Edit to add ...
I have been asked by the Community Rail Support and Development Manager to point out that this is an event for
station adopters and friends only ... he writes "We hope yourself or one of the station adopters from the Melksham station group will be able to attend, however I need to make you aware that it's an event only open to Community Rail Network members and as such shouldn't really be publicised on the public forum as we do have to limit numbers only to those groups who are invited."
Fair enough - note of caution added - though the original text stated who it's for, and twice. I will obscure the booking URL. But I know we have a considerable number of station adopters / friends here on the forum - so I'll leave it flagged, and suggest you look back through your Community Rail Network emails to find out how to sign up.
The Community Rail Network's
public event diary is at
https://communityrail.org.uk/events-training/events-diary/End of edit
'Where are we now?' - a sharing session for station adopters and friends.
Date And Time: Tue, 15 September 2020 10:00 – 11:45 BST
http s://www.eventbrite.c o.uk/e/where-are-we-now-a-sharing-session-for-station-adopters-and-friends-tickets-117375 781121A chance to come together with other station adopters and friends to reflect on the effect of COVID19 on your group and activities.
In this sharing session, we will take stock and think about what might be needed as we adjust to volunteering in this new reality. There will be lots of time for sharing and listening to other people’s experiences in small groups and we’ll be sharing a few thinking points too.
We will be holding this meeting online via Zoom. You will receive joining instructions a few days before the event.
Please note that this event has limited places so we kindly request that a maximum of two people per group attend.
We hope that you can join us and look forward to saying hello.
Community Rail Network Training Team
On past form, these events fill quickly (don't think it's quite as bad as the scramble for Glastonbury tickets, though I have no0t managed to get in to any of the previous events!) so do book NOW if you're with a
CRP▸ or station friends group and interested - I would unofficially suggest you book if you can probably make it rather that waiting for certainty, which may be too late.
The topic is a good one - from a Melksham Rail User Group viewpoint we are limited by
GWR▸ 's advise to just "light gardening" once a week at the station by a maximum of 2 people and at a time when there are no passengers around. Deeply frustrating as we learn so much from chatting with passengers and observing customer flows, and we can normally help by light litter picking (McDonald's wrappers to rubbish bin!) as we're around / passing through. At the same time, I understand that our volunteers are getting criticism from the local
DfT» accredited organisation for not doing the litter picking ... but then they may be under different rules, and with a paid employee rather than pure volunteers, there may be different rules.