St James Park station makeover
Brightening up a neglected station and strengthening bonds with the community
We worked with the Avocet Line Rail Users Group and Great Western Railway (GWR) to organise a clean-up day that brightened St James Park station and created new links with the community.
25 volunteers from eight different organisations attended the event, held in March 2014. By the end of the day they had:
- Cleared a whole skip full of green waste
- Planted spring flowers in the embankment at the station
- Installed planters and planted them with herbs
- Removed hypodermic needles and a large bag of glass
- Scrubbed the walls clean
- Removed over-hanging branches which were dangerously close to the railway
Ongoing impact
The project recruited several volunteer ‘station adopters’ keen to do regular work at the station, with a larger number keen to participate in future one-off projects. Exeter City Football Club was very enthused by the clean-up day and offered to get their own volunteers to re-paint the station railings.
The project also received good local press coverage, helping to raise the profile of the station and spread the word about ‘community rail’ on the Avocet Line.