A DERELICT railway station building has received national recognition thanks to a group of community volunteers.
The Friends of Henley Railway Station (FHRS) has received a Highly Commended award from the Railway Heritage Trust in its 2024 National Railway Heritage Awards.
The Highly Commended Award was given to the Friends of Henley Railway station at a ceremony in London at the Merchant Taylors Hall for the innovative renovation and repurposing of the building.
In February, “The Station at Henley in Arden”, as it is now known, was reopened as a community venue that hosts a bar and is available for corporate and community events.
The Station operates as a Community Interest Company, which means that any profits made in its operation are given back to the community at Henley in Arden, with some also being distributed to other communities along the railway route between Birmingham and Stratford upon Avon, which is known as the Shakespeare Line.
While Henley in Arden is on part of the national rail network, its original GWR station building was closed in 1992 and was boarded and bricked up.
Over the following 30 years, the building fell into significant dereliction.
In 2021, the community at Henley in Arden stepped forward to change that and Friends of Henley Station CIC was formed.
Its vision was to reopen the building by restoring it as much as was practically possible to its original GWR condition while repurposing the building to ensure its long-term sustainability, the latter point being the primary purpose and driver of the scheme.
Angela Okey, chair and a director of FHRS and Fraser Pithie, another director of FHRS, attended the Railway Heritage Trust ceremony to receive the Highly Commended Award.
Angela said: “After all the hard work of the past five years, it was great to receive national recognition for our project.
“We have recently distributed £15,000 to nine local community groups.
“The satisfaction of being able to do this, especially given that we have still not reached 12 months of trading, is incredible.
“The project has surpassed our expectations, and our team loves seeing our regulars and new customers experiencing our unique proposition.
“We aim to continue offering unique events and community fundraising evenings to benefit our local town and surrounding villages.”
