The Friends of St. Anne’s-on-the-Sea Station have published their quarterly update for July 2024 and details can be seen below:
Once again, the volunteers have been extremely busy at the station, with ‘burying’ the Time Capsule being a particular highlight of which more later.
The regular weekly working parties have continued despite the wet weather which seems to have lasted from December until this last week. As well as maintaining the horticultural aspects of the station the volunteers have continued to undertake some basic maintenance tasks, in particular the removal of well-entrenched ivy roots.
The installation of new chillers and refrigeration units on and around the station’s boundary wall with Sainsburys began in January and was completed on time. Our herbaceous border suffered as expected and the contractors made a donation to the group to pay for ‘making good’ and for replacement plants. What we hadn’t anticipated was having to dig out full & broken bricks and building rubble before we could attempt any planting. The contractors apologised for this and offered another grant for the new soil and compost and for the inconvenience they caused us. Bed now planted with sunflowers to ‘break up’ the fencing.
We put together a collection of photos of the station and the trains that called here which provide a fascinating glimpse of the railway of yesteryear. These were transferred onto a memory stick to go with coins, timetables, tickets and other railway related memorabilia for inclusion in the Time Capsule which we ‘buried’’ behind the Foundation Stone to draw the 150th Anniversary celebrations to an end.
We are grateful to the Town Mayor Gavin Harrison and his Deputy for joining us on this occasion.
The volunteers continue to grow more of their own plants, to be a more sustainable group. The group are slowly moving away from annual bedding, replacing them with perennials.
The old compost bins were bursting at the seams but they produced some great compost. Thanks to part-funding from Community Rail Lancashire we have three new bins to help create more ‘free’ compost to feed the plants next year.
Our volunteers not only keep the station environment looking attractive, but assist other station groups along the South Fylde Line with their projects and activities, sharing equipment, resources, expertise and media coverage.
The AGM of the South Fylde Line Community Rail Partnership took place recently. Disappointingly due to strike action it had to be an online event which prevented volunteers from other stations participating fully in the discussions. We enjoyed hearing from the Alderley Edge Station group who talked about what they were doing and their plans to bring a disused platform building back into use by the community.
The Station Adopters are very grateful for the Annual Grant from St. Anne’s Town Council and are looking at ways to further acknowledge the support received using the Town Council’s logo on areas and projects we have worked on.
Plans for the future:
- We are considering plans for creating a centre-piece sculpture for the station car park to tie in the station to the seaside hopefully ready in time for the town’s 150th Anniversary in 2025.
- In conjunction with Fylde Borough Council we look forward to being involved in the plans for the disused platform area which was part of the original station.
- Install a ‘Chatty’ bench in conjunction with the Co-operative Communities Fund.
- Recruit more volunteers.
Friends of St Anne’s Station July 2024.