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Hednesford Station

  • The Group came together on Friday January 13th, 2017, rather appropriate
  • 18 Members of the Team
Over the past five years, the group have:
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  • Installed ten hay rack planters on platform fences
  • Installed planters on platform 2 and approach to platform 1
  • Created two new, round flower beds
  • Planted 1000s of daffodil bulbs
  • Planted a Christmas tree to decorate annually
  • Arranged regular litter picks to keep the station clean and tidy
  • Organised commemorative displays for:
    • 250th anniversary of William Wordsworth birth to coincide with all the daffodils blooming.
    • A display for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale alongside the planting of blue and white flowers across the station beds and planters, this coincidentally was done just before start of the pandemic so achieved entirely unintended significance.  
    • Arranged commemorative Remembrance display of poppies and cut-out figures of WW1 soldiers and a coal miner to represent the local mining community, enhanced by the poetry of Nancy Foster, a young Hednesford lady who tragically died in the 1930's who left a wonderful treasury of poems.  
  • Made unique pallet Christmas trees with battery lighting and decorated the station for each Christmas.
  • Successfully bid for a CCIF grant via West Midlands Railway to install a Vintage Train Carriage as a community hub for the town and station
  • Acquired funding to create heritage station signage
  • Bid to Community Rail Network 2021/22 Integrated Sustainable Transport Fund for a pair of cycle pods to be located alongside the community hub.
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Future plans ​

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  • Install Hednesford Community Hub on a 1/3-hectare strip of overgrown Network Rail land alongside platform 1, an ex-BR Mk2 TSO railway carriage incorporating a pop-up cafe, waiting room, toilet, and group meeting area 

  • Provide convenient and accessible location in the Community Hub for the local taxi firm to occupy an office in one end of the vintage railway carriage

  • Vintage Trains at Tyseley are carrying out the renovations for us including repainting in BR maroon livery

  • Heritage will be catered for with an ex-Pensnett Colliery seven plank coal wagon, for which we will bid for repair funding

  • Develop storage for the adoption group in either a 10T Box van or a 20T standard brake van

  • Create a community garden incorporating fruit trees, outdoor seating and an Incredible Edible Garden with greenhouse to cultivate our own flowers and plants to share with the community

  • Negotiate a rolling lease with Network Rail following the Asset Protection Agreement we have in-hand with Network Rail

  • Work with Groundwork East to complete the Community Hub project

  • Fell the trees for the site and finalise the environmental impact assessment carried out by ecology surveyors, undertake the work to eradicate Japanese Knotweed 

  • Commemorate HM Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee

  • Mark The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Biggest challenge​

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  • Time

  • Money

  • The bureaucracy of the rail industry

Why do we do this?​

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We all care very much about our community in Hednesford, and we have great pride in the history, appearance, and heritage of the town. Being able to provide the town's residents, visitors and travelling public, as well as community groups with this unique facility of a Community Hub at the station will be our legacy.  It should also contribute to the economic development of the town and 'building back better' for the benefit of everyone.

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