A partnership between Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and Northern Rail will see a five camera CCTV system installed at Mill Hill station on the outskirts of Blackburn. The station, long blighted by anti-social behaviour, will benefit greatly from the CCTV system.

The scheme should allow the East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership to go ahead with plans to have some artwork, designed by children from a local primary school, installed at the station.

It is also hoped that Blackburn Rovers Football Club may be interested in ‘adopting’ the station. It is the closest station to the ground and both home and away fans use the station to access Ewood Park. The installation of CCTV will give the Police the opportunity to review will their security measures on match days.

Hynburn Borough Council has submitted the work carried out in the Accrington town centre to the Royal Town Planning Institute (North West) 2011 Awards. The submission covered the Tesco/Eco Station Project and the refurbished Market Hall. We have just discovered that the submission has been short listed and the judges will be visiting the town on Thursday 15th September. Let’s hope that the judges are impressed with the various projects and that another award can be won! 

Fingers crossed for

The 22nd Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival is being held in Colne THIS weekend. The festival kicks off with a music train leaving Preston at 18.24 and arriving in Colne at 19.40 just as the festival starts in earnest. 

Tom Attah, ‘The Living Bluesman’ is performing on the train for the second year running and the East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership will be tempting passengers with ’Eco Ale’ a real ale from local brewers Moorhouses in Burnley. The ale will be on sale on the train for £1 a glass (1/2 pint).

Come along and enjoy the music and some real ale! Full details of the Festival can be found by visiting www.bluesfestival.co.uk.

As well as the music train the CRP, in partnership with Northern Rail, are running some later trains back to Blackburn over the weekend. On Friday 26th the train leaves Colne at 00.15 (Sat am), on Saturday 27th the train leaves at 23.40 and on Sunday 28th the train leaves at 23.45. The three late trains all call at all stations from Colne to Blackburn.

Details of other trains to and from Colne over the bank holiday weekend can be found by visiting www.northernrail.org or www.nationalrail.co.uk .

The 2011 Lancashire Community Rail Partnerships Community Rail exhibition has been officially opened by a small group of children from Whalley Primary School. The exhibition is the fifth annual Clitheroe Line & East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership celebration of the work we carry out with children from local schools.

This year’s exhibition has two main displays, the first is the story behind Whalley Primary School’s project to create an art work for the fence at Whalley station and also to produce a self guided walk around the village to see the places of importance shown in the art work. The second is to show off work carried out by children who have visited the new Eco Station at Accrington. This is based in sustainability and particularly in recycling and the use of recycled materials.

The exhibition is in the Platform Gallery in Clitheroe and can be seen Tuesday to Saturday between 10.00 & 16.30 for the next two weeks starting tomorrow 20.08.11.

West Lancashire Borough Council has been involved in a successful bid for funding under the Government’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF.)

The £1.55m funding, which will cover areas in both Sefton and West Lancashire, aims to support and promote the tourism industry in both boroughs. The Sefton West Lancashire Visitor Economy Project covers the Sefton coast from Waterloo to Southport and inland to incorporate northern and western parts of West Lancashire including Ormskirk, Burscough, Tarleton, Hesketh Bank, Banks and Rufford.

Click HERE to see the full press release on the WLBC website.

The short list for the 2011 National Community Rail Awards, to be held in Sheffield in September, has been published. The Lancashire Community Rail Partnerships have had three nominations short listed:

• Involving Young People – Greening the East Lancashire Line DVD and online teacher’s pack
• Station Development - Accrington Eco Station
• Outstanding Volunteer Contribution - Marjorie Birch

Two other short listed nominations are of interest to us locally:

• Outstanding Railway Staff Contribution  – Wayne Smith, Station Manager Fylde & Lancashire
• Passengers Matter - Northern Community Ambassadors Scheme

Congratulations to all those shortlisted – to see the full list visit www.acorp.uk.com  or click HERE.

The work on Blackburn station’s platform 4 is becoming more obvious now and the contractors are confident that the job will be completed on time. Below are some of the key dates for the project.

Platform 4 canopy

Foundations - 05.08.11 to 15.08.11
Ground beams - 05.08.11 to 15.08.11
Steelwork - 16.08.11 to 25.08.11
Cladding & glazing – 26.08.11 to 29.09.11

Lift

Subway entrance - 25.07.11 to 08.08.11
Combined motor room
& lift building - 28.07.11 to 15.08.11
M & E fit out - 18.08.11 to 25.09.11

Northern Rail in partnership with Visit Blackpool have produced a new brochure – Destination Blackpool which contains details of events and money saving coupons at a number of attractions in Blackpool.

Leaflets are being distributed to staffed stations along with posters – and coupons can be downloaded off the Northern Rail website at www.northernrail.org as well.

To download a copy of the brochure click the image below:

Days Out in Borderlands is a brand new brochure that has been produced by Mainline Buses (Transdev in the Burnley area) offering the reader some great days out and walks in and around the borders between Lancashire & Yorkshire.

Although the brochure is pitched at bus travel, some of the destinations can also be accessed by train using an East Lancashire Day Ranger ticket, valid on both bus and train.

To download a copy of ‘Days Out in Borderlands’ click HERE and for full details of the East Lancashire Day Ranger click HERE.

Anyone who has taken any photographs on one of the days out in the brochure and would like to see them on the website, send them to us on info@communityraillancashire.co.uk and we will consider them for inclusion in a gallery.

No, Accrington Stanley have not yet reached the top of League Two – they managed fifth place last year in their best ever season.

With another Awards win last night Accrington Eco Station is proving difficult to beat – a tally of 3 wins out of 5 (and 2 highly commended in the others to boot) the station continues to wow the judges.

In a glittering showbiz style event at the Natural History Museum last night Accrington Eco Station won in the Environmental Sustainability category at the 2011 Network Rail Partnership Awards.

A audience of 590 watched Simon Clarke, Community Rail Development Officer, and Gary Seed, from SBS Architects, accept the award on behalf of Lancashire County Council.