Enjoy our slide show below of how the centenary of the end of WW1 was commemorated at Cheshire’s stations including:
Crewe Railway Station
Goostrey Railway Station
Handforth Railway Station
Hattersley Railway Station
Reddish South Railway Station
Romiley Railway Station
We look forward to presenting a special WW1 Commemoration Award at our 2018 Best Kept Station Awards Evening on Tuesday 5th February 2019.
The twinning was marked this week by a handover of four station name boards, two in Irish and two in English. One of each is now displayed at Handforth station.
Following a visit to Handforth from John Reville, Passenger Service Manager, Irish Rail and Gerry Rafferty from Malahide, Mike Bishop, Chairman of Friends of Handforth Station, returned the visit and received a Malahide flag to fly at Handforth.
A Handforth flag depicting the Honford star and Handforth Hall will fly at Malahide Station.
Liam Sumpter, Central Regional Director for Northern and Jools Townsend, CEO of ACoRP were at the station to see the work that the Friends of Handforth Station had and continue to progress at the station since they, the first station Friends group in ACoRP were formed in 1996.
Liam Sumpter, Regional Director for Northern, said: “We’re really impressed with the excellent work carried out by Handforth Station in creating such valuable links with international stations. The group has continuously delivered excellent results for their community and Northern, and we are really proud to have the Malahide flag at Handforth station. I look forward to seeing what this outstanding group does next.”
Jools Townsend, chief executive, Association of Community Rail Partnerships, (ACoRP) says: “It’s wonderful to see such a long-running station friends group going from strength to strength – and now being twinned with Malahide Station in Ireland. We know from our work supporting hundreds of community rail groups across Britain how important these groups are to their communities. They not only make stations more welcoming, pleasant places, but also bring local people together, promote pride and understanding, and help more people to access sustainable travel by rail. The Friends of Handforth are exemplary in the fantastic range of work they carry out to engage the community. We look forward to continuing to work with them to share their good practice and ideas across the community rail network.”
Mike Bishop, founder of the Friends added “It is thanks to the continuing support of Northern, ACoRP, Irish Rail and all our Sponsors which enables us to make the station a unique welcoming gateway to the village.”
Andrew Backhouse, Chair of Friends of Handforth Station said “Twinning, we hope will bring some mutual exchanges of good ideas, occasional visits, and just a bit more ‘spice’ to life as friends of a station! Friends in Ireland now, where next for Handforth Station Friends?”
Speaking about other developments Andrew added “We can now say that there is progress on some other actions. Handforth will finally get its electronic display system this month and a half hourly service into the evening will start at last.
“These are some of the things we have campaigned about without much progress for a long time. Perhaps we will soon be able to tell everyone some progress on disabled access…..”
CBKS Chair Mark Barker presents Val Brignall of Railway Children with a cheque for £150
The funds were raised at the recent Cheshire Best Kept Stations 2017 Awards Evening.
Railway Children is a Sandbach based charity that works to help street children in India, Africa and the UK.
A similar donation was made to the Northwich branch of The Samaritans.
Mark said:
“We are delighted to be able to support these charities that do an amazing job as well as showcasing the work of volunteer groups at Cheshire ‘s stations.”
Cheshire Best Kept Stations have announced the date of their 2017 Awards Evening.
This will be held from 7.00 pm on Thursday 23rd January 2018 at The Grange Theatre, Bradburns Lane, Hartford, Northwich.
This will be the 15th Awards Evening, which is held annually to encourage, promote and recognise the work of Station Adoption and other community groups in caring for local stations throughout the former county of Cheshire.
The evening brings together volunteers, the railway industry and civic leaders for an inspiring and enjoyable evening.
Chair of Cheshire Best Kept Stations, Mark Barker said: ” We believe that Cheshire is the only county to have a Best Kept Station competition. From the Wirral to the Pennines, and the Mersey to the Dee, there are over 100 stations, 6 Train Companies managing these stations, and 8 Boroughs in the former county. There is always keen rivalry to see which stations scoop the Awards.”
If you wish to receive an invitation to the event, please contact our Team using the Contact Page above.
In a secretive project co-ordinated by NCRUG Volunteer and Publicity Officer, Ian Whitley, with the help of the NCRUG committee, Arriva Trains Wales and many other partners a plaque to recognise the incredible contribution made by long standing member John Hobbs was unveiled at Runcorn East railway station.
Colleagues, friends and family gathered at Runcorn East to witness the unveiling.
John was modest when Mark Warren, NCRUG chairman spoke about his service and achievements praising the team but we can all agree he deserves the recognition.
Runcorn East has benefited from his passion and determination and while his biggest challenge to tackle was the restoration of regular passenger services on the Halton Curve, the station seemed the most appropriate place for the plaque.
John’s railway work is extensive. He has campaigned with NCRUG for services over the Halton curve, coordinated the adoption and projects at Runcorn East, been a working member of Cheshire Best Kept Stations and has been an active volunteer on the East Lancashire Railway both on the footplate and at an organisational level.
Sadly, John passed away on 7th September 2017.
Images courtesy North Cheshire Rail Users Group.