Published on: Thursday, 23 April 2015
Last updated: Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Abellio Greater Anglia is appealing forcommunity volunteers to get involved with their local railway stations to helpdrive improvements and make them more welcoming to passengers.
Vacancies for ‘station adopters’ currentlyexist at rail stations along the route from Braintree to White Notley, Wickford to Southend, Salhouse, Worstead, Lakenheath, Brandon, Hertford East and Ware.
The train operator hopes that individuals,community organisations or local councils who have an interest in improvingtheir local rail station and bringing it into the heart of the community willcome forward with their ideas.
Abellio Greater Anglia recently announced afurther £15,000 to help station adopters keep their stations looking bright,clean and tidy. The fund can help cover the costs of small projects, thecreation of station gardens and help to purchase flowers, tubs, hangingbaskets, tools and materials to help improve the station environment.
Anyone interested in joining the Adopt aStation scheme should contact [email protected]
The ‘Adopt a Station’ scheme started in2003 and enables individuals or groups to adopt their local railway station andcontribute to its presentation and welfare for the benefit of the localcommunity.
The voluntary scheme was originally createdto improve lines of communication between the train operator and station usershowever, over the years it has grown to become much more, with station adoptersnow playing an active role in keeping stations looking good through inventivegardening projects, creative community art projects, taking part in station‘health checks’ or being the eyes and ears of their station.
Over the years, station adopters have alsoplayed a key role in raising money for new initiatives, such as improvedwaiting facilities or planting beautiful station gardens.
Abellio Greater Anglia now has over 183adopters at over 90 stations across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire andCambridgeshire.