News

ST BEES VOLUNTEER FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE

17th October 2006

A group of Year 11 students from St Bees School in Cumbria have become the latest station adopters with Northern Rail.  They will be looking after St Bees station on the Cumbrian Coast line.
 
The students will spend one hour each Thursday, during term time, cleaning the station, maintaining the planters and reporting any faults back to Northern for repair.  They met Pete Myers and Carl Longfield, who manage Northern Rail’s station adoption scheme, at St Bees to discuss their role as adopters and to learn about proposals to update the station including the refurbishment of waiting shelters and new planters and paintwork.   
 
PC Peter Swainson, British Transport Police and Steve Alder Assistant Security and Emergency Planning Manager, Northern Rail were also on hand to offer railway safety advise to the students.
 
Pete Myers, Head of Service Quality, Northern Rail said:  “We are delighted that the students of St Bees have chosen to adopt their local station.  We are responsible for the operation of over 450 stations across the north of England, many of which are unmanned.  Station adopters help by acting as our eyes and ears, reporting problems to ensure we maintain a safe and comfortable environment for both customers and staff at our stations.”
 
Mr Capes, Headteacher, St Bees School commented: “It is a pleasure to have an involvement within the local community, being able to give something back to the people of St Bees.  I am proud we have had so many willing student volunteers for this exciting new initiative.”