Community Rail Lancashire (CRL) are delighted to announce that a new project with Trinity St Michael’s Church of England/Methodist VA Primary School of Croston has received funding from the Community Rail Network’s Community Rail Development Fund and Northern’s Seedcorn Fund. The project will see a Geocache Treasure Trail from Croston Station on the West of Lancashire Line.
Church Street, Croston, photo by Doug Elliot
Caroline Holden, Community Rail Development Officer with CRL said: “It is fantastic to be working with the school, supporting an inspired project that two creative teachers, Miss Beck and Miss Boucher have devised – The Croston Cache.”
A cache refers to ‘items’ that are stored in a hidden place. This is exactly what Year 4 and 5 pupils under the guidance of their teachers are going to create around their picturesque and truly friendly village.
They will study their area, visit the station and meet local groups. As they do, the pupils will create a detailed Doodle Map of Croston, identify special places they want to select for hiding a cache as they learn about the history of their area, agree the locations with the relevant organisations and then design a family friendly Geocache Adventure from Croston Station. The first cache at the station will improve the ambience to the entrance, where the platforms are so well looked after already by the Friends of Croston Station.
This trail will be a free and a fun way to explore this truly magical and friendly village. The pupils will be undertaking elements of their geography and history curriculum, simultaneously encouraging people to come by the train to Croston and learning confidence on the railway themselves too.
The trail is planned to be ready to go for the summer holidays.
Carolyn Watson, Director of Stakeholder and Community Engagement at Northern said “I’ve seen the excitement geo caches can create amongst that age group so look forward to seeing the end results.”
