Cheshire Best Kept Stations

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Free Heritage Tours at Handforth Station ….

The Friends of Handforth Station (FoHS) have been running several events this year to help commemorate Railway 200. This effort reaches its peak in September as the group presents its biggest contribution towards Railway 200 so far: free guided tours of the Station.

Handforth Station is well known throughout the area for its heritage, and the FoHS pride themselves on maintaining and preserving this. They have mounted heritage signs which have been designated as “nationally important” by the Science Museum Group. They have created and display video stories about local history. The station is well-known for the large number of “Handforth“ totems (platform signs) procured by the FoHS.

The FoHS have also received and display numerous awards, especially for their “Platform for Art” which includes sculptures, artistic stainless steel screens and welcoming arches over the steps to the platforms. In addition, the station features a ‘Rotary Club Garden’ and planters provided by 1st Handforth Scouts and Handforth District Guides.

Especially for Railway 200, poems are displayed in the community information boards, and there is an ever-changing exhibition in their “Art in a Box” gallery (created from two disused bicycle lockers !).

The tours this September are also a part of the UK-wide ‘Heritage Open Days 2025’ programme, and more can be seen on their website here: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/

Each tour will last up to an hour, and will be led by a member of FoHS, ready to give an entertaining talk about the station and happy to discuss Handforth, its station and railways in general.

Dates and Start Times

Saturday 13 September:             1030 & 1400

Sunday 14 September:                1030 & 1400

Saturday 20 September:             1030 & 1400

Sunday 21 September:                1030 & 1400

Hugh Everett, Secretary of the FoHS, said “We’d love to welcome people to see and hear about what we’re doing for the station. I should advise you, however, that the tour involves going up and down 35 steps, and there are no toilet facilities at the station.”

 

Exciting News for our Cheshire Best Kept Stations ….

We have some exciting news to share!

If you’re heading to your local supermarket, be sure to pick up the July edition of Cheshire Life.

The front cover says it all:

“Action stations – Our railway series departs at Delamere.”

This is the first in a bi-monthly series of articles celebrating Community Rail at our Cheshire stations — our very own Cheshire Best Kept Stations!

Written by our Founder and President, John Hulme BEM, the series shines a light on the people and stories behind our stations.
John says:

“It’s been a great privilege to write for Cheshire Life, but none of this would be possible without the hard work of the station groups and the dedication of our rail staff to the stations.
Without your care, I wouldn’t have stories to tell.
We begin with Delamere on the Mid Cheshire Line – winners of the Cheshire West and Chester Award 2024.
It may be a small village station, but it has a remarkable story.
Thanks to the support of the Cheshire Life photographer, Kirsty Thompson, we’ve captured some fantastic images to bring it to life.”

👉 Click here to take a sneak peek at the six-page spread.

Coming up in the series:

  • September edition: Nantwich Railway Station – our 2024 Overall Winner
  • November edition: Altrincham Interchange– marking Remembrance and stories from the Great War

We’d love you to pick up a copy, have a read, and let us know what you think.

And if you have a story to share about your Cheshire station — we’d love to hear from you!

The magazine is available at supermarkets and newsagents across Cheshire, North Wales, and what many still call “Old Cheshire” – Warrington, Wirral, and Stockport.

If you’re outside the area, why not grab a copy when passing through a Cheshire station with a newsstand?

Or better still — subscribe!

Subscriber benefits:

  • Just over £3 per copy with a 12-month plan
  • Use code LOVE25 at checkout to get a £10 voucher (redeemable at Amazon, M&S, John Lewis, Waitrose and more)
  • Home delivery, plus exclusive invites to Cheshire Life events and newsletters
  • Access to the digital edition on smartphone, tablet and desktop
  • Explore 100’s of previous issues to browse and share
  • Subscriptions starting now will receive the September edition (and possibly August, depending on timing)

👉 Click here for full subscription details.

We’re very grateful to Joanne Goodwin, the editor of Cheshire Life, for inviting us to contribute to Cheshire’s top monthly magazine.

And finally — please help spread the word by sharing this exciting news on your own social media channels.

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!).