DEDICATED volunteers and railway staff are celebrating after winning gongs at the Cheshire Best Kept Stations Awards.
Alderley Edge won the top award, being named 'Cheshire Best Kept Station’ in 2023.
It follows praise for the station by the Royal Horticultural Society in October 2023 when its floral offering was recognised as ‘outstanding’ by the UK’s leading garden charity.
The station has also recently seen investment in CCTV provision as part of a roll-out of 612 new cameras across the Northern network.
The awards, which are celebrating their 21st anniversary this year, were presented by Professor Paul Salveson MBE at the Grange Theatre, Northwich last week.
Goostrey won the Art Project Award.
Handforth was highly commended in the Best Staffed Station category.
In a remarkable achievement, Friends of Goostrey Station (FoGS) has won nine awards in this competition since the volunteers adopted the station in 2012.
Over the last two years, Debbie Goldsmith, vice chairman of FoGS and professional artist, has led two projects to mark significant national events.
The first celebrated the platinum jubilee of Queen Elizabeth and the second commemorated the coronation of King Charles.
In 2022, Debbie worked with teachers and pupils at Goostrey Community Primary School to produce the Platinum Plaque.
They were helped by A-level students from Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School and mosaic artist Tracey Cartlege.
The finished plaque can be seen in the shelter on the Crewe platform at Goostrey station.
A film was made to record children’s thoughts about the jubilee and is still available on YouTube.
During the weekend of the coronation in 2023, members of the local community joined Debbie at her studio in the restored wooden building at Goostrey station.
Adults and children were decorated small clay Coronation Discs.
After colouring, glazing and firing, the discs were attached to the platform planters.
Mark Barker, chairman of Cheshire Best Kept Stations, said: “What volunteers do is amazing; the passion, commitment, ingenuity, resourcefulness and sheer hard work has improved your stations for passengers, the community, the railway and for yourselves.
"Please keep on doing what you are doing!”
Hugh Everett, of Friends of Handforth Station, said: "We were delighted to have received this highly commended award.
"It recognises not only the work we at FoHS do for our station but also the support we get from Northern Trains.
“We are still waiting for Network Rail to install new lifts at the station, as they committed to in April 2018.
"Nearly six years later, we and the users of Handforth Station hope that FoHS being highly commended will provide extra impetus into Network Rail’s work on the lifts.”
Craig Harrop, regional director for Northern, said: “I’d like to congratulate all my colleagues and the volunteer groups at stations across Cheshire that were recognised at the awards.
“Their commitment to excellence in terms of the presentation, operation and overall customer experience of their stations is remarkable and the awards are a great opportunity to highlight their hard work.”
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