Friends of Buxton station group scoop hat-trick of awards

The Friends of Buxton Station group has ended the year on a high after celebrating success at the national Community Rail Awards.
FoBS picked up three awards at the Community Rail AwardsFoBS picked up three awards at the Community Rail Awards
FoBS picked up three awards at the Community Rail Awards

The group picked up three awards at the event, held in Southampton. As well as being named joint winners of the the Outstanding Contribution to Community Rail prize, they also won the Station Friends and Adopters at the Heart of Communities award with chair Dave Carlisle picking up the award for Outstanding Volunteer Contribution. The group also took second place in the Community Creative Projects and Station Arts category.

It is the latest success for the group, which received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service the highest award volunteers can receive in the UK, earlier in the year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Activities undertaken by FoBS this year have included: leading a conversation project to protect the rare and endangered local Bilberry bumblebee; devising the Rail Retail Trail to support small businesses, running a mini-saga challenge writing competition to improve mental health by encouraging people to share memories of rail travel; and supporting and mentoring a new station friends’ group at Dove Holes.

FoBS Chairman, Dave Carlisle, said: “Our community volunteers not only kept working during early covid-19 restrictions, but stepped up and focused upon other areas where we could help. I’m so proud that our efforts have been recognised in this way and humbled that my role in making things happen was acknowledged.”

The Community Rail Awards, organised by Community Rail Network, were held at Southampton’s O2 Guildhall. They recognise the work by community rail partnerships, station friends, and other community rail groups across Britain.

Jools Townsend, chief executive of Community Rail Network, said: “Our hearty congratulations go to all the volunteers who make up the Friends of Buxton Station, and their chair Dave Carlisle – their outstanding work has cemented the group’s, and the station’s, place at the heart of the community. Their positivity and adaptability throughout the pandemic has been inspirational, and I think it’s fair to say they are the essence of what community rail is all about: creative, dedicated, grounded in the community, and using the railway and station to bring about as much public good as possible."

Related topics: