The 'garden' at Swindon has been slightly spruced up ....
... and I'm delighted. I would say a little more than "slightly", or perhaps it's a case of a little goes a long way.
I'm not exactly sure what / how that has happened - though I could make an educated guess. Good to see. Also had an excellent / brief networking chat with someone at the First Stakeholder Conference at the end of last month (not a member of the
FGW▸ team, but rather from the town) talking about how larger stations such as Swindon could / should form a part of their community in a similar way to some smaller stations do.
It's noticeable that there's a community amongst users of some stations / services - user groups, community rail partnerships, etc, and a big acknowledgement that this approach brings benefits far in excess of the relatively small sums invested - and yet this has to date been all about smaller lines / services / stations. Perhaps there would be good reason / cause to extend from "Friends of Penmere" to "Friends of Paddington"
Our own / TransWilts
CRP▸ plans for specific projects at stations including Chippenham and Swindon were rushed towards a deadline that proved impractical for CRPs and for the
TOC▸ , and the linked funding tranche has not been lost by the deadline missed. Much more to come on this story - that will be in a few weeks time, though, as current concentration is on leisure marketing ahead of the summer school holidays. We're also planning more time resources shortly to do more things.
