This year’s Community Rail Awards, organised by the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP), was attended by around 450 community rail volunteers, partnerships, rail industry leaders and government representatives.
The Community Rail Awards celebrate the passion and hard work of those involved in community rail as well as helping share good practice and championing community rail and its role in contributing to social inclusion, sustainable development and health and wellbeing.
Rock Rail is delighted to be continuing its support of the event, this year sponsoring the ‘Best Community Engagement Event’ category. Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership beat off strong competition to win the award in this category for their CreativiTea Trains initiative. The programme brought young and old from across the community together via tea parties on trains and included links to wider heritage projects about local history and culture and the history of the local railway.
This year’s event saw an exceptional range of innovative and inspiring community rail projects and schemes with over 200 entries across 15 award categories. West Yorkshire’s Mytholmroyd Station scooped the top award, Outstanding Contribution to Community Rail, on the showcase night for the community rail movement, with their programme of projects putting the station and railway back into the heart of their community.
Other category winners were:
- Involving Children and Young People – Community Rail Lancashire for Stand Clear of the Closet Doors;
- Involving Diverse Groups – Cumbrian Coast Line Community Rail Partnership for Broken Lives Mended;
- Community Art Schemes – Permanent & Larger Projects – Friends of Rose Hill Station for Inter-generational Community Art Project;
- Community Art Schemes – Renewable & Smaller – Penistone Line Partnership for Dwell Time;
- Most Enhanced Station Buildings and Surroundings –Poacher Line Community Rail Partnership and The Bee Friendly Trust for Bottesford Friendly Garden;
- Small Projects Award – Under £500 – Community Rail Lancashire for Bringing the Sunshine to Morecambe;
- Best Community Engagement Event – Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership for CreativiTea Trains;
- Best Marketing or Communications Campaign – Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership for Looe Valley Line Heritage Project;
- Influencing Positive Change – Leeds-Moorcambe Community Rail Partnership, Northern and partners for Dementia and Community Rail;
- Tourism & Heritage Award – Heart of Wales Line Development Company for Heart of Wales Line Trail
- Photo & Video Competition | “Community Rail in Action” – Friends of Goostrey Station for “Enjoying a Break During Volunteer Working Party”
- Outstanding Volunteer Contribution – Julie Gibbon, Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnerships Volunteer;
- It’s Your Station – Friends of Hindley Station
- ACoRP Award for Outstanding Contribution to Community Rail – Mytholmroyd Station Partenrship;
- ACoRP Lifetime Achievement Award – Peter Roberts MBE.
Nick Watson, Commercial Director Rock Rail, attended the awards night and said:
“Rock Rail is delighted to be supporting the Community Rail Awards and joining all those involved in celebrating and congratulating the tremendous achievements of the many individuals, groups and organisations in benefiting their communities and local railways.
“As sponsors of the ‘Best Community Engagement Event’ award, Rock Rail is particularly pleased to congratulate the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership for their innovative and fun CreativiTeas initiative that helped re-engage local people of all ages with their railway.
“Rock Rail is committed to helping build a better rail industry and so is also pleased to be able to acknowledge the vital role of community rail groups in stimulating growth and shaping the rail industry to better serve communities across the country.”
For more information on each of the category winners please click here.
To find out more about the Association of Community Rail Partnerships please click here.
