We hope everyone is well.

Buzzing Stations is a new collaborative project involving Friends of Glossop Station, Friends of Hadfield Station, Friends of Buxton Station, The High Peak and the Hope Valley Community Rail Partnership and The Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
In January Rhodri Green Regional Organiser for the Trust gave an inspiring talk for the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust at Bradbury House in Glossop. Rhodri also introduced Darcey Gillie a local volunteer to the audience. The Trust has been actively working with the Peak Park since 2018 on a project called Pollinating the Peak. Rhodri said how fortunate we are living in this area because on our doorsteps is the rare but iconic bilberry bumblebee (below). This gave Neil and Mary who were at the meeting the idea for some joint work. Darcey runs and organises bee safaris in and around Glossop. She is keen to develop this work and sees Glossop station and the work achieved by FOGS as an ideal environmental match to the concepts of Buzzing Comunities, Buzzing Schools, Buzzing Gardens and Buzzing Tourism that the Trust already promotes. We could see the potential for some effective joint working - FOGS has considerable experience in community events especially those involving children. We approached Rhodri and Darcey at the end of the meeting who said enthusiastically let's see what we can do!
The following day we got in touch with Dave at Buxton and Joy at Hadfield. Both said FOBS and FOHS would most definitely like to be involved. We then discussed our ideas with Andrew and Catherine at HPHVCRP and Becky at Northern. All gave Buzzing Stations their support!

On Friday 8th May a 90 minute online meeting took place with participants from FOGS, FOHS and FOBS with Catherine from HPHVCRP and Rhodri and Darcey from the Trust. The Peak Park will be involved too. There was much enthusiasm to get Buzzing Stations off the ground!! Catherine, pulling ideas together, suggested a three strand approach for a pilot project: Art/Education at Glossop/Hadfield, a new bumbleebee friendly planter at Buxton and the involvement of a Hope Valley line station so that all three lines in the partnership are involved. So Buzzing Stations has begun!

Clearly a number of station based activities will not be able to take place whilst current Corona virus restrictions exist. But in the meantime we can plan and develop our programme. Please get in touch with any ideas you may have!

Click here to read more about The Bumblebee Conservation Trust

These are very stressful times for everyone and, with that in mind, our latest Poetry Platform has some thoughts for contemplation.
Marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Wordsworth it has poems chosen by Penny Greenwood in another attractive display by Paul Marsh.
Unfortunately, the current restrictions mean that we are not able to display the new selection. You can however, view an online version on our dedicated Poetry Platform page. With its thoughts of daffodils, so symbolic of Spring, we hope it brings a little cheer.
There will be hard copies of the leaflet freely available at the station when this becomes possible.
As part of the display the following lines from Wordsworth's poem "Michael" are highlighted, particularly apt for life at at the moment:
    "There is a comfort in the strength of love;
     'Twill make a thing endurable, which else
     would overset the brain, or break the heart."

Northern's new CAF built Class 331 electric trains have been seen on test on the Glossop line in recent days. Four-coach unit 331 111 was seen at Glossop on Saturday 28th March.
It is not clear as yet whether Northern intends using these trains in service alongside the regular Class 323 trains.

Before the current restrictions took force we were able to create the Spring flower displays at the station. For those using the station we hope it gives you a little cheer in these difficult times. A thank you to Pat, Chris and Bunty for their hard work in creating these displays.
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We hope everyone stays well. Our thanks and good wishes to all staff working at the stations and manning the trains.

We are delighted to have local community art work back on display as from today in the Waiting Room at Glossop Station. Due to refurbishment work we have been unable to display art work since August last year! But we are back in business with a joint display from Hadfield based artists Chris Taylor and Karen Heywood.

Both have had their paintings on display previously in the Waiting Room and are back by popular demand! Chris' work focuses on calligraphy and his animal pictures will certainly catch the eye. Having spent a career in animation Chris captures detail in its essence.
Karen has different styles and likes to experiment with a variety of media and subjects. She works from Brook Street Studios in Glossop. Karen in her career has illustrated over 50 children's books. She has also worked in recent years with patients experiencing physical and mental illnesses.
Both artists trained in schools and colleges of art.

So do come along and enjoy their work. Chris has 6 pieces on display and Karen has 3. The waiting room is open daily from around 6.30am to 6pm Mondays to Saturdays. 10am to 5pm Sundays.

Their work may be purchased.
​Chris: 01457 857315
Karen: karen.heywood1@btinternet.com

 We are pleased to announce that FOGS' historical displays and Community Art Work will be restored to the Waiting Rooms in the coming weeks. The material had to be taken down in September whilst the Waiting Rooms underwent refurbishment. John and Eric from FOGS are creating new frameworks for the wall displays. We thank Becky Styles Northern's Community and Sustainability Manager and Pam Williams Northern Line Manager for permissions to put these displays back. We would also like to thank local artists booked to display their work in the Waiting Rooms for their patience! We have a little backlog but hope we can get work on display again soon. 
 If you would like to see your art work on display in this very accessible area then do get in touch!

On Tuesday 17th December the next two historic information boards for the Glossop Line were formally launched at Ashburys and Gorton Stations. Our guest was Paul Abell former editor of Today's Railways Magazine. Paul had created the content for both boards so it seemed very appropriate that Paul launch them! Paul was accompanied by his wife Shirley. The boards have been designed to a very high standard by Anne Michaelides of Naturesign design and match the generic THE GLOSSOP LINE format established for these boards. Steve Forde, Community Rail Officer for SEMCRP, helped organise the event as well as funding the boards. We are enormously grateful for Steve's ongoing support and patience. The next two boards for Fairfield and Hattersley have now been created and we hope to have these in situ in the near future. The contents for the other five stations are being created by Joy Hallsworth Friends of Hadfield Station and Neil Williams of FOGS in conjunction where appropriate with other friends groups.
Do go along and have a read of the latest boards and learn why Ashburys is called Ashburys!!
Our thanks to Paul for being our guest and to Lydia Hayes Asset Manager at Northern for her advice and permissions to site them.

MAY WE WISH EVERYONE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY, HEALTHY NEW YEAR.

New metal seats have recently replaced the four red bench seats under the station canopy. Attractively finished in green and cream to match the heritage colours of the station they have been received favourably. We would like to thank Lydia Hayes Asset Manager at Northern for consulting over the designs and colours and Paul Childs at The Railway Heritage Trust and Gill Bayliss, Conservation Officer for High Peak Borough Council for their advice and support.

On Saturday over 70 children with their families visited Father Christmas in the Waiting Room at Glossop Station. Due to a good tailwind from Lapland Santa arrived ahead of schedule and more children were therefore able to see him. Each child was given a personal welcome, a free gift and an opportunity for photographs.
There was a nice jolly atmosphere on the station for the whole event and people's toes were tapping throughout to the seasonal live music provided by the folk group SPINDRIFT.
Also keeping children busy was the make a Christmas tree decoration stall hosted by Andrea and Barbara. One young man touched everyone when he said I want to make a tree decoration for a train driver to say thanks! He did and the train driver proudly displayed it in his cab! Martin and Mike from Glossop Model Railway Society drew a steady stream of admirers to their snow covered interactive layout!
At around 11.20 our guest Raj Chanadarana, Business Stakeholder Manager for Northern, switched on our Christmas tree lights. He then made a short speech thanking FOGS and station staff for their work to make the station look attractive. This was followed by an unexpected Christmas present to Neil Chair of FOGS! Becky Styles, Northern's Community and Sustainability Manager, gave Neil a destination roller blind from a 323 Train! This caused a lot of smiles as Becky explained it was being given to Neil to acknowledge his and FOGS' 3 year campaign to keep the 323s with Northern and on the Glossop Line. This has now happened along with the efforts of others in particular David Brown MD of Northern. Neil liked the gift a lot and thanked Becky for obtaining it! Two refurbished 323s are now in service and Becky had asked that one be in use on Saturday. 323 238 newly outfitted in its Northern livery made a splendid sight! Thanks Becky for these special touches!
Also attending from Northern, Pam Williams our local line Manager. It was good to see Pam and share recent refurbishment work that had taken place at the station.
We would like to thank our guests for their sense of fun and the time that they gave to us and to everyone who helped with decorations and on the day. FOGS' team spirit!! And the Gating Staff for patience and help.
We would also like to thank Glossop Garden Centre for donating a lovely tree to us. And to everyone who came to the event. Your ongoing support is much appreciated. Santa left at around 12.45 with a lot of other calls to make!!

 A reminder! Father Christmas will be at Glossop Station in the Waiting Room from 11.00 to 12.45 this Saturday - the 7th. Whatever the weather Santa will greet every child and family who come to see him. A small FREE gift for every child.
 So do come along!! Live music, a model railway and tree decoration making too! The station has been fully decorated by Friends of Glossop Station with a tree kindly donated by Glossop Garden Centre.
 TWIG cafe available for refreshments.
 Hope to see you there!