Green-fingered volunteers at Avoncliff Halt Station are celebrating after taking home a gold award at the ‘Stations in Bloom’ Awards.
The ‘Stations in Bloom’ competition covers a wide range of stations across the Great Western Railway and South Western Railway networks, celebrating the hard work and dedication of volunteers who donate their time and skills to create a welcoming environment for both rail users and the wider community.
The Friends of Avoncliff Halt Station saw their first ever entry to the annual competition take home the gold, following a year of diligently tending to the station environment.
The picturesque Avoncliff Halt Station, which provides the community with links to Westbury, Bath, and Bristol, has become a green gateway to the villages served by the station following the group’s tireless care and effort to maintain the space. Visitors are greeted with large planting troughs which contain bee-friendly flowers, with bee houses implemented to help support the UK’s population of pollinators, as well as a range of herbs for use by the local community.
Dr Trevor Turpin, volunteer with the Friends of Avoncliff Halt Station, said: “We were surprised and delighted to be presented with a gold award for ‘(a Station) Superbly Maintained by a Dedicated Team of Volunteers’.
Jordan Welsby, Avoncliff Halt Station Manager, said: “All of us at Great Western Railway are incredibly grateful to the volunteers from the Friends of Avoncliff Halt for their hard work over the past year.
“Whether travelling to work or school or visiting local National Trust Property Westwood Manor during the spring and summer months, visitors to this beautiful corner of the Wiltshire countryside will receive a warm welcome as they pass through the station.
“We are dedicated to putting our local communities at the heart of what we do, providing grants from our community fund and working closely with groups such as the Friends of Avoncliff Halt. We want to extend a huge congratulations to the volunteers for their success in their gold award and thank them for supporting the Avoncliff community in this way.”
