Letchworth Garden City station is set to look bloomin’ wonderful thanks to local Cub group

Customers travelling through Letchworth Garden City station can look forward to seeing a fresh set of flowers this year after cubs from a local pack rolled up their sleeves to plant 400 bulbs.

Twenty-four green-fingered children from the 4^th Letchworth Cubs braved the rain to plant the bulbs, which will help improve the look and feel of the station.

The activity forms part of the national Platforms for Change programme the group has recently signed up to. The scheme, between the Community Rail Network and Scouts, aims to engage and empower young people through community rail activity, station projects and rail confidence trips.

Station Manager for Letchworth Garden City, Karen Chudovszky, said: “It was brilliant to involve the 4^th Letchworth Cubs in this project and I’m sure customers will be pleased to see some beautiful new flowers at our station. We hope the group learnt some valuable gardening skills and we look forward to welcoming them back for future days out on the railway.”

The youngsters were supported by GTR and Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Community Rail Partnership colleagues on 22 May. In between planting bulbs, the group also had time to create a few bug hotels and helped tidy up the station.

The 4^th Letchworth Cubs leader, Russell Wake, said: “The Cubs had a fantastic day planting bulbs, creating bug hotels for the station fencing and picking up litter. Platforms for Change is a great way of getting young people involved with the local community and we’re excited to keep learning more about the railway through the programme.”

The bulb planting also coincided with Community Rail Week, which focuses on encouraging and enabling more people to use the train as a sustainable, healthy, inclusive way to travel, through local engagement.

For more information about the Platforms for Change Programme, visit the Community Rail Network’s website here.

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Notes to editors

• As part of the Platforms for Change programme, Scouts groups from Squirrels (4 year olds) to Explorers (up to 18 year olds) will get involved with local station friends groups and community rail partnerships through activities such as painting, gardening DIY and making bug/bird boxes.
• Once Scouts complete the programme, they will receive a ‘Platforms for Change’ badge.
• As well as a ‘Platforms for Change’ badge, the groups can work towards other badges including gardening, volunteering, nature, photography and writing.