Published on: Tuesday, 7 July 2015
Last updated: Wednesday, 5 October 2016
A local couple has transformed an area ofland at Weeley rail station, returning it to its former glory as a stationgarden.
Ruth and Robin Whitworth have replanted thegarden following vandalism and a period where it was inaccessible while workwas carried out to install a new footbridge.
As the station’s ‘adopters’, Ruth andRobin, with the help of a working party co-ordinated by the Department forTransport and the Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership, set aboutclearing the weeds and making the area look attractive with chipped bark and arange of stunning new plants.
Abellio Greater Anglia’s Area CustomerService Manager, Petrina Murphy, said, “Now that summer has arrived, the gardenis really blooming and looks fantastic. I’d like to thank everyone involved,and in particular Ruth and Robin, for their hard work which has created a verypleasant atmosphere for passengers using the station.”
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.