On Thursday 17th April Darren of STG installed two new sash windows at Glossop station. One faces Howard Street externally and the other, externally is behind the buffer stop. Both internally are in the storeroom. The project has been under negotiation for two years and it was a delight to see them finally in place yesterday afternoon! For the first time in over 60 years the station now has external windows which are all historically correct. These two windows had been boarded up since the early sixties!
  The project has been funded with a significant grant from The Railway Heritage Trust with additional funding from Northern. FOGS would like to say a big thank you to Andy Savage and Malcolm Wood of the Trust for their support of this work. Neil would also like to thank them for their patience in recent weeks during the strains and stresses of Northern's Franchise extension bid. Theo's perseverance, during this period, with the window project was very much appreciated as was Peter Reid's professional advice at Northern! FOGS also benefited from the interest and support of Joanne, High Peak Borough Council's Conservation Officer, who toured the sites last summer with Neil. Our thanks!
  Inside the storeroom the light levels are significantly improved which will be a real bonus as the room will be used by FOGS even more once the work to convert the old booking office into a cafe gets underway. Go and have a look, if you can, at these new windows and share our pride in them!!

 On Tuesday 15th April Neill Manchee, Chairman of the Glossop Branch of the British Legion unveiled the new commemorative Great War Poetry Display. Neill gave a short address on the poignancy of young lives cut short by war - the theme of the display. He alluded to the recent television programme featuring Simon Weston to emphasise that conflict and its effects are with us today. Also joining Neill as a guest was Jean Wharmby, Chair of the Women's section British Legion Glossop, accompanied by her husband George. Tea/coffee and biscuits were offered to those present by Bunty. FOGS would like to thank Penny Greenwood for choosing 10 thoughtful poems and Paul Marsh for an evocative display that is already deservedly being read. We'd also like to thank the Buxton Advertiser - Rachel and Jason - and the Glossop Chronicle,  - David - for their support and reporting of this event. And of course thanks to Theo and Northern for permission to hold this event.

 The new commemorative War Poetry Display in our Poetry Platform Display Case is now in place! Penny Greenwood's thoughtful selection of 10 poems reflecting the poignant loss of young men serving their country in the Great War forms the content of a very attractive display created and designed by Paul Marsh. This is Paul's first display for us following Emma Youngs' move to Northumberland and we delighted with both content and design in attracting attention. We hope the many travellers passing through Glossop station will take a moment to reflect on the poems.
 The display will be officially  unveiled by Neill Manchee, Chairman of British Legion Glossop branch, at 2.30 pm Tuesday 15th April who will say a few words. Neil will be joined by Jean Wharmby in her role of Chair of the Women's Section, British Legion, Glossop. Tea/coffee and biscuits will be available afterwards and all are welcome to join us!

 Today Sunday 13th April thanks to our Network Rail Safety Licence and supervision from Russell,  John LeG, John K, Eric, Pete, Chris and Neil found themselves reunited as the Embankment Gang as the first garden session of 2014 took place at the happy hour of 06.00!! The garden is looking splendid and we were able to do some weeding, hoeing and a little planting. We are grateful for the many favourable feedback comments that locals and visitors are passing to us. We are looking to establish a Comments' card in the near future. Spot the new stones deliberately added to Eric's rockery and some new aubretia there too! Bunty did a stalwart job of cleaning the station and making us some tea. We helped her later . Paul arrived at 7.10 to put up new War Poems' display ready for Tuesday's official unveiling. Our thanks to Mike Franklin for new Network Rail gloves too!

On Thursday 27th March came the news we had all been waiting for - the confirmed extension by the DfT to Northern Rail of their franchise to February 2016.
We CONGRATULATE Northern on this extension! We know how much work has gone into gaining this extension and how tense recent weeks have been for staff  - and volunteers - awaiting news!!
FOGS looks forward very much to continuing its work with Northern. Messages of congratulations have been sent by FOGS to Theo, Paul Spencer, Don Jary and to Alex Hynes - Northern's MD.

Also happening on Thursday 27th March was a meeting in Glossop, at the Municipal Buildings, of the High Peak and Hope Valley Community Rail Partnership. Having not met since November there was plenty on the Agenda. Chaired by County Councillor Damien Greenhalgh along with Project Officer Mike Rose, 40 people from all parts of the High Peak and beyond discussed the implications of changes to the Buxton, Glossop and Hope Valley lines. With so many investment projects looming in and around Manchester there were many issues to consider. Lively debate, as always ensued: should services stop at all stations or skip stop to create faster end to end services? Rerouting services, due to possible tram train introduction, was also debated. Bamford reps reminded everyone that the 18.14 Sheffield to Manchester service still did not call at their station Mondays to Fridays!! Theo represented Northern and it was good he was there on the day the welcome news was received about Northern's successful extension bid! Representing FOGS at this meeting were Penny, Thierry and Neil.

 On Wednesday March 26th Neil represented FOGS at an ACoRP Station Adoption event at Birmingham. As always it was a pleasure to share problems and progress with fellow volunteers from different parts of the UK. Daphne is now the Chair of the much praised Leighton Buzzard group. We learned of Dorridge's recent success at turning a "shed" on the platform into a GWR style waiting room with appropriate furnishings! Their photos looked stunning. Definitely on the to visit list! We learned too of the progess of a relatively new group at Sowerby Bridge as well as hearing from our old friends at Handforth, chapel and New Mills
 It was good to meet up with Peter Hayward from Dronfield who updated us with a very informative leaflet as to how the group had coped with 5 recent weeks of buses replacing trains due to a landslide at Unstone near Chesterfield. The event was chaired with good humour and expertise by Brian Barnsley and Peter Roberts from ACoRP.

 Work is imminent to replace the two boarded up windows at Glossop Station. Thanks to a generous grant from The Railway Heritage Trust and support from Northern the contract to replace the windows with historically correct sash style windows has now been let. FOGS would like to thank Theo McLauchlan, our Northern Line Manager for his ongoing support of this project in recent weeks and Peter Reed of Northern. FOGS also very much appreciates the guidance given by Andy Savage and Malcolm Wood ofTHe Railway Heritage Trust.

 On Thursday 13th March Neil, representing FOGS, joined many guests at Huddersfield for the official opening of the new ACoRP HQ - a grade one listed Water Tower adjoining Huddersfield Station. It was a beautiful day and everyone was able to appreciate the quality of the restoration inside and out. Neil was able to catch up with railway friends from across the UK John Yellowlees from First ScotRail, Mike Franklin Network Rail..... and locally too Joy from Hadfield, Babs from Hattersley and Clyde. Roy and Phil from Heaton Chapel, Mike Bishop from Handforth. Speeches were made following a lunch at a nearby restaurant. Addresses were made by the Mayor of Kirklees, the architect of the building, Neil Buxton MD of ACoRP and then by ACoRP's founder, Paul Salveson. Paul gave an inspiring speech touching on how far Community Rail had developed since its inception. His pride in its growth shone through! Paul later unveiled one of the 3 plaques to mark the occasion. The organisation of the event reflected the skilled hands and experience of ACoRP's Dawn and Hazel. Everyone agreed it had been a splendid day and FOGS wishes ACoRP the very best in its new home!

 on Tuesday 4th March a delegation from TfGM visited Glossop for a meeting. Led by Karen Hornby, Head of Heavy Rail and Steve Magner, the group had a tour of the station with Penny and Neil at 11.00 lasting around 45 minutes. It was a lovely day and the flowers looked their best as the group viewed the work of FOGS and the investments in infrastructure that had been made. Penny and Neil appreciated he interest shown by the group and the compliments that were paid!