Buxton station volunteers hope dementia support project goes national
The pioneering volunteers hope that their work will reach a much wider audience
In November 2022, community volunteer group, Friends of Buxton Station, FoBS, successfully piloted a scheme to help rail users living with dementia and others with visual problems, winning acclaim at the National Community Rail Awards.
And now, the pioneering volunteers hope that their work will reach a much wider audience as this year’s Community Rail Week, themed ‘Journeys for All’ approaches.
Dave Carlisle, Chairman of FoBS said: "The Week shines a spotlight on the vital role community rail plays in breaking down barriers, helping ensure that everyone can access and enjoy rail travel. Our project devised a number of clear signs, specifically targeted to help people living with dementia to safely navigate train stations.”
“In partnership with Northern Trains Limited, we reviewed station signs, having seen people struggle to understand or follow them. The pilot had fewer signs to avoid ‘information overload’, made sure they were at important ‘decision points’ and made greater use of black-on-yellow symbols to reinforce the carefully-chosen wording.”
Northern were impressed with the project, which has evaluated well by dementia support groups in Buxton and Liverpool. FoBS have asked the train operator to champion the idea as a national template when all rail companies are brought together under government control as Great British Railways. The Friends hope that their ‘dementia-friendly’ signage, will form the basis for all station public information across the new national organisation.
Dave Carlisle, who has personal experience of Alzheimer’s in his family, finally added: “There are many people living with dementia, an unknown proportion are undiagnosed – we created our signs to address this hidden community of rail travellers as well as those with sight issues.
“We have consulted widely on our designs, tweaked them and met with general approval. Northern have been very supportive, and through them, we are renewing our call for these signs to be the ones used by Great British Railways, so helping to provide ‘Journeys for All.’”