15th May 2019 - Community Rail in the City

[whole diary]

[grahame]

In 2017 and 2018 I had great pleasure in supporting ACoRP^▸ (Association of Community Rail Partnerships)'s Community Rail in the City event - see ((here)). The 2019 event will be on Wednesday 15th May .. this is an early flag in the diary so that I don't overlook it.

[grahame]

From our "constitution" thread.

Community Rail in the City

At last - within the last few days - Network Rail at Reading have confirmed that they have space to host two Community Rail booths on 15th May 2019.  One's us, and the other's another GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) CRP^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) who we know well, and who have decided to switch from Bristol Temple Meads to Reading.  Our objective on the day is to inform passengers passing by - especially commuters - of information (such as is available on the Coffee Shop) and opportunities that are available by public transport across the GWR area and wider.  Two meetings already set up on this - ACoRP^▸ (Association of Community Rail Partnerships) and GWR and I'm confident of doing a good, purposed stand.

I have confirmation of first meeting for early next week, follow up the following week.   And many thanks for the offers of help on the day which WILL be taken up.    Lots of background thought / work been going on to putting on an excellent and effective show for all concerned, and having fun too.

[grahame]

The Great Western Coffee Shop Forum will be taking a stand at Reading Station - on the Transfer Deck which passengers cross as they change trains - for Community Rail in the City on Wednesday, 15th May 2019.

The purposes of this day are:
1. To support the Community Rail movement across the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area
2. To promote / inform passengers of other journey opportunities across the South West
3. To answer (or tell people where to find answers) to their travel questions
4. To promote knowledge of and encourage appropriate new memberships of the Coffee Shop
5. To network between ourselves (quiet periods, please!) and passing VIPs too

The booth space, booth plan and most of the logistics have been in development for some time and are coming together.  We will have one 'table' promoting travel opportunities and desitnations from Reading, and one 'table'  promoting general passenger information with an emphasis on the Coffee Shop Foum, on where to go to get help or answer to questions, and on rail safety.  We have a couple of attractions lined up, and plenty of space for our booth team to talk with passengers.

I have taken part in "Community Rail in the City" for the last two years at London (Waterloo) and that's included provision of one of the stand elements, and also run events such as the TransWilts stand at Swindon Station last summer - and I am confident (but not over-confident, I hope) that we will have an excellent day. It will be hard work but fun - really rewarding, and meeting some nice people.  A mix of volunteers to help is sought - that means YOU ;-) ... detailed prior knowledge is not needed as there will be plenty of us around, and taking a question away, asking it on the forum, or referring it to GWR (if it's a specific passenger case) are all good outcomes.

I've started a separate thread in our "Frequent Posters" board (it's ((here))) with a link to a Survey Monkey form to ask established members to sign up as volunteers.  Being a Frequent Poster is not a pre-requisite to helping - but we do need to have the right team; please message or email me if you would like to be involved but are here as a guest or haven't posted very much yet.

[SandTEngineer]

Slight typo in your bold headline there Grahame, 15th May not 19th May.

[grahame]

Slight typo in your bold headline there Grahame, 15th May not 19th May.

Thanks - fixed in the original now.

[grahame]

Bump - I note a lot more people online today than yesterday - looking for volunteers to help - THANK YOU to those who have already followed the link (from Frequent Posters - we need to have full members) and to others .. please follow the links.   If you're Reading based and can be there early, that would be great - first shift is the hardest to staff and also the busiest. Thanks.

The Great Western Coffee Shop Forum will be taking a stand at Reading Station - on the Transfer Deck which passengers cross as they change trains - for Community Rail in the City on Wednesday, 15th May 2019.

The purposes of this day are:
1. To support the Community Rail movement across the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area
2. To promote / inform passengers of other journey opportunities across the South West
3. To answer (or tell people where to find answers) to their travel questions
4. To promote knowledge of and encourage appropriate new memberships of the Coffee Shop
5. To network between ourselves (quiet periods, please!) and passing VIPs too

[snip]

I've started a separate thread in our "Frequent Posters" board (it's ((here))) with a link to a Survey Monkey form to ask established members to sign up as volunteers.  Being a Frequent Poster is not a pre-requisite to helping - but we do need to have the right team; please message or email me if you would like to be involved but are here as a guest or haven't posted very much yet.

[grahame]

Greetings from Reading ... ready to have the show on the road bridge transfer deck bright and early.

[grahame]

Do pop in and see us if you're in Reading today ... all the pictures (from me) tomorrow as I'll be AFK^▸ (away from keyboard) (away from Keyboard) most of the day - but here are a couple I took on our journey up.





Big "thank you" to our members and staff who helped yesterday.   For the absence of doubt, Isambird in not yet two years old and so does not require a ticket.  .  And more seriously - whole operation arranged ahead of time and I would not suggest travelling with such a large bird unless pre-planned.   Mind you, the best laid plans ... the train we were originally scheduled to catch was nearly an hour late and we took an alternative route / different services.   Which goes to show the importance of a rail network.

[Timmer]

All the best for today to everyone manning the stand. Have a good day.

[bradshaw]

This has just appeared on Twitter

https://twitter.com/watfordgap/status/1128567078217293824?s=21

[bobm]

Quick views from my travels this morning.


Reading - Transfer Deck


Reading - Platforms 4,5 & 6


London Paddington


London Waterloo

[Timmer]

Tweet from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway):
https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1128630560253972481

[grahame]

A HUGE thank you to ... everyone ... who helped yesterday in Reading. I will be writing up further and emailing personally later today, when I get back to base.













TransWilts also ran a booth at Reading; good to see them there, and have a couple of volunteers taking time to support both stands.