Published on: Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Last updated: Wednesday, 5 October 2016
School pupil, Rachel Smith-Bond and fellow classmates of Cantley Primary school, visited the Greater Anglia Station of Cantley today to collect their prize for naming the new station ‘boat garden’.
Rachel’s winning entry ‘The Rose of Cantley’ was chosen following a school project which looked at famous boats and ships culminating in a competition to name the imaginative new station planter which was launched onto the platform last November.
The pupils of Class 4 were presented with a certificate by Greater Anglia Manager, Alan Boagey, and have also won a class trip on the Wherry Lines during the summer term, courtesy of the train company. Rachel also won a book token for her winning entry from the Wherry line Community Rail Partnership.
Headteacher of Cantley Primary school, Jan Pierson, said;
“The children have had great fun with this project and the competition has been a lovely way to pull it all together and make it something a little bit special”
The ex-Broads Day Boat, decked with winter pansies, was launched onto Cantley rail station in November thanks to a project by the local community, local businesses and train operator Greater Anglia who have worked together to create a unique feature on the station platform.
The station, on the Norwich – Great Yarmouth / Lowestoft Wherry Lines, has received a makeover thanks to the Friends of Cantley Station (known as FOCUS), lead by Robert Beadle, who have been working with train operator Greater Anglia to brighten up the station with flowers.
Robert Beadle said;
“The work we do at Cantley Station is a team effort. We have really enjoyed working with the pupils and the school to put our rail station at the heart of the community. We hope that, with all the hard work we do, we are benefiting everyone that uses the station and the community at large.”
The adopters at Cantley have transformed the platforms at the station, cutting back trees, creating borders, rockeries and lawns and planting a huge area the length of the platform with flowers. Their efforts recently saw them come third for the Best Station Garden at the National ACoRP Community Rail Awards 2012 and achieve Highly Commended in the ‘Best Adopter Group’ category at Greater Anglia’s own Adopters Awards which were held in October.
Greater Anglia’s Adopt-A-Station initiative is now in its tenth year. The initiative has resulted in over 100 volunteers around the network adopting their local stations and reporting to the train operator about the standard of facilities at the station.
The Adopt-A-Station initiative is aimed at improving lines of communication between the train operator and railway station users, promoting and encouraging feedback about the station buildings and facilities to help ensure that they meet the high standards expected by those who use them.
Notes to Editors
For further information about this press release, please ring the Greater Anglia Press Office on +44 (0)1206 363955. For urgent or out-of-office hours calls, please leave a message by ringing +44 (0)7798 857385. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can. All recent press releases can be found on the Greater Anglia website at: www.greateranglia.co.uk
About Greater Anglia
The Greater Anglia franchise began operating on 5 February 2012. It provides intercity, commuter and rural services throughout the region including the Stansted Express service.
Greater Anglia is responsible for almost 3,000 employees and operates 1,900 train services per day. It services 167 stations and carries two million passengers a week.
About Abellio
Abellio is an international public transport company which delivers rail and bus services to over one million passengers every day across the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic. In the UK Abellio operates the rail companies Merseyrail*, Northern Rail*, Greater Anglia and the bus companies Abellio London & Surrey. In mainland Europe, Abellio operates bus and rail contracts in several federal states in Germany through Abellio Deutschland and bus contracts in the Czech Republic through Probo Bus.
*In a 50:50 joint venture with Serco
For more information on Abellio, please visit www.abellio.com