Volunteers and railway workers join forces to clean up stations along the South Fylde line in preparation for landmark celebrations at St Anne’s
St Anne’s station is firing the starting gun on six months of special events to mark its 150th Anniversary with a fresh coat of paint and seasonal display of spring blooms during Community Rail Week: May 22 – 28.
The station celebrates a century and half serving the communities of the Fylde in November. St Anne’s station was actually opened before the town of St Anne’s was built – one of about six stations in the UK where the stations preceded the building of the town they served.
Tony Ford, Chairman of the Station Friends Group said: “We are very pleased with our newly painted station. All credit to Northern Rail’s Regional Stakeholder Manager Owain Roberts, who managed to arrange for the work despite the pressure on railway budgets.”
Volunteers at the station are now throwing their energies into painting the fencing, refreshing the paintwork on some of the platform furniture and will also be planting summer bedding plants and hanging baskets to ensure the station looks its best for the big day.
Amongst the other events and activities scheduled for what promises to be a spectacular summer of celebrations are the burying of a Time Capsule of contemporary railway artefacts from the current era, an exhibition of period photographs of the station and the line, an illustrated talk on the station’s history by local archivist David Hoyle and a series of guided walks based on the Railway Walk which starts at St Anne’s Station.
Community rail volunteers all along the South Fylde Line have been busy with spring cleaning their adopted stations to mark the arrival of spring.
On the footbridge over the railway line at Ansdell Station, Network Rail staff used power-washers to remove dirt and graffiti from the structure as part of the preparations for Ansdell in Bloom.
Friends of Ansdell Station member Karen Cornforth said: “I am really pleased that Network Rail have power-washed the graffiti and painted over the panels of the bridge.
“There is still work to do to make the steps more user-friendly, but this is a start and comes after much lobbying by the Community Rail Partnership and Ansdell in Bloom.”
Meanwhile, volunteers at St Anne’s Station took the opportunity to tackle litter and fly-tipping at Squires Gate Station between Blackpool and St Anne’s.
The clean-up mission was part of the Great British Spring Clean – Britain’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign. The volunteers collected nine bags of rubbish in total and nationwide, the campaign hopes to collect a million bags of litter.
For the latest updates on events on the South Fylde Line, visit: https://communityraillancashire.co.uk/lines/south-fylde-line/