportunity to bring out the best in our children and a unique way of keeping them occupied.

“I wish everyone who enters this competition every success.”

Marketing Cheshire’s Nicola Said commented:

“We are delighted to be sponsoring this competition…Nicky’s posters are so beautiful and colourful, we hope that the young artists of Cheshire can use this inspiration to create something magical that will cheer us all up at this difficult time.”

Nicky Thompson said:

“It’s a lovely little competition and I am really looking forward to seeing what the young artists of Cheshire come up with.”

The awards are open until 1st May 2020 and the judges are Nicky Thompson, John Hulme and Katrina Michel (Director CH1 ChesterBID).

Click here to enter the competition and download the template. There is also a downloadable Teacher Resource.

Cheshire Best Kept Stations are supporting Cheshire based charities.

The proceeds of a raffle held at the recent Annual Awards evening plus a further donation have been donated to The Railway Children based in Sandbach who help street children around the world and The Samaritans in Cheshire, who work closely with the railway industry to reach out to people contemplating taking their lives on the railway.

The photograph shows CBKS Chair Mark Barker presenting a £200 cheque to Railway Children staff.

Pictured left to right are : Kate Brindle, Mark Barker, Pauline Medovnikov and Matt Zeqiri.

Handforth Station now boasts another place-name sign on its richly-decorated platforms – and this one is in Greek !

The Hellas Taverna in Handforth has become a regular for several members of the volunteer group Friends of Handforth Station (FoHS). When the restaurant team heard of Handforth station’s collection of “foreign station signs”, they were delighted to sponsor one in Greek.

The new sign transliterates the name of the station from English letters into corresponding Greek ones. As a result, passengers arriving at the station are now greeted with Χαντφορθ on the Manchester-bound platform.

Sofia and Stathis, from the Hellas Taverna, said “We were intrigued when we first saw the collection of signs that the Friends of Handforth Station have installed on their platforms. We suggested that they could do with one in Greek script, and they welcomed what we have donated to them.”

Jenny Barnes, the Arts Coordinator for FoHS, said “My family and I visit the Hellas regularly and Dylan (now 7) has been going since he was in a highchair. Stathis is a nutritionist and the food there is delicious and nutritious. I was delighted when the team from Hellas joined our Friends group at the latest Handforth Paddock Christmas Fair, bringing some wonderful Mavrodfani wine from Sofia’s home village near Patras, along with some melomakarona and baklava.

“We have many place-name signs on our platforms, mainly from rail companies like Netherlands Railways, Ireland’s LUAS, the London Underground and Hong Kong’s Metro. The idea is to make our station stand out from many others and keep us in the public eye; this was a major contributor towards us being awarded over £2M funding from the UK Department of Transport in April 2019 to install step-free access.

“This lovely new Greek sign is very welcome because it has been donated by friends of ours; it illustrates the strength of the relationships between Friends of Handforth Station and the local community in Handforth.

“If you’d like to join us and help make Handforth Station an even better place, please see our web-site www.handforthstation.org.uk.”

 

On presenting Sally with a framed print of Elizabeth Gaskell, one of the Amazing Women in Sally’s project Amazing Women by Rail, Mark Barker, Chair of Cheshire Best Kept Stations said:

“Sally became Community Rail Officer for the Mid Cheshire Line in 2009, an event I well remember as I sat on the interviewing panel together with Michael Ross who is also here tonight.

“One of the best decisions we ever made, I think Mike!

“Sally served in that role for 10 years before moving to a new role with Cheshire West & Chester Council last year.

“The Mid Cheshire Line at that time had lost some of its earlier momentum, but Sally introduced her own style of Creative Partnership Working, developing a network of support and involvement with communities, colleges, volunteers along the line and with the rail industry.

“With colleagues in the CRP and MCRUA, the Mid Cheshire Line was creatively marketed under the ‘Marvellous Days Out’ banner.

“Sally’s skill lay in spotting a potential collaborator and then having the ideas and imagination to work with them to develop an idea into a resounding success.

“The highlight of Sally’s work for me was the Over By Christmas musical commemoration of WW1 in September 2014 in partnership with Theatre in The Quarter.

“400 volunteers including singers and actors in period dress put on 47 live performances at 25 stations not only across Cheshire but also at Manchester Piccadilly and London’s St.Pancras International.

“This unique and breathtaking project reached over 20,000 people.

“In 2015 Mid Cheshire CRP became the first individual CRP to take the Overall Winner Award at ACoRP’s Community Rail Awards.

“Sally has been an influential figure across the community rail movement, serving on the ACoRP Board and helping to found Women in Community Rail.

“Last year she was awarded the MBE for her services to Community Rail and tonight I would like make a presentation to Sally to express our thanks for her work and achievements and her efforts in helping Cheshire Best Kept Stations over the last few years.”

1st Handforth Beavers, Cubs and Scouts have helped Handforth Station to commemorate Remembrance Day. Every year, the Friends of Handforth Station adorn the platforms and ticket office with poppies to mark the occasion.

This year, many youngsters from Handforth joined in the tributes, encouraged by their Scouting Association leaders, by making more poppy-based artwork to grace the station.

The Remembrance Parade went past Handforth Station on its way to and back from the Church Service on Sunday 10^th November. Some of those who marched took time out to have their photographs taken in front of their work.

1st Handforth Beavers (aged 5 to 7) made displays with individually-painted poppies on it, which can now be viewed in the ticket office and in one half of the Friends of Handforth Station’s “Art In A Box” installation.

The Cubs (aged 8 to 10) created remembrance rocks and poppies out of upcycled plastic, which are attached to the fence on the Northbound platform. Scouts (aged 11 to 14) created an Avro Lancaster poppy display in the other half of “Art In A Box”.

Hugh Everett (Secretary, FoHS) said “We were delighted that the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts could help us with this important commemoration. We are very impressed by the efforts they’ve made, and it all helps make our station even more attractive and part of the community.”

The poppies displays will remain at the station for a short while. Friends of Handforth Station then plan to festoon the concourse and the ticket office with traditional Christmas decorations and lights towards the end of November.