Published on: Thursday, 23 April 2015
Last updated: Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Abellio Greater Anglia is appealing for community volunteers to get involved with their local railway stations to help drive improvements and make them more welcoming to passengers.
Vacancies for ‘station adopters’ currently exist 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 improving their local rail station and bringing it into the heart of the community will come forward with their ideas.
Abellio Greater Anglia recently announced a further £15,000 to help station adopters keep their stations looking bright, clean and tidy. The fund can help cover the costs of small projects, the creation of station gardens and help to purchase flowers, tubs, hanging baskets, tools and materials to help improve the station environment.
Anyone interested in joining the Adopt a Station scheme should contact [email protected]
The ‘Adopt a Station’ scheme started in 2003 and enables individuals or groups to adopt their local railway station and contribute to its presentation and welfare for the benefit of the local community.
The voluntary scheme was originally created to improve lines of communication between the train operator and station users however, over the years it has grown to become much more, with station adopters now playing an active role in keeping stations looking good through inventive gardening 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 also played a key role in raising money for new initiatives, such as improved waiting facilities or planting beautiful station gardens.
Abellio Greater Anglia now has over 183 adopters at over 90 stations across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.