TWO HALL Green ladies are showing their local pride and supporting their railway by greening up not just one but two London Midland stations.
Vivienne Wilkes and Diane Shirley joined London Midland’s Adopt a Station scheme in 2016, adopting Yardley Wood station on the Snow Hill route.
Thanks to their endeavours, the garden plots at the entrance to each platform were transformed with shrubs and spring bulbs.
Now the expert gardening duo and long-time friends, who are also volunteer gardeners at Sarehole Mill, have turned their attention to the next stop on the line, Hall Green, and have created a pretty wildflower garden on Platform 2.
The plants, sponsored by London Midland, include yarrow, calendula and yellow daisy, and will provide a colourful welcome for customers as well as helping to sustain bees and birds.
To recognise Vivienne and Diane’s support for the stations, Ian Taylor, London Midland’s Customer Service Manager for Dorridge/Stratford Lines, Ian Taylor, met them at Hall Green to present them with two engraved ‘Adopt a Station’ plaques, which will be installed at each station.
Brenda Lawrence, London Midland’s head of route for Snow Hill services said: “We are fortunate to have great support from adopters for our Snow Hill stations. Vivienne and Diane are great examples of the pride and commitment shown by our adopters and we are delighted to have them as part of the London Midland team. Station adoption is just one of the many things we are doing to get closer to the communities we serve across our network”.
Faye Lambert, head of community rail, said: “Many thanks to Vivienne and Diane for taking pride in their local stations and helping us to make travel better for customers. Working in partnership with communities is very important to the railway as projects like these help make stations feel safer and reduce vandalism.
“We welcome new adopters across the network; if you are aged over 16 years and can spare a bit of time on a regular basis just like Vivienne and Diane, we would love to hear from you. You can find all the details on londonmidland.com or drop us a line at [email protected]
