The Friends of Ansdell & Fairhaven station have just published their quarterly update for July 2026 and an extract can be seen below.
Station Maintenance & Project Updates
Bug Hotels: Built by Lytham Community Workshops, the big bug hotel was successfully filled with materials (canes, pinecones, and hollow stalks) and installed near the wildflower beds at the station. Additional insect and butterfly hotels were also installed.
Planters & Herbs: The group emptied, filled, and repositioned several planters. Signs for herbs were created and mounted, and the herbs were later moved closer to the insect boxes along with labels of plants.
Compost Bins & Lawn Maintenance: Cardboard was added to top the compost in the bins. Grass cutting and strimming took place as weather permitted, and the group discussed upgrading from basic plastic-based Ryobi tools to more resilient diecast metal versions.
Water Supply & Tank Security
Council Bowser & Water Deliveries: Regular watering was required during dry spells. The team filled the Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC) water tank using small containers and temporary water sources until council deliveries via the water bowser resumed.
Tank Stability & Security: The water tank was dislodged and had its support bricks removed by vandals. It was repositioned, and a valve-locking tap is being sourced to prevent unauthorised emptying or tampering.
Station Issues & Incidents
Vandals & Ticket Machine: The ticket machine glass was shattered in mid-June. Group members observed youth throwing stones at the machine and reported the incidents to British Transport Police (BTP) and Northern (Euan) for review.
Bridge Maintenance Notice: Network Rail sent local residents a notice regarding upcoming bridge/structure maintenance work.
Community & Judging Events
Photo Sessions: Group members met on June 3 for the official unveiling of the new colourful “village heritage trail” board on Woodlands Road Railway Bridge.
In Bloom / RHS Judging: In Bloom / RHS “In Your Neighbourhood” (IYN) judges visited the station on Friday, July 10, for a 15-minute walkthrough to assess the plant beds, wildflower areas, and insect stations.
Unfortunately, like many local stations, we occasionally encounter a bit of ‘plant blindness’—which in our case usually means people not noticing our flowers until they’ve already sat on them!
However, we don’t let that deter us from doing what we do best.
Lytham Community Workshops kindly provided us with some new small insect/bug hotels and bird boxes, which we’ve placed around the platform. We are sure the local wildlife residents approve!
Meanwhile, our compost bins were lined and fitted with cardboard lids to aid the decomposition process, and a new herb information sheet with matching labels was created to inform interested passers-by.
We debated options around our water tank location which are ongoing.
Team activities included litter picking, pruning plants and tidying beds/borders, along with watering though we had to bring water onsite manually because the water tank was empty.
Paul & Daphne made some identifiers for herb and flower beds just to provide information to anyone using the station.
May
We emptied the old wooden planters as their replacements had already arrived but we had not had opportunity due to the weather to do anything with them.
We repurposed the old ones, attaching them to the fence, filling them with herbs surrounded by new bug hotels, hopefully it will encourage the attraction of insects.
We levelled one of the new raised beds near the steps as the ground was sloping and it was straining the bolts. You will see how it looks in June.
A Heritage Trail board is to be installed outside the station with an unveiling ceremony in June with all the team present and members of CRL.
A holder for South Fylde Line leaflets was also installed on the fence near the ramp entrance.
Plants were put into the existing raise beds to get them settled and rooted ready for summer.
You can see how badly the buddleia has taken over the bridge walls, this was just a small section, others were worse but that was soon to change as you will see in June.
June
Having sought out some good plants from local suppliers we then added them to our raised beds to provide us with a good show for judging in July. Water was delivered by Fylde Council.
The ground beds are looking in excellent condition and giving a good show.
Our biggest perennial problem are the brambles which gradually take over the greenspace if not managed, but they are good for the birds who forage for the blackberries.
We also regularly maintain our wildflower and poppy areas and mow and/or strim around the maze and the OXO bed.
And quite importantly the Heritage Trail display board was officially unveiled with the CRL representatives onsite along with our team
We are grateful to Network Rail for replacing the missing bricks and removing all of the buddleia from the bridge walls at the station, its looking quite different now and much tidier.
The old raised bed planters you saw in May were sanded and painted.
July
The station was deep cleaned, weeded and tidied in readiness for RHS judging including the orchard and the big bug hotel we were given by Lytham Community Workshop earlier this year was finally positioned in our wildlife area.
As part of our biodiversity theme that stations are accelerating to support their local wildlife, more so during all the hot weather, we added shallow water containers with stones and slate to help birds, bees, insects and local foxes drink during the heat.
We also established an intensive watering Rota during the amber heat warning to maintain the beds.
We installed our golf themed displays on the platform to get into the atmosphere of what was soon to be happening around us for the AIG Women’s Open Golf Championships.
RHS Judging was to take place on July 10th.
Karen Cornforth
Friends of Ansdell & Fairhaven Station (31st July 2026)