Station friends groups at Glossop, Hadfield, Hattersley and Guide Bridge have hosted a collaborative Teddy Bears’ Picnic for local families on Saturday 17 June.
With the kind support of Northern, free train travel was offered to all families traveling with children for three hours. Around 45 families joined on the day, including Ukrainian families newly settled in the area.
Each station offered a free ‘Find the Bear’ competition and picnic food, and the volunteer groups took the opportunity to showcase each station’s facilities to the new passengers. In the case of Hattersley, this included the revived station gardens; at Guide Bridge, the Memorial Garden offered a trail for families and the chance to see the rooms that will soon form the Woodhead Railway Museum.
Neil Williams of the Friends of Glossop Station said: “There were lots of happy families around on the day. The majority had not used the train before, or had not used them for some time, so we hope that we have encouraged more families to travel by train, and that they will return to the Glossop Line and its stations.
“I asked every family I met where they had travelled from and how they heard about the event. It was interesting that they had heard about it from a range of different places, including social media, posters, flyers, libraries – which just goes to show how important it is for station groups such as ours to make use of all these mediums.
“We would like to thank Becky Styles, Northern’s Community and Sustainability Manager, for her support and for arranging the free travel. There were lots of nice comments about Northern’s drivers and guards also entering into the spirit of the event, with cheery chats and waves.
“We are also grateful for the support we received from Sarah Morgan and John Kenny at the South East Manchester CRP, who joined us on the day. And to Catherine Croney, Helen Wright and Megan Carroll at the High Peak and Hope Valley CRP, for their promotion of the event.”
You can keep up to date with future news, projects, and events from the Friends of Glossop Station via their website.
