Chelford win award in the Cheshire Best Kept Station competition
The awards were presented by Felicity Goodey CBE, the former BBC journalist and lifelong President of the Trustees of the Lowry in Manchester. She has also taken on the role of Chair of the Steering Group directing Cheshire's Year of Gardens 08.
Nine awards were presented, and the award for Tidiest Station went to Chelford. The photograph shows the volunteer trio, who, as mentioned above had no inkling that they were in the running, receiving the plaque from Felicity. The plaque will be displayed at the station in due course.
In 2007, Cheshire's Year of Gardens 08 have raised the profile of the event, and were the main sponsors of the award ceremony.
Chelford Station Gardens Update. March 2009
Spring has
finally sprung! We really hope you enjoy the mass
of daffodils and other spring flowers that are now
at their very best. Come and look—even if you don’t
use the train. We think you’ll find it worth it!!
We hope passengers from other stations on our line
will also enjoy our efforts as they stop briefly at
Chelford—Cheshire’s Best Kept Station 2008
[Couldn’t resist that!]. The flowers certainly
bring the station back to life along with the old
Forsythia bush on the Crewe side, which is in full
bloom. Not one of our crocuses [of which there were
lots in the planters] has survived. After growing
to the point when they were ready to flower, they
disappeared, virtually overnight. Helen Bilsborough
puts it down to rabbits who obviously thought we
were feeding them some tasty winter morsels. Helen
has also given us lots of snowdrops ‘in the green’
in addition to the ones appearing from the bulbs
ISS donated to us. Thank you!
Some of you may already have noticed something else
that has sprung up on the Manchester side. Yes!! We
are now the proud owners of a bench for you to
enjoy these sunny Spring days whilst waiting for
your train. ISS and Northern have combined to find
us this, refurbish it and then fit it at no cost to
Chelford. Thank you both for your support!
The bench is ‘Proper Posh’ as it hails from
Harrogate, but there sadly is no truth in the
rumour that Betty’s Tea Rooms are opening a branch
in the old station Waiting Room! Shame!
We have removed one of the Hebe bushes from the
front of the station as this had really ‘blown’ and
was very unsightly. We have discovered roses there,
but what we would really like, if any of you are
throwing any away, is a couple of Hydrangeas to
eventually provide colour there until autumn.
We have put another 20 or so bags of wood chippings
from John Oliver, onto the area next to the Crewe
waiting shelter after Tony had re-lined the base in
an attempt to beat the Mares’ Tails. With our
recycling hats on, we have used some old concrete
railway moulds from next to the steps to create
some planters there. Tony has planted them out, but
the rabbits think it is a snack bar for them!
We are conscious of the poor visual state of the
station steps up to the main road, and can assure
you that they have been reported. Hopefully their
restoration will happen soon.
Until next time, don’t forget to stop and say
‘Hello’ when you see us at the station. It’s good
to hear the words of pleasure and encouragement and
we were surprised and grateful for the interest
shown in our project at the Parish Plan
launch—these are what keep us going!!
Chelford Station Gardens Update: January 2009
A New Year starts
and our spring bulbs, [along with your station
volunteers], are just poking their heads above the
ground after this very cold spell. We are sure that
the bulbs from last season along with October’s new
plantings will provide a riot of colour and scents
after this drab time of year.
It was time to spruce up our lodging houses, so one
of our first jobs was to check and empty the bird
boxes. Two out of 4 had tenants last year [one more
than we thought]. Blue Tits have already been
spotted viewing, so all are now ready for them to
move in when they so wish.
ISS [the station maintenance company] have put us
some new fencing, increasing our country station
feel. They also donated 100s of snowdrop bulbs
[Thank you!] and we look forward to them flowering
soon. Their team of Julie, Warren and Keith are
extremely supportive to us and we record our
grateful thanks to them along with their boss,
Paul.
Whilst we are thanking people [This is all getting
very Kate Winslet,ish—Editor], it is only fair to
mention our Parish Council for their support
financially and otherwise, Robert Morton of the
Community Rail Partnership for funding the new
planters on the Crewe side, AJN Landscapes for
helping to take the hardest of the back breaking
work from our breaking backs and making things
happen for us! Also our good and generous
neighbours, Marshalls and Chelford Farm Supplies,
the Gildons and Chris Sullivan for donating so many
superb plants. Thanks also to all of you who give
us enough compliments and encouraging words to spur
us on!! We do hope you are enjoying our
contribution to our lovely village, Chelford.
Well we think that’s it—nothing more to report.
Oh! By the way, did we mention Tuesday night’s
awards ceremony when 22 Cheshire Stations vied for
10 awards? Perhaps we didn’t!! Anyway, hats off to
the overall winner,
Tony & Barbara Icke and Peter & Heather
Hammond (21.01.09)
CHELFORD
“Cheshire’s Best Kept Station 2008”
The sun is shining, the daffodils are nearly in bloom: it must be Spring. So it's time for the Chelford District Thursday Club's Spring Fair
