The Meet Me at the Station project was officially opened by Ribble Valley Mayor, Lois Rimmer on Saturday 22nd May 2010. The Mayor opened the display by making a ‘mini-me’ out of plasticine which was then placed on one of the outside ‘platforms’ at the gallery.

The display, in the Platform Gallery in Clitheroe, is the culmination of a six week project which saw Ribble Valley & Blackburn Primary schools working with local artist Alastair Nicholson to create a huge number of ‘mini-me’ models and the five stations along the line between Blackburn and Clitheroe out of plasticine. The ‘mini-me’ models and  the stations have also been made into a short animation by Alastair and this is being shown as part of the display. Children are being encouraged to get involved when they visit the exhibition by making their own ‘mini-me’ model and adding it to the  outside ‘platforms’ below a specially created vinyl banner.   

The Meet Me at the Station project has also been expanded to include a photographic exhibition with the same theme. Two schools that have been involved in the ‘Brian the Bull’ project have written railway themed poetry as feedback and these are displayed on the fence, close to the railway, at the rear of the gallery as a ‘poetry ribbon’ . Inside the gallery is a large amount of artwork by the children and this includes charcoal sketches of the pieces of railwayania that have been excavated from the disused Great Harwood Loop Line close to Padiham Green Primary School.

The children from St. Mary’s RC Primary, in Langho, and Padiham Green Primary Schools have also been able to visit a professional recording studio to record their poetry thanks to links with The Grand in Clitheroe. The recordings will be played both inside and outside at the Gallery over the three weeks of the exhibition between Saturday 22nd May and 12th June 2010. The Platform Gallery is open Monday to Saturday 10.00 to 16.30.

The project has been funded by the Aggregates Levy and Ribble Valley Borough Council and is supported by the Clitheroe Line & East Lancashire Community Rail Partnerships, Ribble Valley Rail and the Platform Gallery.