A group of young people have created a series of railway posters promoting sustainable travel and the unique natural habitats throughout the Broads National Park as part of the Wherry Lines CRP-funded Rails, Sails and Trails education project.
To kick off the creative process, young people aged 13-16 years attending National Saturday Club (NUA) sessions at Great Yarmouth’s Time and Tide Museum researched local landscapes and historic railway posters. Then, alongside artist and recent NUA graduate Maisie Dainty, learning officers from the Broads National Park and Norwich-based Ark Design Agency, the young people co-created a series of beautiful illustrations inspired by the mills, marshes and wildlife that can be seen along the world-famous waterways.
The posters, harking back to traditional railway posters from the early 20th century, evoke images of holidays and days out, leisure activities such as paddleboarding and glimpses of the new fleet of Greater Anglia trains now running through the National Park.
Passengers travelling on the routes which run east from Norwich to Great Yarmouth and from Norwich to Lowestoft will be able to view the new artworks across stations and online.
Martin Halliday, Development Officer for Community Rail Norfolk, parent organisation of the Bittern Line and Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnerships, said: “We were pleased to support this unique collaborative initiative through our funding of the Broads Authority Rails, Sails and Trails education project. The brief we set students was to create modern versions of traditional railway posters which could help to promote both tourism and sustainable travel through the National Park. Not only have they created an iconic series of posters, the unique animation of the images will also enable us to bring this new artwork to a much wider online audience.”
Kyle and Aaron, club members at the National Saturday Club, said: “You never really get out to see these things anymore, so it was nice taking the train to the boat yard and train stations and learning about what lives around us. It was calm and peaceful in the Norfolk Broads and we saw Chinese water deer. We think the posters will encourage tourists to see new places, and it is important these posters are inclusive and represent different people.”
Cllr Margaret Dewsbury, cabinet member for communities at Norfolk County Council, said: “This project brings together the old and the new in a wonderfully creative way. The young people, working with our partners, have done a fantastic job in reinventing the classic era of the railway poster for our digital age to inspire a new generation of visitors to discover the natural treasures of the broads.”
Wherry Lines CRP is hosting a pop-up exhibition at Lowestoft Station’s Parcel Office Exhibition Space from Wednesday 3 April to Saturday 6 April, featuring Wherry Lines posters and artworks by Club members. The public display will also visit Time and Tide Museum’s Red Herring Gallery in Great Yarmouth later this year.
Keep up to date with future news, projects and events from Wherry Lines CRP via their website.
