Foxfield Heritage Railway located in Stoke-on-Trent has welcomed hundreds of children to their Summer Fun Days supported by North Staffs Community Rail Partnership and funded by CrossCountry.
263 children received free lunches as part of the project that ran on Wednesday’s during August. They also enjoyed a train ride, could pet animals from Olcote Sanctuary, get their face painted, enjoy crafting activities and learn about rail safety.
The area suffers from economic and social deprivation and volunteers at the railway reached out to the rail industry to help by offering a fun experience so local children and their families didn’t miss out.
Each one of the four dates intended to provide 64 children and their parents or carers with the experience, however they by far exceeded this by hitting the hundreds instead meaning it was a huge success. Including adults, the fun days totalled over 1,000 in attendance.
Richard Warren, Foxfield Railway, Community Liaison Officer said, ‘All the Foxfield volunteers had a fantastic time entertaining local children during the school holidays and providing many of them with a free picnic lunch thanks to the generosity of CrossCountry.
In fact, everything was free for the children. Feedback was very positive, and it was amazing how few of the children had ever been on a train of any sort before their visit to us.
Let’s hope the railway bug has now bitten them hard, and they’ll all grow up to be enthusiastic rail travel regulars!”