A bid for £897 by Community Rail Lancashire into the Designated Community Rail Development Fund has just been approved. The grant will go towards the production of two vinyl banners and a leaflet.
Community Rail Lancashire (CRL) Ltd, in association with its 4 CRPs, has made it a core activity to work with schools using its base at Accrington Railway Station. In particular, CRL has focused a lot of its work on primary school children aged between 8 and 10 at key stage 2 in the National Curriculum. From September 2016, CRL will be able to expand the scope and reach of its school engagement work as it will be employing 2 new staff through funding from Arriva Rail North. This will enable CRL to engage with new schools especially in West Lancashire/Chorley and the Fylde/Blackpool areas of Lancashire.
Further, CRL is taking part in a conference organised by the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership on 7th September; the DfT’s Community Rail Market Place on the 27th September and the seminar and workshop preceding the Community Rail Awards on the 29th September. All of these are opportunities to showcase the educational work undertaken by CRL and to demonstrate its value to a wider and influential audience.
Through this application, CRL plans to produce a leaflet and display panels that explain and illustrate how it sets about ‘Educating the passengers of the future’. These will be used with schools in Lancashire to encourage them to make contact with CRL and at conferences, seminars and other events to explain to a wider audience the work carried out and again encourage them to make contact and to visit CRL to find out more.