In December Friends of Beeston Station (FOBS) put aside the familiar tasks of leaf sweeping, litter picking and gardening to enjoy a Christmas Fuddle together.
‘It’s always good to put aside our chores and enjoy some Christmas fun together,’ said Trish Roberts-Thomson, Chair of FOBS.
‘We’re still waiting on a decision to go-ahead with the lifts,’ said Trish, ‘but decisions about even small infrastructure projects like lifts appear difficult to make in the current climate. We are just having to wait and hope!’
However the reality remains that the station at Beeston remains largely inaccessible to people with limited mobility. ‘We should never forget that many people can’t use the station,’ Trish said.
FOBS was looking forward to the refurbishment of the shelters on the platforms and the glass canopy over the station Ticket Office in 2023 but, although work briefly started on the shelters, this has now been delayed due to their poor state of repair. FOBS is hoping that the work will be resumed during the year.
Trish said, ‘the refurbishment of the canopies over the Ticket Office and the shelters would give an enormous boost to the look and feel of the station. The sense of tiredness and lack of care would be replaced with a vitality and energy reflecting FOBS ambitions for the station buildings and its precincts.’ It would also be great for the community to have a thriving and engaged local station.
In the meantime, FOBS is concentrating its attention on maintaining and improving the station and its surroundings with regular litter-picking, leaf sweeping and gardening.
Trish said that passenger journeys to and from the Station were still below pre-pandemic levels. FOBS is hoping that these will pick up substantially in 2023 and restore the station to its role as a vital rail hub.