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On Friday 23 rd September Bunty and Neil attended the ACoRP Awards' Evening at Sheffield's City Hall. As always Dawn,  Hazel and team had worked extremely hard to make the setting look stunning and around 300 guests from all over the UK were treated to an excellent dinner followed by the awards themselves. All guests were given a complimentary genuine railway whistle but were soon warned from the stage to stop blowing them! Neil Buxton, ACoRP MD, made a speech recognising the huge progress being made in community rail travel - recent huge increaes in ridership figures reflecting this - and then the hosts Tim Shoveller MD East Midlands Trains and Steve Butcher CEO from Northern hosted the award presentations. As always lots of imaginative ideas were recognised; one that appealed to Bunty and Neil was the Munchtime Express on Cornwall's Liskeard to Looe branch line! Bunty and Neil sat next to two American guests who had flown in specially that day for the awards. Richard Rudolph from AMTRAK was subequently given a special International award for his work in promoting rail travel in America. Welsh pronunciations caused some problems and mirth especially when the delightful station of Dolwyddelan on the Conwy Valley Line won 1st prize for its stunning gardens. First Great Western, at the end of the evening, won the coveted prize of the company doing most to promote the Community Rail Strategy. Before leaving Neil managed to have a few words with Ian Bevan Northern Rail's MD who added his praise to the work done at Glossop and his desire to make a visit. Overall a very enjoyable evening! Next year's event will be in Swindon.