In May 2026, Croston’s Trinity & St Michael’s CE & Methodist Primary School collaborated with Community Rail Lancashire on a project to redesign the bike shelter at Croston railway station.
The Year 4 class, led by Mrs Annie Powell, worked with professional artist Gosha Gibek in three creative workshops. The children learnt various techniques such as printing, live sketching and painting. The sessions were inspired by the nature in the West of Lancashire, Croston Landmarks and places you can travel to on Northern trains from the village station.
The children also went on a train trip to Rufford, visiting Mere Sands Wood where they explored the park and found mini beasts. Over the past month, Gosha has worked hard to collate all of the children’s artwork into one, colourful and collaborative collage.
On 14th July, the children visited the station for the grand reveal of the newly designed bike shelter. Lots of people showed up to support the event including Croston’s Station Adoption Group, who got all the children involved in watering the plants at the station and taught them about the voluntary work they do for the community.
With beautiful weather, a ribbon cutting ceremony and speeches from Gosha and the Year 4s, everyone left feeling proud of what they’d achieved and inspired to keep being creative!
Here are some quotes from the day:
Beth Nolan, Community Rail Officer for CRL said: “For some children this was their first time visiting Rufford on the train, so being able to give the class the chance to use the railway and visit local places in the West of Lancashire has been incredibly rewarding!”
Gosha Gibek, professional artist said: “Community art is about bringing people together, celebrating creativity and creating something that everyone can feel proud of. I hope this artwork adds a little more colour and joy to Croston.”
Bert, Year 4: “Doing the art with a real artist was really enjoyable.”
Logan, Year 4: “I drew a wolf and seeing it on the bike shelter makes me really proud.”
Ava, Year 4: “I liked being on the train because we saw lots of different things that we hadn’t seen before.”
Emily, Year 4: “I was excited when I found out our work was going to be on the bike shelter at the train station. Overall, I would go to Mere Sands Wood on the train again. Thank you so much for this amazing experience.”
Community Rail Lancashire would like to thank Northern for funding this project.
