Shortlist announced for 2021 Community Rail Awards

Community Rail Network are very excited to announce the shortlisted entries for this year’s Community Rail Awards, headline sponsored by Great Western Railway and South Western Railway.

The Community Rail Awards, now in its 17th year, recognises the important and often unsung work carried out by community rail partnerships, station adopters and community groups, in areas such as station enhancement, community engagement and diversity. As always, the standard of entries has been extremely high, in what has been a testing twelve months for community rail and the rail industry at large.

The overall winners will be announced at a special gala presentation evening taking place in Southampton and online, Thursday 9 December 2021.

Today also sees the launch of the ever-popular Photo Competition, this year’s theme again “Community Rail in 2020/21”. Head over to https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CRA21photocomp  to cast your vote!

The Community Rail Awards 2021 shortlist

Involving Children and Young People – sponsored by Grand Central Railway

• Penistone Line Partnership and Rosie Pearsall – Penistone – Little Town, lotta heart
• Sheree Whetren  and Berrywood Primary School – Hub of Hope
• Community Rail Education Network – Backtrack: Create it, share it, save lives
• Friends of Buxton Station – Sowing seeds feeds bees
• Mytholmroyd Station Partnership – Sing Along the Line

Involving Diverse Groups – sponsored by London North Eastern Railway

• Shahiesta Raja- Community Rail Lancashire – Bonded Together with a Prayer Bead
• South East Lancashire CRP – Hate Crime Awareness Project
• Abbeyline CRP,  Watford Mencap & London Northwestern Railway – Travel with Confidence
• Beds & Herts CRP and Govia Thameslink Railway – Art@theStation
• Poacher Line CRP & My Little Allotment – Poacher’s Patch
• Grow19 and Friends of Cuxton Station –  The Cuxton Project – Together As One

Community Creative Projects and Station Arts – sponsored by Transport for Greater Manchester

• Community Rail Lancashire -Along the Line
• North Staffordshire CRP – Longton Arches Art Project
• Friends of Buxton Station – Extinction-threatened Bilberry bumblebee legacy artwork
• Camberwell Society – Denmark Hill Station Art Trail
• Poacher Line CRP – Continuity Connections
• Severnside CRP – Community Artwork at Stapleton Road Station
• Marston Vale CRP – ‘Tomorrow Will Be a Good Day’
• Worcestershire CRP – Stitch Train Worcestershire
• Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership – St Ives Bay Line Art Competition
• Community Rail Cumbria / Workington Focus Group – The Rails Which Circled the World – outdoor art exhibition at Workington railway station

Small Projects Award (under £500) – sponsored by Community Rail Lancashire

• East Suffolk Lines CRP, Derby Road Station Adopters, Ipswich Friends of the Earth, Ipswich Wildlife Rangers – Derby Road Pollinator Patch
• Poacher Line CRP & the Voluntary Centre Services – Voluntary Centre Services Action Day – Sleaford Station
• Bittern Line CRP, Greater Anglia Asset Team, Dura Composites Ltd – West Runton Station Sign Restoration
• Care – Silkstone and Silkstone Common – Station pallet planters
• Friends of St. Anne’s Station – From Waste materials to platform Christmas Trees

Best Community Engagement Project – sponsored by Rock Rail

• Community Rail Lancashire – 100 Women 100 Journeys
• Conwy Valley and North West Wales Coast CRP – Walking for Wellbeing
• East Suffolk Lines CRP, Sandy Burn and the Westerfield Station Adopters, and 1st Westerfield Cub Scout Pack – Westerfield BBC, Bees, Butterflies and Cubs
• Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership – ‘The Bees’ Knees’: Alresford Bee Friendly Community Station Garden
• Heart of England CRP and The Kaleidoscope Plus Group – Coventry Acts of Kindness
• Kent Community Rail Partnership – Establishing the Kent Downs Line
• Sheree Whetren / Friends of Hedge End – Engaging schools
• Three Rivers Community Rail Partnership – Swaythling Station Free Shop

Best Communications – sponsored by CrossCountry

• Essex and South Suffolk CRP – ESSCRP Keeps communications on track
• Abbey Line CRP – What’s on at the End of the Line
• Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership – Dartmoor Line communications group – promoting a new era for the line to Okehampton
• The Bittern Line, Wherry Lines, East Suffolk Lines, Hereward Line and Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnerships and Greater Anglia ‘Lives on the Lines’ – podcasts for armchair travels during lockdown and beyond
• Kent Community Rail Partnership – Embracing the digital world
• Leeds-Morecambe CRP – Bentham Line Builds Back Better – We’ve Missed You Too….
• South East Lancashire CRP – SELCRP Website and Social Media Development
• Southeast Communities Rail Partnership, Meldreth, Shepreth & Foxton CRP, Darent Valley CRP, Marston Vale CRP and Beds & Herts CRP – Countryside, Capital & Coast: an online Thameslink Guide

Influencing Positive Change & Sustainability – sponsored by TransPennine Express

• The Bittern Line, Wherry Lines, East Suffolk Lines, Hereward Line, Essex and South Suffolk and New River Line Community Rail Partnerships, Network Rail, Greater Anglia and station adopters – Switch It Off At Level
• East Suffolk Lines CRP, Suffolk County Council – Katch All-Electric Demand-Responsive-Transport Link
• Friends of Buxton Station – Buxton Car Club, car sharing to cut down carbon
• Crossings – working together for healthier communities
• Poacher Line CRP & Radcliffe Community Gardens – Radcliffe Community Vegetable Patch
• South East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership – Rivington Bus Project
• Southeast CRP and GTR/Southern – The Passenger Benefit Fund Vs Pandemic Lockdown- An Unexpected Journey
• Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership – Lyric and Line: the recovery

Photo Competition: Best ‘Community Rail in Action’ Image – sponsored by Porterbrook

• Abbey Line CRP – Volunteering with a smile
• Abbey Line CRP – A jiveswing on a train. Why not!
• Beds & Herts CRP & St Albans South Signal Box Trust -The photo exhibition now arriving on platform 4…
• Southeast Communities Rail Partnership – A winning entry for Glynde Station metalwork trains
• Friends of Buxton Station – Well Dressing Event
• Friends of Buxton Station – The Trainbow
• Friends of Handforth Station – It’s my turn now! 
• Gerald Townson – Here’s a Train Our Dad Made.
• Phil Wallis – Making a New Family Home at Morecambe Station; Watch Out!
• Poacher Line CRP & The Friends of Radcliffe Station – Roll out the Barrows!

Outstanding Volunteer Contribution – sponsored by Merseyrail

• Michael Solomon Williams – Friends of Ally Pally Station
• David Wallace – Friends of Workington Station   
• Dave Carlisle – Friends of Buxton Station

Station Friends and Adopters at the Heart of Communities – sponsored by Avanti West Coast

• Bedford Road Garden Community – Bedford Road garden
• Farnborough Street Residents Association – Reg’s Garden at Farnborough North
• Friends of Buxton Station – Bilberry bumblebee conservation support
• Friends of Buxton Station – Part of the community: at the heart of our community
• Lowestoft Central Project – Lowestoft Central Project
• Market Rasen Station Adoption Group – Challenge Accepted
• Mirfield in Bloom – Making the station the best it could be for the community it served
• Sidetracked – Somewhere over the Rainbow

Photo credit: Community Rail Network

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