Volunteering
We proactively encourage residents from the local community to ‘adopt’ their local station and become station volunteers. If you can spare a few hours on a regular basis please do get in touch by emailing northstaffscrp@stoke.gov.uk
North Staffs Community Rail Partnership (NSCRP) now has over 70 active volunteers who work at stations along the route. They’ve transformed their stations through gardening, painting and environmental projects, as well as being the eyes and ears of their local station, reporting any faults and issues. Their ideas help to inform our station improvement projects and they provide that extra local knowledge that is so helpful to us and the train operating companies in securing the support of the local community for their station.
Many have been volunteering at our stations for many years and have formed friendly groups that enjoy their regular meetings for a chat and a laugh, as well as working, of course!
For more information about becoming an NSCRP station volunteer you can use on the following links (links open in a new tab):
- Adopt a Station via East Midlands Railway (for Alsager, Kidsgrove, Longport, Longton, Blythe Bridge, Uttoxeter, Tutbury & Hatton, Peartree and Derby)
- London Northwestern Community Rail (for Stone and Penkridge)
- Avanti West Coast Community Hub (for Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford)
To find out more about station adoption nationally you can look at the website of our umbrella organisation, Community Rail Network, here:
Community groups
NSCRP loves to work in partnership with school groups and other community organisations to run projects that further our community rail aims.
For example, we can organise:
- Travel training for groups who may not be confident about travelling by train
- Artwork displays and environmental projects at our stations
- Local history projects that provide interest and information for our station users
- Fun children’s activities about stations and rail travel
- Guided walks from stations to help people find out more about places along the route
If your group is a charity or social enterprise we can also help you to find grant funding from our train operator partners.
Businesses
If you would like to get involved by sponsoring one of our projects, or by buying plants or gardening equipment to help the station volunteers, please get in touch. Thousands of people use our stations every week and will see sponsors’ names on display on posters and signs, as well as on our social media channels and in annual reports.
NSCRP is currently funded by a partnership of train operators and local authorities. If you are interested in becoming a funding partner please get in touch.