In the final article highlighting the work our volunteers do, we will look at The Railway Station Adoption Group. Volunteers adopted the station in April 2022 with the aim of both tidying and brightening the place up with colourful planting and artwork. The first group task was to install ‘The Pink Planters’ – and what a difference they made - providing instant colour and a statement of intent!
Planting on Platform 1: After months of delays due to difficulties gaining essential permissions, work eventually started in August 2023. Volunteers were able to install over 60m of planters using sleepers to create a front edge along the original platform kerb which was then backfilled with soil. All materials, including nearly 100 sleepers and 12 tonnes of recycled topsoil, were moved down the 42 steps by hand.
The station gardening team: Julie Binch, Honor Neale, Jane Johnson, Bill Hinds and Andrew Willis, researched the most suitable planting to reflect their vision and planting began in October 2023. More plants were added in summer 2024 and again in summer 2025 using a selection of perennials planted into groups that repeated along the platform. The gardening team has a busy rota for watering and weeding of the plants as the platform receives full sun throughout the year but limited rainfall due to large overhanging trees.
"We think that Barrow is very lucky to have a train station but that it seemed dull, dreary and depressing, especially in winter. We hope that our efforts to brighten it up will encourage locals to use and be proud of it as well as give a good, positive impression to the many people passing through it every day. It has been so rewarding, and a pleasure to be to be part of the Station Adopters team from the outset, and we were especially delighted to be part of the village submission to East Midlands in Bloom 2024, when the station received the judges' special recognition.”
- Julie Binch, Honor Neale, Jane Johnson, Gardening Team Volunteers
Artwork on Platform 2: Between August 2022 and May 2023 our volunteers painted 80m of fencing to create a fresh and neat backdrop to new artwork by our local artist and volunteer Stewart Pawley. Permission for one test piece, our lovely Muntjac, was received in summer 2023 and Barrow Scouts were asked to paint the flowers. Since then, lots more artwork has been painted both by Stewart with the help of various community groups. Two village scenes, Holy Trinity Church and Jerusalem Island, were added in summer 2025.
Barrow Scouts helped to create our Routes of Remembrance Artwork that can be seen on Platform 2. It forms part of a larger artwork that can be seen at Derby and Nottingham railway stations.
Painting the bridge: Volunteers, working alongside staff from East Midlands Railways, were fnally given permission to run an Action Day Event to paint the main station infrastructure in September. We are hoping to make improvements to the bicycle area opposite the main entrance soon.
Group Tasks: The group meets on at least one Sunday every month and the station has been totally transformed over the last three years. Volunteers sweep the platforms clear of leaves throughout the year, but over the early winter months this is increased to a weekly rota. Volunteers also hand scrub the steps each month to keep the mud off the painted edges helping to make the steps safer to use.
Sam Smith, the community ambassador at East Midlands Railway, has been really impressed with the Barrow Station Adopters, saying that we have “one of the best kept stations on the EMR network”.
He went on to say that the station is often the gateway to a village, allowing people to leave but also encouraging people to visit. He enthusiastically said that “few stations can do as good a job of being that shop window as Barrow upon Soar. However, more than this, the work at the station is truly a community affair, so many hands have contributed, it’s a testament to the community spirit and perseverance of your community!”
“I have loved collaborating closely with the Station Adopter’s team to help populate platform two with local animals and birds painted in a variety of picture book styles. A privilege too, to work with just shy of a hundred members of the Barrow Community to bring the whole thing to life with the addition of fantastic multicoloured hand painted fowers and vibrant leaf designs. The whole experience for me, from start to fnish, has been a pleasure.”
- Stewart Pawley, Artist
Annette Richardson