Heart of England Community Rail Partnership scoops national award for Coventry Station Community Day

Midlands-based Heart of England CRP, along with project partners Coventry City Council, Avanti West Coast and Highly Sprung Performance, has won a coveted national Community Rail Award for its innovative work engaging communities with their local railway lines and stations. 

They fought off strong competition to be named winner of the Best Community Engagement award at the 18^th national Community Rail Awards, organised by Community Rail Network.

This year’s Community Rail Awards recognised a diverse array of projects, with 15 winners chosen from more than 200 entries, all demonstrating how the community rail movement continues to build links, positivity and awareness between local people and their railways.

Coventry Station Community Day took place on Saturday 7 May on the boulevard in front of the station and was joint funded by Avanti West Coast and Coventry City Council.

The day had a family-friendly festival feel with and there were activities from Coventry Transport Museum with ‘Playhem on the Promenade’, designing a ‘train of the future’ with local artist Emily Kaye Illustrations, and henna with Mehndi by Tan.  Coventry City Council arranged for a scale model of the Coventry-based world’s first fully operational Urban Airport to be on display.

There was a strong focus on encouraging active travel with Learn to Ride a Bike sessions, bike security marking, pedi-cabs, free cycle safety checks from Dr. Bike and information about the West Midlands Cycle Hire Scheme.

The Community Day was able to showcase some of the best local talent as part of the City of Culture’s Open Weekend, with performances from Coventry-based poet, rapper and writer John Bernard, the Jazz Apples and many more. 

The day culminated with two sold out performances of Highly Sprung’s In Transit, a stunning aerial performance with bold choreography, telling stories of movement, migration and innovation in the city and celebrating Coventry’s industrial heritage whilst looking forwards to a greener future. The performances featured a professional cast alongside over 100 children from 6 local schools.  In Transit was part of Commonwealth Connections, which connects children and young people in Coventry with schools across the Commonwealth.

More broadly, the Heart of England CRP delivers a wide range of community engagement and social inclusion initiatives, supports volunteering at stations, promotes green travel and tourism by rail, and works with railway and local authority partners to ensure the railways are integral parts of the local community.

Malcolm Holmes, executive director with WMRE and Heart of England CRP Chair said: “This award signifies the hard work that everyone at Heart of England Community Rail Partnership puts in to embed railway stations into the communities they serve.

“The event at Coventry station gave visitors the opportunity to celebrate the new station and learn about transport innovations in a fun and interactive way, epitomising what Community Rail is all about.”

Cllr Jim O’Boyle cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change said, “It’s nice to see the hard work of everyone recognised in this award.  Coventry station provided a great backdrop to the day and people had the chance to learn about transport innovations like Urban-Air Port alongside boosting their cycling skills.”

The Community Rail Awards were held at Manchester’s Central Convention Complex on 6^th October. More than 430 guests attended, including community rail volunteers, officers, rail industry leaders and government representatives.

The awards recognise the crucial, often unsung work carried out by community rail partnerships, station friends volunteers and community groups, in areas such as community and youth engagement, community-led station development, diversity and inclusion, and sustainable development.

Jools Townsend, chief executive of Community Rail Network, said: “The Community Rail Awards give deserved recognition to community rail partnerships, groups and volunteers across Britain. We were thrilled to welcome more than 430 guests, alongside ministers and rail industry leaders, emphasising the great value of community rail, helping to build stronger, fairer, greener communities, served and connected by their railways and wider sustainable transport network.

“Despite another challenging year, the array of entries defied expectations, showing how community rail continues to strive to help people get the most from their railways and stations, and impact positively on local places and people’s lives.

Our congratulations go to the Heart of England CRP, Highly Sprung Performance and all our winners, and thanks to everyone who supports community rail, helping the movement to go from strength to strength.”

Full details of all winners can be found here.