Heart of England Community Rail Partnership:
We are proud to have supported the launch of the first Community Rail Partnership in the West Midlands, Heart of England Community Rail Partnership (CRP) which covers our stations in Warwickshire.
We work closely with the CRP on a range of exciting projects including the roll out of ‘welcome back packs’ for station volunteers, the launch of a new virtual school safety education programme, as well as transforming our stations through community artwork projects.
To read more about the Heart of England Community Rail Partnership, please visit their website.
Friends of Station Groups:
We have also established friends groups at the following stations. Friends of stations are groups of local volunteers who help to maintain and enhance our station environments. This includes maintaining station gardens, creating new and exciting artwork and holding special events at the stations. Previous examples include celebrating the Commonwealth Games in the West Midlands and the Queens Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
- Birmingham Moor Street
- Solihull
- Dorridge
- Lapworth
- Hatton
- Warwick
- Leamington Spa
- Bicester North
- Aylesbury
We are always looking for new volunteers to adopt our stations – Please contact [email protected] for more information.
You can also visit https://communityrail.org.uk/community-rail/station-adoption/ to learn more about the station adoption programme.
Community Investment Fund
Our community Investment Fund application window is no longer open, please keep an eye out on our social media channels for the next round of applications in late Spring 2024.
We are thrilled to be supporting 12 impactful community projects across our route. Selected projects cover a broad spectrum of initiatives, such as rail confidence trips with underrepresented groups and refugees, developing garden spaces and accessible facilities for our communities and delivering new active travel links to our stations.
Our projects for 2023/4 are:
- Achieving Results in Communities – Foundry Wood project in Leamington.
- Baker Street Quarter Partnership – Westminster Wheels bike repair workshops in London.
- Banbury Business Improvement District – Community artwork project in Banbury.
- Catch22 Jams – Musical performances for charity at London Marylebone.
- Friends of Leamington Station – Coronation Garden in Leamington.
- Friends of The Shakespeare Line – Artistic development at Birmingham Moor Street.
- Heart of England Community Rail Partnership – Rail confidence sessions for refugees In Solihull.
- The Jericho Foundation – Rail confidence sessions for survivors of modern slavery in Birmingham.
- Lindengate – Making their community garden accessible in Wendover.
- National Literacy Trust – Delivering literacy programmes in Buckinghamshire.
- Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnerships – Active travel maps for Bicester and Banbury.
- Sustrans – Supporting the new Misbourne Greenway near Great Missenden.
We look forward to continuing out collaborative efforts and integrating communities and their local railways. Keep an eye out on our social media channels for progress updates on our projects for 2023/4.
Community Partnerships
We also have a community partnership with Primary Engineer, who deliver educational workshops and visits for pupils and teachers at Primary schools. The work also seeks to encourage interest in engineering and roles in the rail industry, and targets children from diverse backgrounds.
To learn more about Primary Engineer, visit their website https://www.primaryengineer.com
Below are some examples of our community work that has taken place in recent years:
Our Community Rail Partnership worked with a local school in Leamington Spa on a colour pallet installation and workshop in the station underpass.
Friends of Solihull and Leamington Spa enhanced the station planting scheme and decorated the station ahead of the Jubilee weekend in 2022.
Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership
We have also joined the newly created Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership. This will cover our stations at Oxford Parkway, Bicester Village, Bicester North, Islip and Banbury.
Along with partners, we will be making a positive impact for the communities we serve to achieve the shared goal of improving community links with the railway network.
OxCRP will be delivering several projects including supporting our station adoption scheme promoting sustainable travel and engaging with unrepresented and socially deprived communities. Together we aim to deliver projects that add social value to local communities.
To read more about the Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership, please visit their website.