The Friends of Bishopstone Station (FoBS) have celebrated after winning three Railfuture Awards.

FoBS chair Barbara Mine was named as joint winner of the Gold Award for Campaigner of the Year, whilst the station group was commended for Best Social Media and given a joint commendation for Best Website.

Barbara said: “We were absolutely delighted to be given these awards by Railfuture. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the incredible and fantastic team at the Friends of Bishopstone Station.”

Bishopstone Station is situated along the Sussex Downs line running from Seaford to Brighton and is supported by Southeast Communities Rail Partnership. More details of the various community rail lines and guides to discover each line can be found on the SCRP website.

The awards ceremony was held at the Senate House of the University of London on Saturday 15 July. Railfuture judges made the following comments about the individual categories:

Campaigner of the Year

“Barbara has been the driving force of FoBS, has networked superbly, seen the community hub opened by the Lord Lieutenant of (East) Sussex, developed a sustainable financial model for the CIC (Community Interest Company), and been rewarded as a 1 in 500 ‘Coronation Champion’ – a role model for any rail-related community project.”

Best Social Media

“Professional use of technology, including a WhatsApp group, primarily devoted to promoting use of the highly successful community hub in restored non-rail operational parts of the station building.”

FoBS is on both Twitter and Facebook.

Best Website

“FoBS website (is) very professional, focused on the station as a thriving community hub using re-purposed parts of the unique Art Deco listed building.”

Click here to view the FoBS website and keep up to date with future news, projects, and events from the Friends of Bishopstone Station.