Andrew J Titcombe

Last updated at 12:13, Wednesday, 11 November 2009

In the six months or so that Friends of Wigton have been going, they have generally tidied up the station, weeding, litter picking and cutting the grass. Doreen Cape sent in this report of the work of the Friends of Wigton Station

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Recent report from the Friends of Wigton Station

In the six months or so that Friends of Wigton have been going, we have generally tidied up the station, weeding, litter picking and cutting the grass. We have obtained six planters and during the summer they were very colourful and we have now planted some winter plants, so we should have a little bit of colour through the winter too.

We have dug a circular bed on a grassy area of the station and have planted winter plants there for now, but we intend the make it a feature with perhaps some stonework with the word WIGTON permanently on show.

Art Group Impressions of Wigton Station

A local art group have painted some pictures of how Wigton Station used to look in the late 19th/early 20th century and we are hoping to obtain more of these and display them around the blank sandstone walls at the station. We will have them enlarged to 6' x 4' and made weatherproof and hopefully mount at least four of them round the station - but we need funding to be able to do this. We have applied for funds to the Wigton Neighbourhood Forum and in the future hope to put a bid in to the Awards for All section of the Lottery.

Restoration Hope for Wigton Station

The first ever Wigton Station was removed to Netherhall in Maryport in the 1880's, to be used as a summer house. It is still there today, albeit in a very dilapidated state and one our aims is to try to perhaps retrieve part of it (the part which used to say Wigton Station and was part of the roof) and display it at the station - but this is just a hope.

We are keeping everything as local as we can, we obtained the planters locally, the art group are local and if we get funding we will get the artwork enlarged and waterproofed locally. Stepping Stones, a local group, are also helping us each week.

Plans for  next twelve months

We are going to have a small competition locally to design an old 'Railway Poster' like those you would see around stations in the past and display this on the station too. And finally, in January 2010 we are having John Crouch do us a cookery demonstration and dinner in Wigton.

So, as you can see, we have been quite busy and hopefully people can see some improvements to the station already.

For more details contact Doreen Cape (Andrew J Titcombe will pass on email messages - click on my name under the headline)

First published at 15:10, Monday, 02 November 2009
Published by http://www.wigtonlocal.co.uk