LOCHHEAD URGES ELGIN & KEITH FOLK TO JOIN ‘ADOPT A STATION’ Moray’s MSP Richard Lochhead has praised Forres in Bloom for their gardening efforts at Forres Railway Station under First Scotrail’s ‘Adopt a Station’ scheme. The local MSP is urging the communities in Elgin and Keith to follow suit. The Adopt a Station scheme is run by First Scotrail with the aim of improving the environment at their stations throughout Scotland. In some cases this means providing unused buildings rent-free for local businesses but it also includes communities adopting a station by installing planters and maintaining floral arrangements brightening up platforms, car-parks and station buildings. Forres station has already been adopted by the mult-award-winning Forres in Bloom group and other stations along the Inverness-Aberdeen line including Huntly & Inverurie have also been adopted. Keith & Elgin stations are among those that remain unadopted by communities, and although some efforts have been made to draw up plans for planting schemes by local groups such as Elgin Rotary, they have not yet come to fruition. The SNP’s Mr Lochhead said: “ Our railway stations are a major gateway to our communities and are heavily used by both locals and visitors. Unfortunately the nature of a station can often leave a long and bleak looking platform. “ At stations like Forres, however, the community has got behind the Adopt-a-Station scheme and really brightened the place up. “ At stations with local groups involved with the scheme you can see a wide range of eye-catching displays and planters arranged along platforms, around station entrances and on the station buildings themselves. “ There are many keen gardeners throughout Moray and many community groups involved in garden projects. Adopting a station is an opportuntity to let the world see those gardening skills and that community spirit. “ While Keith & Elgin are generally clean and tidy the Adopt a Station scheme could certainly give both of the stations that little bit of a boost to brighten up the day for rail travellers and for the wider community seeing their stations on a daily basis.” Information on the ‘Adopt a Station’ scheme can be found at: http://www.scotrail.co.uk/content/adopt-station |
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FORRES SETS MORAY STANDARD ON RAILWAY STATION GARDENINGposted 25 Jan 2012 02:47 by Graham Leadbitter |