Hello everyone. We hope, as always, that this bulletin finds you warm and well.

Planning for 2024-25

We have been putting together plans for 2024-25, reflecting members’ needs and ideas and our changing external environment, and drawing heavily on our members’ survey. Key aspects include:

• a new tourism and leisure strategy to enhance our work on Scenic Rail Britain, supporting members on rail promotion, and developing partnerships with the tourism sector;
• further developing our education and youth engagement support, including via the Education Network and with key partners like the Scouts;
• guidance and training on bringing in funding from wider sources and on evidencing impact;
• a higher-profile Community Rail Week and year-round PR reaching wider audiences;
• we hope to continue our increased support on modal integration to set up a project helping CRPs deliver travel confidence work with disabled people (both funding dependent).

We will keep you updated and provide a summary next month.

Community Rail Week

We are excited to announce the theme for this year’s Community Rail Week, running from Monday 20 – Sunday 26 May 2024 and sponsored by Rail Delivery Group, is ‘More Than A Railway’. We’ll be using this message to generate curiosity in community rail and help secure media coverage on a national and regional level, shining a spotlight on the lesser-known community side of the railway and promoting its benefits. More details on how you can get involved will be on our website by the end of January.

Community Rail Development Fund

It’s the last chance for accredited English and Welsh CRPs to submit applications for the Community Rail Development Fund, which will be closing in the next few weeks. As always, our support and development team are on hand to support you with your application. More details here. 

Platforms for Change

We have collaborated with the Scouts to create Platforms for Change, an initiative to link up station friends groups and CRPs with Scouts (from Squirrels to Explorers) on community rail activity. Watch our video to find out more. Join the next Education Network session on Thursday 22 February, 10am-12pm, to learn more about getting involved. If you would like to attend this online session or discuss your potential involvement directly, contact Karen.

Photography competition

There is less than a week left for you to have your say in our Community Rail Awards 2024 photography competition, sponsored by Porterbrook. Vote for the photo that best showcases ‘the essence of community rail’ here by 10pm, Monday 29 January.

If you have any news stories, please email our communications team on news@communityrail.org.uk. See here for guidance on submitting stories.

Your next bulletin is on 7 February. Keep up-to-date in between on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.

Best wishes,
Jeremy and Jools

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• Discover discounts on over a million tickets in the Great British Rail Sale
• Northern supports people with autism to build travel confidence
• Opportunity for communities to feed into updated Bus Service Improvement Plans
• Greater Anglia seeks volunteers to adopt stations across the network
• Fund your sustainable travel projects with Foundation for Integrated Transport

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• Lowestoft Central to host Holocaust Memorial Day service
• Keeping the local community warm with Hampshire CRP’s free winter pop-up shop
• East Suffolk Lines CRP connects local community with its railway history
• Bedford Station Christmas concerts raise £750+ for foodbank and dementia support
• Community Train CRP transports passengers back to the swinging sixties
• Historic Kents Bank Station sign unveiled as railway library enjoys official opening

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• Find out more about Platforms for Change programme at next Education Network

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• Promote walking routes from your stations with Go Jauntly and RailWalks.co.uk