Community Rail Lancashire (CRL) are delighted to announce a grant of £3,033 from the Windfall Fund in Hyndburn has been approved for a new project ‘Church & Oswaldtwistle to Accrington and Beyond: By Train, Foot & Bicycle.’
Year 5 RotaKids pupils at St Andrew’s CE Primary School at Accrington station
The project will take place with St Andrew’s CE Primary School, Oswaldtwistle in partnership with the Church & Oswaldtwistle Rotary Club and their Year 5 RotaKids classes.
The project has been shaped with the Year 5 pupils through an engagement ideas art project that was previously delivered with artist and nature illustrator Angie Thompson and match funded between The Speaker’s Arts Fund and Community Rail Lancashire.
The project will raise the profile of the Hyndburn Greenway between Church & Oswaldtwistle and Accrington stations where there is direct access off platforms. The pupils will work with local artist Gosha Gibek will create beautiful artwork to raise the profile of the area and feature ways families can enjoy nature along this route from looking at what the pupil’s enjoy. They will learn about their natural environment supported by Prospects Foundation and create artwork that will highlight the routes at both stations and include a map of the wider area to explore by train, foot and bicycle.
Caroline Holden, a Community Rail Development Officer with Community Rail Lancashire said “We are delighted that the Windfall Fund has approved this project which will raise awareness of getting out and about by train, on foot and by bicycle. It’s great to be working with the Rotary Club and RotaKids at St Andrew’s and can’t wait to feature the routes for walking, cycling and travelling by train at the stations. We hope this project will give pride to the pupils in making a difference in their area and featuring beautiful artwork and suggested activities when travelling by sustainable means.”
Richard Watts, Chair of Community Rail Lancashire, added: “We are delighted to have secured this grant and to be developing a project promoting the Hyndburn Greenway, the natural environment and active travel between Church & Oswaldtwistle and Accrington. We have just completed an active travel project at Accrington to increase the visibility of the link between the rail and bus stations as well as to the Wham Stadium.”