Artistic Honiton station – new footbridge and shed artwork, plus town map

in a project led by the Friends of Honiton Station, attractive new artwork has been installed on the inside of the station’s footbridge and a shed on Platform 1. In addition, an illustrated town map has been placed in the station forecourt. The project is the brainchild of Friends’ member East Devon and Honiton Town Councillor Jenny Brown.  A small event was held at the station on Wednesday 13 December where the Mayor of Honiton, Cllr Helen Hurford, unveiled the map.

Honiton Primary School pupils created the new artwork on the station footbridge during workshops with artist Alistair Lambert at Thelma Hulbert Gallery (THG), Honiton Museum and the Blackdown Hills National Landscape. The workshops were part of THG’s Honiton Hippo project for the national Wild Escape campaign. Local families also created animals to add to the artwork during workshops at the gallery and in the St. Paul’s area of Honiton over the Easter holidays.

Local artist Brittany E Lakin created the artwork on both sides of the Platform 1 shed.

The £6,700 project has been made possible thanks to funding from South Western Railway, Honiton Town Council and grants organised by the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership from CrossCountry Trains and the Community Rail Development Fund, a joint initiative of the Department for Transport and the Community Rail Network.

Cllr Jenny Brown said, “I am thrilled to see the unveiling of this vibrant, colourful artwork.  This project would not have been possible without the strong partnership that has been created over the past few years with our stakeholders, who are always very receptive of our ideas! I hope as commuters and visitors to Honiton walk past it, they will take the time to enjoy these latest additions.”

Martin Long, Chairman of the Friends of Honiton Station said, “Honiton station is important to so many people, and we are very proud of it, and all that it tries to do. We believe that the station is the perfect venue to promote and develop community-based art. To that end, we have been delighted to work with a range of partners to bring even more exciting artwork to our station.”

Councillor Eleanor Rylance, Chair of East Devon District Council, said “We are delighted to showcase the creativity of local young people and celebrate the remarkable natural environment which surrounds Honiton.”

Paula Aldridge, Community Rail Manager for South Western Railway said, “South Western Railway was delighted to support such a worthwhile project. It’s very important for us that we work closely with the communities around our network to help them make their stations somewhere that both customers and residents can be proud of.”

Richard Gibson, Stakeholder Manager West & Wales for CrossCountry, said: “This community art really enhances the experience of using Honiton station, and we’re delighted to have been one of its supporters. The train station is a gateway to each community and Honiton can be proud of what its users will now see.”

This project follows on from the Friends of Honiton Station’s initiative last year for different local groups to adopt the station’s planters and for each planter to have specially created artwork reflecting that group.

The Friends publish a monthly newsletter and welcome new members who wish to get involved with volunteering at the station. The newsletter and contact details can be found at https://friendsofhonitonstation.org.uk/


More on the footbridge artwork
The footbridge artwork collage was originally created as part of Thelma Hulbert gallery’s Honiton Hippo project during workshops held as part of the national Wild Escape Project led by the Art Fund in partnership with Honiton Primary School, Allhallows Museum and Blackdown Hills National Landscape.

Over the course of nine workshops led by the artist Alistair Lambert, 28 pupils from Years 4 and 5 at Honiton Primary took inspiration from the Allhallows Museum’s collection of hippo fossils, THG’s exhibition ‘Paradise Found’ and the nature surrounding the Blackdown Hills to create the collage.

The Wild Escape project explored changes in natural landscapes, revealing stories and connections to nature, the creatures we coexist with and biodiversity in the UK.

The national Wild Escape campaign led by the Art Fund was inspired by Sir David Attenborough’s ‘Wild Isles’ series. Primary school children aged between 7 and 11 were invited to be find a favourite animal in their local museum and be inspired to create an artwork.

Gallery – to enlarge photos, click once on the photo you want to enlarge, then once it opens in a new page, click again on the photo.   All photos by Dave Withey.