Fortunately the forecast rain held off and around fifty to sixty teddies accompanied by children and families moved between Glossop, Hadfield, Hattersley and Guide Bridge for The Teddy Bears Picnic Event 2017 (organised and coordinated by the friends' groups at the four stations) for around three hours on Saturday. Free train travel had kindly been arranged by Northern and it was good to see a number of first time users on the trains!
The main picnic this year was at Hattersley. Here Babs and team had set up a tombola, a barbecue and a very popular "Frozen" themed bouncy castle. At Guide Bridge, Andy, Colin and helpers had the star attraction of Postman Pat and van. And some live music too! Postman Pat gave many a cheery wave to children. And to passing drivers and passengers of express trains passing through the station who no doubt looked surprised at an eight foot Postman Pat standing on the platform! Over at Hadfield and Glossop, teddy tagging was in full swing as the new Hunt the Teddy Trail was launched encouraging children to seek out hidden teddy bear pictures - two safely placed at each station. This certainly got the children travelling up and down the line! Where were Bernie and Babs?!! Roland and Winnie?!!
We appreciated the many favourable comments about the event and the cheery nature of guards and drivers who certainly entered the spirit of the occasion. Our thanks to Simon Brooks our Northern Line Manager for his interest and support and our station staff. Thanks also to Vicky Cropper, Community and Sustainability Manager Northern (Central), for inventing a colouring competition to go with the event.
A lot of fun was had by all and we hope our teddies and families will be back soon on our trains and stations!

 Our renowned Teddy Bears Picnic Event is back! This Saturday 24th June between 10.15am and 1.30 pm at Glossop, Hadfield, Hattersley and Guide Bridge stations on the Glossop Line.

 The main picnic is at Hattersley station with music, refreshments and a tombola. The other stations will feature a Welcome Table and a Hunt the Teddy Bear Trail - find 8 named bears in total, 2 at each station!

 FREE TRAIN TRAVEL, kindly provided by Northern is available for travelling teddies and their families for the duration of the picnic. Please note however that this free train travel offer does not apply to or from intermediate stations. All teddies are kindly requested to return to their home stations by 2pm.

 So come and join in the fun!!

 Our thanks to Simon Brooks, Line Manager Northern and Vicky Cropper Community and Sustainability Manager at Northern for their support of this event.

SEVENTY SEVEN years to the day the Friends of Glossop Station and guests welcomed former child evacuees from Lowestoft and those living in Glossop to a celebration marking their arrival in the town all those years ago.
On June 2nd 1940 600 child evacuees from Lowestoft arrived with 30 teachers as part of a wider war time evacuation from East Coast towns. All the children were found homes in Glossop and district. A remarkable achievement! Life long friendships developed between  many children and their foster families and for many evacuees the time spent in Glossop shaped the course of their future lives. On discovering that, through the work of the Lowestoft Evacuation Committee, the evacuees make an annual trip to Glossop FOGS decided to create a plaque for the station as a focal point for this significant event in the town's history and to host an event celebrating this.
Read more about the event and view pictures click the link for the dedicated page "The Lowestoft Evacuation"

CLICK on the image (left) to view The Poetry Platform display at Glossop Station remembering "Lowestoft to Glossop - a journey of evacuation, 2nd June 1940"

 The Lowestoft commemoration event will take place on Friday 2nd June between 9.45 and 11am. This is to mark the arrival of 600 child evacuees and their teachers at Glossop Station on 2nd June 1940. There will be a plaque unveiling and an historic display.
 We are delighted that evacuees from both Glossop and Lowestoft will be joining us on the day. We thank Chris Brooks of the Lowestoft Evacuation Committee for his help in organising this reunion in Glossop!
 Other guests include friends from Northern, ACoRP, High Peak Borough Council, Glossop Heritage Trust and other station friends' groups.
  Everyone is welcome to join us.  We hope we have made contact with all ex Lowestoft residents living in Glossop but if you do know of anyone else please ask them to get in touch with FOGS.

 On June 2nd 1940 600 children and their teachers were evacuated from the Suffolk coastal town of Lowestoft to Glossop. All the children found homes later that day with families in Glossop.  Most of the children remained with their families for four years. As a result strong friendships have evolved between people of the two towns over the years with many evacuees keeping in close touch with their host families. The Lowestoft Evacuation Committee hold an annual event to commemorate this remarkable and poignant event in Lowestoft. Evacuees and thier relatives continue to visit Glossop too. In 2010 a plaque was unveiled at Lowestoft station to mark the exodus of the evacuees.
  We are hoping to hold a small event at Glossop station in June to mark the arrival of the children to Glossop. We hope to have a display and a plaque. We are working with Glossop Heritage Trust on our plans and with local evacuees who stayed on in Glossop and those who returned to Lowestoft. We hope to announce more details soon. We thank David Jones at The Glossop Chronicle for publicising our plans and for asking people with links to the Lowestoft evacuees to get in touch. We would, of course, welcome any further contacts!

Our new Poetry Platform theme is a poetic ticket to ride! We are pleased to present a new display with the poems selected by Penny Greenwood and the display designed by Paul Marsh. Poems include Edward Thomas' very famous Aldestrop, Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard, Wordsworth's Upon West Bridge, Houseman's Bredon Hill......and more! So do come and have a read. Enjoy too the new spring flower displays created by Christina Harris and Bunty Gibson. The day after these went up last week it snowed!! That's Glossop!!

 We are delighted to welcome Annette Hetherington as our new artist in the Station Waiting Room Art Gallery. Annette lives in Hadfield and trained at Ashton Further Education School of Art and in Graphic Design at Stockport College.
 In 2005 she joined Glossop Art Society and, a few years later, formed Hadfield Art Group. Sessions take place weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Hadfield Library. Annette has been actively involved in the very successful Hadfield Open Art Show which is held annually in the summer. Annette is a keen mentor of local artists!
 We invite you to come and see Annette's work which features paintings in charcoal and watercolour. They can be viewed daily during booking office opening hours at Glossop Station.
  Annette's paintings may be purchased.

  Contact details 07945 513970 annetteinhadfield@yahoo.co.uk

    Tomorrow marks the last day for Theo McLauchlan as Glossop Line Manager for Northern. The Managers in the Central region are taking up new posts as from Monday and Theo will be in charge of North Manchester and Lancashire lines and stations including Greenfield, Rochdale, Burnley, Blackburn, Colne and Clitheroe.
  Theo has been a fantastic and supportive Manager. He has been actively involved in all our projects and community events. We have greatly benefited from his practical and good humoured advice! Our awards and successes owe much to Theo's input - the recent installation of the heritage lights being a prime example. We thank him for his time and commitment. And also bringing local friends' groups together for bi monthly meetings at Guide Bridge.
  We presented Theo with a specially designed card by Paul Marsh with a series of montages featuring the many people Theo has met at Glossop station. Famous faces have included The Duke of Norfolk and Sir William McAlpine. And Father Christmas!!
   We wish Theo every success in his new post. We look forward to working with Simon Brooks who will be managing The Glossop, Buxton, New Mills and Hope Valley ( up to Edale ) Lines.

 Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year!

2017 marks the 170th anniversary of Glossop Station being built by the Duke of Norfolk. We are working on a couple of projects to mark this anniversary later in the year and we hope to provide more details soon.

 Neil would just like to say a big thank you for the good humour Father Christmas displayed following our recent gala at Glossop station when unknowingly he put him on the wrong train back to Lapland!! Santa's sleigh and reindeers were waiting at Dinting station ready to whisk him back to Lapland. However Neil put Santa and his elves on a train to Hadfield!! Which just goes to show that even friends of stations need to consult timetables and information screens carefully!! Fortunately follwowing this unexpected detour the elves helped reunite Santa with his sleigh and all was well!
  A very Happy Christmas from all of us at FOGS.