Rotary Club transforms Church & Oswaldtwistle station

For the past eight years volunteers from the Church & Oswaldtwistle Rotary Club have spent every Saturday morning from February to the end of October ensuring the station is kept in pristine condition.

When work started, the verges outside the station were an eyesore littered with bushes and weeds which took four weeks to remove.

Two tonnes of chippings were laid down instead to make the area more pleasing on the eye.

A wooden train planter was part of the makeover at the station (Image: Church & Oswaldtwistle Rotary)

Between March and April, daffodils and tulips are in full bloom in the 14 planters across the station, and from June to September, multi-coloured begonias replace them to ensure long-lasting flower placement on the platforms.

As there is no water supply at the station, volunteers were tasked with carting 40 litres of water from their home to make sure flowers were appropriately watered.

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At the far end of the platform for Accrington-bound trains, there is also a model engine and carriages made out of wood to add a huge extra slice of decoration.

Volunteers also regularly sweep the concourse outside the station, the staircases, and the platforms, while also keeping on top of painting handrails on the disabled ramp and staircases.

Volunteers have worked over the past eight years to transform the station (Image: Church & Oswaldtwistle Rotary)

Funding for the station comes from a variety of sources, including Northern’s Station Adoption Fund and Community Rail Lancashire’s small grants fund.

Club president Dawn Taylor, a volunteer at the station, said: “It is very pleasing to see the state of the station has been truly transformed, and I wish to thank the volunteers for giving up their Saturday mornings for nine months every year.

“I am very proud that our Rotary club is associated with this very worthwhile project.”