The Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Community Rail Partnership has wonderful teams of local people who look after the platform gardens at each station. Twice per year the tubs are replanted for the new season, and if we’re lucky, Scouts or Duke of Edinburgh Scheme volunteers help us out with keeping the tubs watered and looking good. At our December Rail User Group meeting, British Transport police attended to update us on their work and said that crime and anti-social behaviour rates at our stations are about a quarter of what they would expect at comparable stations. They believe that well-tended environments, established firstly by the flower tubs, are part of the reason why.

Platform lengthening work is about to begin at all three stations, and some of the flower tubs have been suffering from the elements and need replacing. We’ve recently received a grant from the Association of Community Rail Partnerships to replace the tubs with a weather-proof synthetic variety (that look nice) and the plan is to relaunch the gardens with the new tubs, when platform lengthening work is completed.

To make plans and catch up on some more news about station gardening and other opportunities, we’ll be meeting up all together for a chat and a pint or cuppa. So, whether you are already involved in station gardening or would like to learn more, please come to the Shepreth Plough on 11 February, 11 AM. (And it’s always nice to meet people in Shepreth and Meldreth who’ve walked or cycled over from Foxton via the new A10 path!).

If you can’t make the 11th, I’ll also be at the British Queen, Meldreth, on 7 February, 7:45, to chat with anyone who’d like to find out more.

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