Stations in Bloom

Stations in Bloom is an inter-station celebration of volunteering across the South Western Railway & Great Western Railway networks in South West and Southern England.  Underlying green credentials embrace a non-competitive and non-captious ethos ensuring its nature is collaborative, celebratory and fun.  Engaging with local communities, station volunteers and railway staff to bring wider recognition to the hard work invested into making stations welcoming environments for rail-users and visitors.

Stations in Bloom 2025

It’s a fallow year for Stations in Bloom 2025 for the Blackmore Vale Line CRP is taking part in the national Railway 200 campaign, delivering events and celebrations throughout the year.  As many of you know our Head Judge Derek Beer, is one of the top ambassadors for the Royal Horticultural Society South and South East in Bloom and has  been in contact with you about entering this prestigious event.  We hope to be back in 2026 to carry on celebrating station volunteering across the networks. 

Below the gallery,  is the list of participating stations (A-Z) for 2024, images and awards. 

 

Stations in Bloom 2024 Awards List – A- Z  and Images   

Ashurst A lovely gateway to the New Forest, superb formal displays and massive wildflower projects. Great sustainability.  GOLD

Avoncliff Tiny station that packs lots in creating a special welcome. A lovely place to visit. GOLD

Axminster Year-round activities and displays. An excellent example showcasing the  dedication of the station staff. GOLD

Barnstaple A Herculean task by the volunteers making an incredible difference to this massive station area, and great use of recycled materials, really well-done.  GOLD

Bitterne  Sustainability everywhere, what a difference this group have made integrating the station into the   community, at the same time maintaining their principles. Brilliant artwork on the bridge. GOLD

Bradford on Avon Lots of lovely long borders with great plants in long neat swathes.  A lovely Great Western Railway Station. GOLD

Brockenhurst Great work and determination by a great team of volunteers to overcome challenges  GOLD

Bruton A great team translating enthusiasm into a well-loved station. GOLD                                             

Castle Cary  – Unique collaboration with dynamic community – Win Win! GOLD                                                              

Chapelton  Really appropriate planting  SILVER                                        

  Copplestone Great sustainability. Good all year-round   GOLD

Corfe Castle   Superlative and varied input from volunteers providing the best experience for visitors  GOLD

Crediton: Appropriate planting and excellent heritage GOLD                        

Crewkerne   A welcoming arrival point for rail customers and a delightful community space –continues to go from strength-to-strength. GOLD

Christchurch: Fantastic plans for the future already underway, making a difference for local people.  Silver

Dorchester West  A great band of volunteers who have lovingly cared for this station.  Silver Gilt

Feniton: Lots of hard work. Silver                                        

Freshford: A beautifully designed and executed station garden with a ‘WOW’ factor. 

 GOLD Gillingham: So much care and attention to keeping the station pleasant/clean and attractive. Silver Gilt 

Harmans Cross: Wonderful teamwork at all levels producing a stunning total effect. GOLD

Hedge End: The volunteers put in loads of effort all year round to keep this station well looked after, assisted in no small way by the local school. Really well-done Herston Halt:   A tiny station with great facilities for customers. Beautifully kept extensive gardens along the accessible entry.  GOLD

Hinton Admiral: Great plans for the future, individuality everywhere.  Silver                                      

Honiton: Fantastic artwork everywhere, linked to good causes. Brilliant new vinyls on the footbridge,and great local information, what a fantastic team.  GOLD                                                                                                                            

Keynsham:  Great colour scheme throughout all the planters. GOLD      Maiden Newton: Great team with great sustainable planters. GOLD

Netley: Great containers and historic interest. GOLD

New Milton:   Such a well-cared for station and a really exciting future for all involved.  Silver Gilt                    

Newton St Cyres: Village and station working as one, what a lovely little station with passionate volunteers . A special place. GOLD

Norden: Dedicated work by a small team has produced lovely floral welcome to the station from all directions with notable and ongoing extra efforts in a wide area around the station.  Silver Gilt

Pinhoe: No mistaking where you are here, a great raised and themed garden display all year-round.  Silver Gilt

Okehampton: The volunteers here really make a difference maintaining and promoting local heritage, at the same time producing fantastic and varied floral displays over many years. A great station to visit in its own right  GOLD

Salisbury: Big, busy station where panting welcoming spaces and art/heritage projects get creative attention, and all staff encouraged to participate. Silver

Sherborne:  Clever and well thought out planting that particularly compliments the station.  GOLD

Swanage: Lovely hanging baskets. Perhaps you can help this small team?  Silver                                                                       

Templecombe:  Always stunning, and always evolving glorious space designed for and used by local community while continuing to delight rail passengers.  GOLD                                                                             Tisbury: Dedicated, skillful and creative planting. GOLD       

Wareham: Beryl does a great job here planting and maintaining a large number of floral displays, really well done!    GOLD

Weymouth: A great new team making a difference at this important gateway to the town and seafront.   Silver

Whimple: This station leaves you in no doubt about local heritage, a pleasingly unique station.      Silver Gilt

Whitchurch:  A great team of volunteers not just making the station look beautiful, but the town as well. Lots of local information and a well looked after waiting room. Well done. GOLD                                                                                                                                            

Wool: Lovely named and distinctive floral containers, and a superb marriage with local bus operators, a well looked after travel hub. GOLD                                                                                

Yetminster –A dedicated local resident taking great care of this little station- a labour of love.   Silver   

 Yeovil Junction:  High impact, sustainable planting by dedicated and creative staff. Special mention for cleverly designed seat between planters. GOLD                       

  Yeovil Pen Mill:  Things are Starting to Happen.     Bronze                                                                

Yeovil Railway Centre: Exceptionally creative planting work with a strong emphasis on inclusivity.   GOLD

Special Awards of Recognition – Outstanding Achievement Awards

Andrew McElwee & Polly Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding endeavours at Sherborne Station

BARNSTAPLE      For a Herculean recycling effort

BITTERNE  For a superb Art Trail 

FRESHFORD       For beautiful borders and gardens

HERSTON HALT For turning a bland embankment into an amazingly wonderful feature

HONITON            For superb community links nurturing health and well-being with the adopt a pot scheme.

WHITCHURCH For gorgeous, gorgeous floral planters

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Stations in Bloom 2023

Stations in Bloom (SIB) is an inter-station celebration of volunteering across the SWR & GWR networks in South West and Southern England. Stations in bloom’s underlying green credentials embrace a non-competitive and non-captious ethos ensuring its nature is collaborative, celebratory and fun.  Engaging with local communities, station volunteers and railway staff to bring wider recognition to the hard work invested into making stations welcoming environments for rail-users and visitors.

Planning starts in the spring, peaks during the big shows in the summer and climaxes with the autumn regional awards. Inclusive, engaging, enjoyable and helpful, station volunteering is good for confidence building, spiritual and healthy well-being, increases fitness and tackles social isolation by providing opportunities to make new friends and boost morale.

With its firmly rooted green agenda, SIB has successfully raised awareness of ecology, green sustainable travel, community rail, increased sustainable horticultural practices and augmented the value of volunteering across the region and networks. Promoting the railways, routes and stations of the regional CRPs along the way. 

18 tours with 18 judging teams travelling 8000 sustainable green miles by train and public transport through ten counties, visiting 70 stations over an eight-week period, with our judges alone clocking up more than 2400 volunteer hours.  

What’s it all about?

Bringing wider recognition to the valued work of volunteers on the railway was established by Blackmore Vale Community Rail Partnership with Stations in Bloom in 2016 across its six members stations and Yeovil Railway Centre. The original idea celebrating and promoting the wonderful planting intiatives at each station. Each station also participated and won awards in the ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood scheme, part of the distinguished Royal Horticultural Society campaign, South West in Bloom.  Funding for the project was gained in 2019 by Blackmore Vale Line CRP for a 2020 Stations in Bloom campaign for the Salisbury to Exeter line,  joining with the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership.   The pandemic delayed the project for two years.  By 2022 Stations in Bloom grew into a joint initiative promoting volunteering, the railways, routes and stations of the regional CRPs of Blackmore Vale Line, Devon and Cornwall, East Hampshire and South Wessex. It was the first campaign of its kind on the South Western Railway and Great Western Railway network across southern England, funded by South Western Railway with signifcant sponsorship from leading west country business The Gardens Group.

How does it work?

Common themes running throughout station volunteering were turned into a diverse, inclusive and robust set of judging guidelines to support an awards structure. Absolutely not a competition but a celebration of community involvement and volunteer endeavours, recognised regionally with an awards ceremony.  

Regionally recognised as a positive, friendly, inter-station celebration of volunteering, its creative, fun and innovative. Augmented by an engaging ethos widely embraced by all.  Spreading wider recognition of volunteer dedication and commitment across the rail networks, region and beyond.  Strengthening the sense of belonging to the community rail family and generating masses of goodwill across the railways.

The core team respected members in their areas of expertise compliment judges carefully selected for experience and volunteering advocacy.  Volunteers willingly share fabulous things accomplished with encouraging, supportive judges.

SIB aims to successfully engage with station volunteers and regional CRPs, to encourage volunteer participation and to secure funding and sponsorship to bring everyone together to share knowledge and celebrate.

Engaging with the community

SIB gives volunteers something to aim for throughout the year. Creativity demonstrated through the diverse variety of station initiatives is truly amazing!

It takes a special person to be a judge, integrity and sensitivity towards volunteers combined with the ability to put people at ease drawing out the best from them.  Our super judges are also volunteers giving of their time generously.

Warm welcomes and beaming smiles received from ‘old hands’ and ‘SIB virgins,’ as judges were shown with great pride what individuals had accomplished whilst making a difference horticulturally and environmentally were heartwarming, especially knowing that without that focus their lives would probably be very different.

Boosting morale and confidence of volunteers, sharing experiences, giving constructive help and advice, but never critical.  Providing an opportunity to groups to show off all they achieve, explain how and why, and ask for help and guidance on all things. Sharing experiences and promoting the benefits of volunteering, especially in horticulture for those affected by mental health issues and loneliness. Judges saw really good examples of this in practice, and the visits not only brought a smile to those going through difficult times, but enabled judges to offer encouragement, help and advice for the future.

“It was an absolute privilege meeting so many local champions doing such wonderful work and being able to encourage and support them.”

2022 feedback set the bar for 2023

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed and valued the whole 2022 Stations in Bloom experience. Feedback provided additional enhancements for 2023 resulting in greater participation across the region. Successful community engagement in 2023 increased station take up by 45%.  Working with more than 500 volunteers.

18 tours with 18 judging teams travelling 8000 sustainable green miles by train and public transport throughout ten counties, visiting 70 stations over an eight-week period, clocking up more than 2400 volunteer hours and that was just the judging teams.  

Funding gained from SWR, GWR, and CRPs. Significant business sponsorship for whole awards ceremony for 130 guests. Sponsored coach transfers. Raised awareness and regional profile of station volunteering. Successfully increased awareness and application of sound environmental practices for planting, watering and recycling. Protecting the natural environment 78% of stations now have sustainability at the heart of their work. 

SIB is a positive reaffirming experience for all involved. Sharing examples of good practice and successes to other groups on the tour, promoting this approach to groups struggling to find volunteers, and how to access these important groups. Many people on the tours said they really benefited from the experience and would be lost without it.