Severnside Community Rail Partnership (CRP) has celebrated the installation of a new bee-friendly planter at Redland Station.
The planter has been built by the Bee Friendly Trust and will encourage more honeybees and pollinators to thrive. With an internal 70l reservoir for water, the newly bedded plants should cope well throughout the year, with a little help from the Friends of Redland Station, who planted them during the event on 12 March.
The station planter is the 5th to appear along the Severn Beach Line and the 100th planter that the Bee Friendly Trust have installed nationally.
Severnside CRP would like to extend their thanks to the project supporters, Community Rail Network and Great Western Railway, as well as to Roam Wild Coffee for the warm reception and delicious refreshments at the event.
Roland Harmer and Andrew Kirkham, volunteers with the Friends of Redland Station, said: “Trains are a social thing which is what is so great about them, and (our group) is about giving something back to the community. (Our activities) help to make the passenger experience more enjoyable and enriches life.
“We all need bees! The planter is an example to the rest of the community to foster our little furry friends.”
Dr Luke Dixon, co-founder of the Bee Friendly Trust, said: “It is a milestone for us to welcome our one hundredth planter, celebrating ten years of working on Britain’s railways. It is especially fitting that this planter should be at Redland in Bristol, in the heart of the Great Western Railway network, which has been so supportive of the Trust. Great Western Railway has artworks, planters and wildflower meadows across the region making it model for good practice and future potential.”
Ben Scott, Great Western Railway station manager for Redland, said: “We’d like to thank Severnside Community Rail Partnership and the Bee Friendly Trust for all their hard work creating spaces for wildlife to thrive, that both our customers and colleagues can enjoy across our network.
“We’re proud to be home to their one hundredth bee friendly planter and celebrate ten years of their commitment to creating beautiful spaces that are accessible to all.”
Keep up to date with future news, projects and events from Severnside CRP via their website.