To mark National Community Rail Week, Merseyrail has been celebrating the community and volunteer workers who tend to its stations throughout the year.
The operator paid tribute to the dozens of volunteer and ‘Friends Of’ stations groups who “work tirelessly” to make their local stations brighter and more attractive for customers and residents.
Some of the community work taking place on the Merseyrail network in 2024 includes:
Hightown and Bootle New Strand: New artwork is being installed at the station produced by local groups celebrating the history of music in Sefton. It is a photographic project in conjunction with Community Rail Lancashire and the Scrapyard.
Ainsdale: Celebrating the stations inclusion in the prestigious RHS Britain in Bloom Competition, banners designed by local school children have been unveiled at the station in conjunction with Ainsdale Civic Society and volunteers.
Birkdale: An incredible new mural by acclaimed local artist Paul Curtis has been completed at the station. Highlighting the links between the town and the legendary Red Rum racehorse, the mural has been wowing travellers. The work has been completed in conjunction with volunteers from the community hub and library, known as The Station Master’s House, and the civic society who look after the planters on the station.
Bebington & Spital: The Love Bebington community group recently adopted Bebington and Spital stations.
The group have already installed planters, troughs and artwork at Bebington station, all of which have been sponsored by Merseyrail and local firms.
Dr George Lamb, Chair of Love Bebington, said: “Our group formed in summer 2022 and we started the project at Bebington station a year ago. We’ve since adopted Spital station.
“We unveiled our latest artwork project at Bebington station in partnership with local mosaic artist Lou Cross, of Bad Hand Mosaics and Blooming Skull Coffee.
“Our brief to Lou was to create mosaics which celebrated the community of Bebington. We’re lucky to have such talented and community minded artists in our community.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure to partner with Merseyrail on our adoption of Spital and Bebington stations. They’ve provided us with so much support and none of the work there would have been possible without their help.”
Neil Grabham, Managing Director of Merseyrail, said: “Merseyrail exists to provide the best possible rail service to the people of the Liverpool City Region and engaging with the communities we serve has been at the heart of our success over the last twenty years.
“We’re delighted to work with volunteer groups across our network. We’ve got some of the most dedicated people in our communities who make a massive difference to the railway station and their local areas.
“I’d like to thank them all for their hard work and commitment.”
