About the High Peak and Hope Valley Community Rail Partnership
We are Catherine Croney and Helen Wright, the two job-sharing Community Rail Partnership Officers for the High Peak and Hope Valley.
We consider ourselves very lucky to be based in these stunning landscapes of the Peak District. The three railway lines in our partnership area run from Manchester Piccadilly to Glossop, Sheffield and Buxton, with 18 stations across those three lines. The towns and villages served by the stations are home to vibrant communities, so this unique situation offers our CRP a fantastic opportunity.
We are about Communities
Our Community Rail Partnership is driven by the involvement of people- the people in local communities served by stations, people who volunteer their time to care for their community’s station, people in surrounding towns and cities who want to visit the High Peak and Hope Valley, people who collaborate with us for the benefit of others and people who strive for continued improvements to public transport and support the partnership with funding and expertise.
We are about Rail
We are focused on the railway as a sustainable, environmentally friendly way to travel and we want to encourage everyone to use it! We use social media, leaflets, posters and events to get our voices heard. We support green initiatives for transport, such as integrating different transport options to make leaving the car at home a more viable option.
We are about Partnership
We are funded and managed by a partnership of local authorities and train operating companies (see logos below). The Community Rail Network, a national organisation funded and guided by the Department for Transport provides a structure for the way we work, grants us accreditation to operate and provides support and training to help us work effectively and with relevance to peoples’ needs. Our CRP is hosted by Derbyshire County Council and chaired by Cllr Jean Wharmby; we meet our management committee on a quarterly basis to review plans and budgets.
The Friends of Station groups are a key element of our partnership. They volunteer their time to make their local stations feel welcoming, safe and environmentally friendly, with pollen-rich planting to increase biodiversity and other energy saving initiatives. The Friends of Stations engage their local communities with their stations and the railway, organising events, trips, art projects and plant donations. We work with the Friends to support their ideas, fund their projects and make the time they give feel worthwhile and enjoyable.
Want to join in? Get in touch: info@peakdistrictbytrain.org
