The West of Lancashire Community Rail Partnership (WoLCRP), part of Community Rail Lancashire (CRL), is pleased to announce that it has been successful in a bid to the Community Rail Development Fund (CRDF) for a grant towards a new project called a Positive Train of Thought.
The grant will help WoLCRP develop a school-based, community project for the promotion and development of their local station at Burscough Junction and to introduce the pupils and teachers to the benefits of rail travel.
Local artist, Karen Allerton, will work with pupils at St John’s Roman Catholic Primary School to develop an art project along the theme of ‘A Positive Train of Thought’. The title recognises the issues that many of the pupils have faced during the pandemic and is to help them think about their experiences in a positive way through creative artwork that can be displayed at Burscough Junction, their local station.
The school will also, under a licence from Network Rail held by Community Rail Lancashire (CRL), look to re-develop the station garden area on the disused platform at the station. Previous work carried out on the platform had to be suspended during the pandemic and the school now want to get back involved in taking pupils to the station to clear unwanted vegetation, prepare the flower tubs, plant seeds, water them, install bug hotels etc. to create an attractive bee friendly garden that can be enjoyed by people waiting for trains on the opposite public platform.
Burscough Junction disused platform – Simon Clarke
The pupils will take part in safety sessions/briefings that will be given to them by trained members of the CRL team, and will create and decorate the bug hotels with the help of the CRL team and the artist.
Caroline Holden, Community Rail Development Officer with CRL said: “I am delighted that we have been awarded this grant to work with St. John’s RC Primary School to create some artwork to help the school community emerge positively from the Covid-19 restrictions and to gain confidence to travel sustainably.”
Caroline went on to say: “Hopefully the school will also be able to work on the disused platform at their local station to bring it back to full colour and be appreciated from the public platform.”
The Community Rail Development Fund is a pot of money provided by the Department for Transport and managed by the Community Rail Network. The fund is available for accredited CRPs to help with their projects.
