Community Rail Awards 2025 now open for Entries! Click here to read more.

Search
Close this search box.

400 schoolchildren create artistic ‘beacon of hope’ at Prestbury Station

Passengers arriving at Prestbury Station are now greeted by a ‘beacon of hope’ in the form of a new piece of community artwork.

The project was born out of the Friends of Prestbury Station’s aim to transform the neglected area under the pedestrian bridge by installing a piece of vibrant community art.

Volunteer Carol Waters, who came up with the idea for the display, took a lead on delivering the project. The volunteer group teamed up with Prestbury CE Primary School, where 400 pupils painted images that represent ‘hope’ onto tiles.

The Friends of Prestbury Station then brought together all of the artwork to create a stunning display, which was unveiled during a ceremony at the station at the end of June.

Funding for the project was provided by Community Rail Network and Northern, with Tile Giant Macclesfield donating the tiles and volunteers Shaun O’Neill and Peter Holes designing, building and installing the artwork’s steel frame.

Alex Thomas, president of the Friends of Prestbury Station, said: “We’re really pleased the project has been completed. It’s turned out even better than we hoped it would.

“We had the schoolchildren come down to the station and unveil the artwork themselves and you could see by the look on their faces they were thrilled. The project has delivered everything we thought it would. It brought the community together – young and old – all with a collective goal of improving our station.

“This is the culmination of a lot of hard work and effort. Huge thanks to everyone involved.”

Craig Harrop, regional director for Northern, said: “We’re grateful to the talented children and volunteers who have worked so hard to create this fantastic display that our customers can enjoy for years to come.

“We are proud to work with hundreds of adoption groups who are committed to making stations across our network pleasant and welcoming places for people to visit.”