Mark Barker, Chair of Cheshire Best Kept Stations, was pleased to visit the 2022 winning stations on the Wirral along with the Mayor of Wirral, Councillor Jeff Green.

 

 

Judie Collins, from Cheshire Best Kept Stations, was pleased to join the Mayor of Cheshire East to present the 2022 Chris Dale Travel Watch  Commendation to Macclesfield Station.

Note the platform bench remembering the late Chris Dale who was Secretary of Cheshire Best Kept Stations.

 

 

Mark Barker, the Chair of Cheshire Best Kept Stations, was pleased to visit Winsford Railway Station and present our recent award to staff member Ruth  and Vicky Cropper-Clarke, LNWR’s Community Rail Manager.

The Best Kept Stations Awards evening, the highlight of the Community Rail year in Cheshire, took place at the Grange School in Northwich on Thursday 16 March.  Four Friends of Goostrey Station attended and were delighted to be presented with the award for the Best Unstaffed Station. This is the eighth award that FoGS has won in this competition in just 10 years – a  remarkable achievement.

As a welcome sign of Spring, the daffodils and other flowering bulbs planted by local cubs and FoGS members are brightening the station entrances and platforms. Recently Craig Sidebotham added more nest boxes in the gardens around the station and he completed the latest survey of bird species, recording the results on a GIS map as usual.

Click here for details of the Bird Survey

FoGS volunteers continue to meet each month at Goostrey station. There’s a car park, but you could choose greener transport by walking or cycling (there’s a new rack for bikes).  You may have noticed a smart new noticeboard at the entrance to platform one.  It’s there to help us to publicise FoGS and Goostrey Art Studio more effectively.  Recently Gavin Hollinshead and Debbie Goldsmith installed a new poster, which highlights our latest award from the Cheshire Best Kept Station Competition, the engineer William Baker and the free creative workshop planned for the Big Help Out on Monday 8th May. For more information about FoGS, please have a look at our website or phone Craig Sidebotham on 01477 544111.

The Friends of Handforth Station (FoHS) have continued their association with Barnies Community Hub in Crewe, by commissioning and installing some bird boxes made by the Barnies volunteers.

Barnies Community Hub provides activities for people with many types of disability within the local community.  It was the charity nominated by Barry Burkhill RIP, a FoHS committee member who died in November 2022 and who is sadly missed.

Barnies have provided to FoHS some bird boxes and other animal homes, made by in a workshop in the Barnies Community Hub garden (next to the Crewe locomotive works).

To celebrate the installation of the new animal homes, FoHS invited some members of Barnies to Handforth for a tour of the station and its many art-works (ably assisted by local Northern Trains community officer Becky Styles). The party then enjoyed tea/coffee and cakes in The Railway pub next to Handforth Station; these were provided free of charge by the landlady of The Railway as “a service for the local community”.

Lesley Christiansen from Barnies Community Garden woodcraft team said “We were very pleased to be able to support the work of Friends of Handforth Station. We have provided a number of bird boxes, hedgehog homes and bat boxes, to encourage and protect the wildlife that lives around Handforth Station.”

Ian Ball, Treasurer of FoHS who accompanied the Barnies visitors, said “People often forget that the large number of trees and bushes around a small station like Handforth attracts not only birds but other wildlife. We hope that the constructs provided by Barnies will encourage their proliferation.

“Our FoHS Easter quiz remains open; entries can be submitted up until the end of Monday 17^th April. See our website, or visit the station, for more information,” Ian added.