Some of the volunteers at the Community Volunteer Rail Day (photo by NTS Global)
Since we last reported to the Parish Council our activities at the station, which are carried out under the terms of a Station Adoption Agreement with Northern (in respect of the Station itself) and an annually renewable licence from Network Rail (in respect of the land between the railway and the roadway leading to Cark), have been severely affected by the lockdown arrangements well known to us all.
However, we have been able to resume our activities and our small team continues to meet regularly on Thursday mornings where our principal activities are litter picking, cleaning the shelters on both platforms, sweeping the platform areas and car parks, weeding and mowing the grassed areas and tending the planters and hanging baskets.
In May 2019 we organised a Community Volunteer Day at the Station which was attended by more than 40 individuals from the team members, Northern and Network Rail, Community Rail Cumbria, Community Rail Network, ISS, NTS Global and Grange Lions.
On that day we were able to clear the roadway leading to the village of years of accumulation of weeds and foliage that were significantly reducing the width of the road, put a weed inhibiting membrane along much of the Barrow platform and take delivery of two Amberol planters which we were able to plant up (in the rain!) More significantly, we were able to clear a huge amount of vegetation from the area behind the station and that enabled us to start the project described below and formulate our plans for the future (see below for what was achieved on the day).
Having cleared that area, one of the things that came into view from the roadway was the ornate gate that was the original entrance to the station. We also unearthed the original pathway back to the road. We decided to create a wild life garden between the pathway and the car parking spaces and approached the Woodland Trust for some shrubs to form a border for that wildlife area. The shrubs arrived just in time for us to get most of them in the ground before our activities were curtailed by the lockdown.
We’ve been able to control and develop that area and last year the Grange branch of Men In Sheds built us a bug hotel and, with other insect friendly activities, this is what the area looks like now.
We have been recognised by Cumbria In Bloom and the Royal Horticultural Society as a major achiever and were awarded their top level of “5- Outstanding” in 2021. We also received a Cumbria in Bloom Silver Gilt award for biodiversity because of our work on the wildlife garden.
During the lockdown members of the team were not idle. 2021 marked the 175th anniversary of three railway companies that operated in what is now Cumbria. Of particular interest locally was the formation of the Furness Railway which ran its first trains as far as Dalton in 1846 and led to the Ulverstone [sic] and Lancaster Railway building the line from there to Lancaster, which opened in 1857.
Janet Mardon and I from Cark worked extensively with members of Kents Bank Station Adoption Group, other station adopters and the railway companies to deliver a series of events to celebrate the occasion and support train travel. As part of these celebrations, we organised a number of roadshows at stations along the lines in the area.
The roadshow at Cark in August 2021 was particularly well attended as can be seen below. Over 150 goody bags were handed out to children visiting and £360 was raised from the sale of merchandise which we can use to buy new plants for the displays.
During the lockdown members of the team had not been idle. 2021 marked the 175th anniversary of three railway companies that operated in what is now Cumbria. Of particular interest locally was the formation of the Furness Railway which ran its first trains as far as Dalton in 1846 and led to the Ulverstone [sic] and Lancaster Railway’s building of the line from there to Lancaster which opened in 1857.
Janet Mardon and David Stubbins from Cark worked extensively with members of Kents Bank Station Adoption Group, other station adopters and the railway companies to deliver a series of events to celebrate the occasion and support train travel. As part of these celebrations, we organised a number of roadshows at stations along the lines in the area.
The roadshow at Cark in August 2021 was particularly well attended as can be seen below. Over 150 goody bags were handed out to children visiting and £360 was raised from the sale of merchandise which we can use to buy new plants for the displays.
So what of the future?
As part of the Furness 175 celebrations, a series of historical images have appeared at Grange and Silverdale stations. It’s our intention to have similar images at Cark. The image below, a particular favourite of mine, was taken around 1930 and we have some other splendid images including some of the former employees, that we hope will be of interest.
Report by Dave Stubbins 11 May 2022
