Railway station volunteers mark tenth anniversary of friends group

The Friends of Ally Pally Station helped to create a community garden as well as other projects aimed at improving experiences for passengers, reports Richard Cubitt

A group of railway station ‘friends’ who helped create a community garden will celebrate their tenth anniversary this weekend.

The Friends of Ally Pally Station are hosting the event on Sunday (7th) and say the celebration will “bring together local residents, rail staff, volunteers and supporters for an afternoon of music, flowers, birthday cake, lemonade and community spirit at the station where the group first began”.

It will also include a special anniversary quiz and will be attended by Hornsey and Friern Barnet MP Catherine West, as well as local councillors.

The group describe themselves as having “spent the past decade transforming and promoting Alexandra Palace Station through gardening, heritage projects, accessibility campaigning, community events and partnerships with the railway and local organisations”.

They also created and continue to maintain the Bedford Rose Garden at the western entrance to Alexandra Palace Station.

Alexandra Palace Station's Bedford Rose Garden (credit EssDubya via Wikimedia Commons) — Alexandra Palace Station’s Bedford Rose Garden (credit EssDubya via Wikimedia Commons)

Sunday’s event is being run as part of National Community Rail Week, a programme running next week to celebrate community rail partnerships and station volunteers.

National Community Rail Week is run every year by Community Rail Network and this year’s theme is ‘Journeys for All’. A spokesperson said this was about highlighting “how community rail is helping tackle isolation, improve accessibility and inclusivity, support wellbeing, and reconnect communities with local railways and stations”.

A spokesperson for the friends group explained that the event ties into this theme as, over the past decade, the group has “worked to make Alexandra Palace Station greener, friendlier and more connected to the diverse communities around it through volunteering, gardening, heritage projects, partnerships and public events”.

He added: “The event also recognises the importance of accessibility and inclusion in public transport. While the station is not yet fully step-free, the confirmation of new lifts represents a major step towards ensuring that more people can use and enjoy the station in future.

“More broadly, the celebration demonstrates how community rail can support social connection, civic pride and sustainable local travel in an urban area, helping ensure that rail journeys, and the spaces around them, are truly ‘for all’.”

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