Hello everyone, we hope this newsletter finds you warm and well, and you are enjoying the run-up to the festive season. As this is our final edition of 2024, you’ll find a bumper range of updates below. We wish you all the best for the festive season and new year.
Engaging government ministers
Last week we had a positive meeting with Rail Minister Lord Hendy. As you are hopefully aware, Lord Hendy is a great supporter of community rail, and emphasised this in our meeting. We are looking forward to working with him closely over the coming years. He appeared before the Transport Select Committee today (11 December): watch it here.
We will be extending an invitation to Heidi Alexander, the new Secretary of State for Transport, to see community rail in action sometime early in the new year, hopefully linked to Railway 200. Many of you will have seen her announcement last week regarding the first train operating companies to be brought into public ownership.
Integrated transport strategy
Jools attended the launch event initiating work on an Integrated National Transport Strategy for England, and was encouraged by the emphasis on creating a more people and community orientated transport system, with local needs at the fore. See our reaction. We are looking forward to feeding into the government’s call for ideas and exploring whether community rail could be involved in the engagement exercises supporting the strategy’s development.
We have just published a policy recommendations paper on integrated sustainable transport, which we will be using to support our strategic advisory work on this topic.
Community Rail Awards
We are thrilled to announce the shortlisted entries for the 2025 Community Rail Awards here. The judges were bowled over by the range of work going on across the network and positive impacts this creates. Thank you to everyone who entered.
Book your place for the presentation evening on Thursday 13 March 2025 in Newcastle, explore the exciting fringe activities on offer, and help choose the photo that best showcases ‘the essence of community rail’ in our photography competition, sponsored by Porterbrook.
Community Rail Week 2025
Next year’s Community Rail Week will be 19-25 May 2025, and will centre around Railway 200. Please put the date in your diary. To discuss your ideas, contact our comms & policy team.
Team updates
We’re delighted to announce that we’ve recruited Sam Agnew as our new director of member support & development. Starting on 10 February, Sam will bring over 20 years’ experience in the charitable sector, and a wealth of expertise in overseeing services that support communities to overcome barriers and stay connected.
We have also just welcomed Sally Whitehead to the team as coordinator for our Travelling with Confidence programme, funded by the Motability Foundation: a two-year project aiming to empower 1,500 disabled people to use rail and connected modes with confidence.
Lastly, a reminder that Bill Freeman will start with us in the new year as interim chief executive, while Jools takes parental leave. Jools and Bill’s handover is getting underway with a session this week, plus they have a week’s overlap in the new year, to ensure a smooth transition. Bill has asked us to pass on how much he’s looking forward to getting stuck in. You’ll hear further from him in our first bulletin of the new year.
Charitable status proposal
We are continuing to develop our proposal to register Community Rail Network as a charity, which will be put to members at our AGM on 28 January. To remind, this won’t cause any changes to the support we provide or affect members’ set-up and governance arrangements as independent organisations and groups. Find out more here and book your place for the AGM.
Share your winter photos
We’re looking for scenic winter photos featuring stations, trains or people on trains and stations, to feature in our Scenic Rail Britain winter campaign, from 21 December. Share your wintery photos with us along with a photo credit and caption, by 5pm on 17 December.
Video content callout
We’re asking members to submit video clips sharing your favourite aspects of community rail and what it means to you, to use across our promotions next year. Videos should be no longer than 30 seconds and of good quality. Send clips or any queries to our comms & policy team.
Send your stories to news@communityrail.org.uk and see our guidance on submitting stories.
Your next bulletin is on 8 January. Keep up-to-date in between on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Bluesky and X.
Best wishes,
Jeremy and Jools
- Celebrating 200 years of the Liverpool-Manchester railway
- Apply for Rocket 2030 Partnership community development officer position
- South Western Railway community fund now open for applications
- Govia Thameslink Railway community fund now open for applications
- Vote for your favourite in Cheshire Best Kept Stations photo competition
- Campaign for Better Transport calls for National Bus Stop Standard
- Illustrated poetry book guides young readers on Mid Cheshire Line adventure
- Community artwork creates a warm welcome for refugees at Bath Spa Station
- Heart of England CRP announces winners of Rail Tales competition
- Young adopters bring Christmas cheer to Flimby Station
- Local MP praises ‘amazing efforts’ of Marshlink Line CRP and station volunteers
- Sway Station mural celebrates local community connections and biodiversity
- Pupils create active travel inspired artwork for Church & Oswaldtwistle Station
- Ore Station community gardener wins award for excellence in volunteering
- Community Rail Lancashire seeking dedicated SEND Officer
