The Friends of Hindley Station have continued flying the flag for community rail ever since they were last awarded Platinum in this category in 2024.

The group, recently deemed ‘Outstanding’ in RHS’s It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards, regularly work with youth groups on educational ‘try the train’ trips and biodiversity projects, including supporting Scouts groups to work towards their Platforms for Change badge. Together, they plant pollinator-friendly perennials, collect and reuse rainwater, and create bird boxes and bug hotels. Work has even started on a community orchard.

The volunteers have fundraised for other community events, given talks to local groups and historic societies, and assisted in the development of rail trails. With the help of a local artist, the group commissioned a vibrant mural celebrating the town, as well as engaging 200 schoolchildren to create artwork for the station shelters on the theme of ‘Life is a Journey’.

The Friends’ relationship with Thrive CiC has flourished, supporting adults with learning difficulties to develop new skills and gain confidence through station-based activity. The produce grown by participants in the station allotment is used in their ‘life skills’ classes, and they’ve grown lavender and roses which have been used in the creation of soy wax melts, over 300 packs of which were distributed at Northern’s 2024 Community Conference.

Across so many key areas, from the creative to the sustainable, the volunteers have once again demonstrated how a small but mighty station group can create incredible impact for passengers and the wider community.

The Friends of Kents Bank Station & Foreshore have been busy supporting their station to thrive since the group was formed in 2015.

The volunteers have harnessed social media, newsletters, notice boards and local media to continually inform and engage with residents, visitors and passengers. They maintain a well-used book and magazine exchange in the Platform 1 waiting room and regularly update the ‘Poetry on the Platform’ exhibition space. The group have designed, installed and maintained historical information and photo boards across the station, and replaced modern platform benches with replicas of the Furness Railway’s squirrel benches, keeping the station’s heritage roots alive.

Thanks to the green-fingered creativity of the Friends, Kents Bank Station now has three distinct and vibrant garden areas. The garden on Platform 1, once covered in weeds and brambles, has been divided into five plots, each adopted by a handful of volunteers who have complete autonomy over their designs, which include bee-friendly pollinators, rock gardens, bug hotels and bat and bird boxes.

An annual highlight for the group is organising a successful Community Fête at the station, complete with musical entertainment, home-made refreshments, history talks and stalls hosted by other local businesses and organisations.

Thanks to the dedication and creativity of the volunteers, they have successfully breathed new life into Kents Bank’s once neglected station, preserving and enhancing important aspects of its Victorian heritage and natural environment, and establishing the station as a thriving hub at the heart of community life.

The Edale Station Friends have been making their station a cheery, interesting and informative environment for visitors and residents alike since 2017, and their dedication is a shining example of how stations should be celebrated and cared for.

The volunteers have always encouraged the community to get involved with their wide range of projects. They have supported ‘try the train’ trips for asylum seekers, organised ‘bumblebee safaris’ and liaised with local businesses to promote train travel to events such as the Beer Barrel Race and Country Day. The group keep the station’s community notice board up to date with the latest information, as well as writing a monthly article in the Parish magazine to advertise their activities and recruit new volunteers.

Caring for the station environment sustainably is high on the Friends’ agenda. Loose leaves collected from around the station were combined with manure to create the basis for new flower beds, with borders made of cement blocks donated by a local resident. The volunteers tend to the garden all year round, installing water butts, planting flowers and plants, and growing herbs for passengers to pick and use.

The volunteers pulled out all the stops during the Railway 200 year, painting the station shelters, benches and lampposts ‘Midland Red and Cream’, in a nod to the station’s original heritage colours. They hosted a celebratory event in November 2025, showcasing local artwork, archival photographs, and a special media project, bringing the Hope Valley Line to life through film and sound.

Open Orchard set out to transform a neglected patch of land on Platform 2 at West Norwood Station into a thriving, pollinator-friendly garden that would provide seasonal colour and interest for passengers, improve the station environment and contribute to a wider ‘green corridor’ across West Norwood.

The project began with planning sessions to design a garden suited to the unique challenges of the site. It was clear that the area had potential to support life, but the ground had never been maintained and was compacted and strewn with litter. Volunteers tackled this by terracing the area with logs, stabilising the soil and creating microhabitats for insects and other wildlife. Over two community planting sessions, volunteers and residents came together to clear the ground and install over 50 drought-tolerant, pollinator-friendly plants, more than 150 herbs and bulbs, and even a crab apple tree.

The impact of the project has been immediate and uplifting. The station feels brighter, friendlier and more connected to the community it serves, and passengers have praised the positive changes. Monthly maintenance sessions continue to bring people together to care for the space, ensuring the garden flourishes long term. The project has also drawn in new volunteers and sparked conversations about how other urban spaces can be reimagined in a way that is both practical and biodiverse.

The success of the West Norwood Station garden demonstrates that even small areas, when cared for by the community, can deliver beauty, ecological value and a strong sense of local pride.