+44 (0) 1737 780 339. claire.minter@salfordsandsidlowpc.org.uk
The Village Hall, 5 Honeycrock Lane, Salfords, Surrey, RH1 5DG.
Salfords Train Station Adoption
Salfords & Sidlow Parish Council adopted Salfords train station in May 2021 after meeting with several residents who had exciting ideas for the station which included: -
- Possibility of a coffee shop which could raise funds to give back to the community
- Book exchange.
- Encourage & nurture the remaining wild flower stock to bloom and look attractive
- Planters and hanging baskets
- Oversee/provide seasonal ‘decorations & floral tributes’ for Public Holidays & Remembrance Sunday.
- Bug hotel
- Tools and a tool store would be needed to maintain the areas
- Water butt to collect water for watering planters
- Community board highlighting events
- Information Board showcasing history of Salfords - Monotype and the station
The purpose of adopting the station is to allow the residents who volunteer to by bringing people together and creating pride in station and community. Our group plays a critical role in making Salfords stations welcoming, pleasant and attractive. The work extends beyond basic upkeep as we are incorporating community gardening, local arts projects, and plan to encourage our various youth groups and Salfords Primary School to be involved.
Latest update and improvements at Salfords train station.
Works carried out since December include cleaning the phone box, regular litter picking, cleaning the car park, strimming and clearing away old vegetation which helps the flowers come through and improve the re-wilding to delight our train station users. The intention is to have Noticeboards at the station which will showcase the array of wild flowers we have at and around the station.
We have a strong station partner relationship with Rob Whitehead, our Community Engagement Officer at Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) who helps our group progress our areas of interest for 2022 which are ecology, gardening and art.
We originally received our chosen improvements to the station as part of the Passenger Benefit Fund scheme but had been waiting for a bookstore and water butts. As these were proving difficult to be sourced by GTR, we have received a further grant of £500 for us to progress these initiatives ourselves. We are currently progressing solutions on how best to install the water butt inceptor into the cast iron down pipe at the ticket office!
We intend to use the remaining grant funding to source additional tools such as brooms, bucket, leaf grabbers, and the remaining money will be used to help source the notice/information boards. The intention is to work with Salfords Primary School, who are keen to be involved, and other local community groups to help produce the artwork for the station.
We have become a member of Community Rail Network who have a library of resources and experience that we can use to help us progress our projects and apply for grants.