The East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership are delighted to announce that two local projects have been shortlisted in this year’s Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP) Community Rail Awards, in the categories of Best Improved Station Buildings and Best Marketing Campaign.

The superbly restored station house at Wickham Market was unveiled to the public earlier this year following a major refurbishment and restoration undertaken by the Station House Community Connections project. As part of the scheme the East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership was able to facilitate a major grant towards installing a replica platform canopy which, along with a number of other funding partners including the Railway Heritage Trust, has substantially improved passenger facilities and the creation of a new community hub featuring meeting rooms and a café.

Shortlisting in the Best Marketing Campaign followed the creation by the Community Rail Partnership of a new guide to the railway lines in East Suffolk which included the commissioning of a new geographical map of the lines running from Ipswich to Felixstowe and Ipswich to Lowestoft. The guide which has also been replicated in a large poster format displayed at stations, features a host of information about towns, villages and attractions along the two routes specifically aimed at encouraging both residents and tourists to explore the local area by train.

The awards, which are now in their 13th year, recognise the important but often unsung work carried out by community rail partnerships and station adoption groups, amongst others, who provide a welcome social and economic contribution, with their activities, to their communities.

Last year the East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership won first prize at the national awards for its joint event celebrating the Queens Ninetieth Birthday and Fiftieth Anniversary of the East Suffolk Line north of Westerfield being reprieved from the notorious Beeching Axe.

The winners will be revealed at the awards gala dinner and presentation evening held by ACoRP, at The Roundhouse in Derby on Thursday 5 October 2017.

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