Dec 2022
Throughout 2022 volunteers from across the Severnside Community Rail Partnership area rolled up their sleeves, applied sun-cream and made the very best of creating attractive, bio-diverse station gardens. The exceptionally dry summer, a warm, damp autumn and recent sub-zero temperatures have made for a far from easy year for gardeners, yet the friendship and camaraderie experienced though being part of a station adoption group means so many remain committed to making their local station a focal point.
It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards 2022
Three station adoption groups entered this year’s Royal Horticultural Society’s It’s Your Neighbourhood Award, a scheme recognising community engagement, environmental responsibility and gardening achievement. The results are reflective of tremendous dedication of group members, and worthy of a celebration:
Keynsham in Bloom/Keynsham Station Volunteers: RHS Certificate Level 5 (Outstanding)
Friends of Bradford-On-Avon: RHS Certificate Level 5 (Outstanding)
Friends of Parson Street Station: RHS Certificate Level 4 (Thriving)
Mary Woodman, Chair of Keynsham in Bloom said “It’s been a very busy time for our volunteers at Keynsham Station making changes for both Winter and Summer time. The kind people of our town have donated heat loving plants to replace the damaged ones in this year’s heatwave and we are planting up while the soil is still warm and moist.”
The group usually meet up each Monday morning we have continued work on our path through one of the flowerbeds tended by Keynsham In Bloom volunteers.
Jackie Smith, Co-Chair and Secretary of Friends of Parson Street Station said “Things have certainly proved challenging for all community rail volunteers over the last two years but it’s nice to know we can still make small differences that not only cheer up the lives of the travelling public, but also give us an immense feeling of satisfaction.
“Gardening is one of those areas that has been relatively easy to continue to do, though the gardening team might have been forgiven for laying down their trowels during the extreme heat and drought of last summer. The water butts we acquired from GWR for the platform shelters last autumn took us into spring but ran dry sometime in May and we had to rely again on the goodwill of one of our local volunteers to supply us with water. Fortunately, our planting plan for the summer was to put wildflower plants suitable for dry areas into the planters on the sunny but windswept platforms, and although some of the flowers were blown into some very odd angles they survived surprisingly well. Parson street station volunteers in front of the heritage plaque detailing the 90 years of rail transport in the local area.
“We’re looking forward to maintaining or perhaps even improving on this next year and have been successful in receiving a grant from the Bedminster Secret Gardens Fund to refresh the planting at the roadside area this winter, so we’re crossing our fingers for better gardening weather in 2023!”
Many volunteers ‘adopters’ make visiting their station an all year-round activity. Sea Mills station recently had a volunteer cleaning session when main planter has been stripped of all weeds and old plants, topped up with new compost and various spring bulbs have been planted.
However at Yatton, where there has been a garden on this site for over 50 years, the group allow it to rest from September to March, with no volunteer work going on at all. They don’t dead head till the Spring allowing any wildlife to enjoy our large garden undisturbed. New volunteers joined the group this year which has helped a great deal with so many jobs always needed to be done to keep it all in shape. Yatton is a sustainable station garden, all the plants have been donated by volunteers and members of the public, who appreciate the work the group do. The group choose not to plant any bedding plants only perennials, some seed about and spread and this year they have been splitting large clumps to plant elsewhere.
Yatton station garden has 3 large compost bins, which are fill up with cuttings and grass mowings, to create fabulous compost to spread and mulch the ground with. Tom is the chief composter; he has the magic touch! One of the spring jobs is to clean and paint the YATTON sign along the platform side of the garden.
Bedminster Station Garden Group are delighted to have recently become members of the Community Rail Network.
The group found the dry summer a challenge, but lots of watering meant that, rather impressively, all plants have survived. For some years the group had problems with one area that his little depth of soil. With rocks provided by Bristol Council we have created a rockery area which is attracting a lot of interest from passers by. The daily footfall on the Malago Greenway, the path to the station is over 300 people.
As we draw towards the end of 2022, all volunteers should feel tremendously proud of what has been achieved under such difficult circumstance. Their efforts create a sense of pride in the community, a warm welcome to visitors and a habitat for bees, butterflies and so many other creatures to thrive and so much more. Our local rail network quite simply wouldn’t be the same without them.
