Forum topic: Cheering up Palmers Green Station!

Lucy Burton from the Palmers Green Action Team (PGAT) tells the story of PGAT's latest project - cheering up Palmers Green Station.

As a group, we're always looking for ways to make Palmers Green a little more beautiful and a little more "Green". There are over 5,000 commutes a day at PG station, so clearly a lot of residents come through it regularly and we thought they could probably do with cheering up! We had also seen the fabulous planting done by Michael Williams at Alexandra Palace and Dave Cockle (and partners) at Enfield Chase stations and wondered how they had been achieved. So last year we met with Duncan Primrose, Palmers Green Station Manager, and asked him - could the Action Team do this at PG?

It turns out that Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) have an established programme for volunteers who want to improve their local station called Station Partnership. The partners basically need to be an (informally) organised bunch of people, who are going to respect the many railway regulations and who have the ideas and motivation to create something new and then keep it going over time. This includes designing schemes, liaising with the Station Manager on practicalities, funding and sourcing landscaping materials or art, working out the logistics of plant watering, and keeping planting and maintenance going on a voluntary basis. (This last can be quite a commitment in the summer when planters need daily watering). Anyone who's going to work on a regular basis needs to go through a series of paperwork, and get their plans signed off, but Duncan has been marvellously receptive - even fixing the broken tap on the southbound platform within days of us discussing it! I should also mention the support and encouragement we received from Dave and Doreen at Enfield Chase - well worth a visit to see what's possible on a 100 per cent voluntary basis.

As a result of the Station Partnership, and as part of the GTR Passenger Benefit Fund programme, late last year we were allocated funding for art installations at PG. We've spent the last few months commissioning artworks on the theme "What's Green in Palmers Green?", sourcing our artists locally and looking for community engagement wherever possible. And when we needed help with design concepts or making connections our volunteer network has been amazing. As a result, we have the three projects that Liz has posted on our Facebook and Instagram pages, with two out of three artists running free community workshops, and the mosaic artist with particular connections to PG, having grown up in Hazelwood Lane. They're a fantastic group of people and we're really excited to have them on board. Even more excited that they are sharing their skills with the local community. 

Spoiler alert: Next on the list is a planting and volunteer gardener scheme, and we hope to have details on that soon....

Finally, a cheeky plug - the missing piece in the puzzle now is permission from the council to smarten up the front, with hanging baskets and also barrier baskets on the pavement railings, which currently house a no-drinking sign and several bikes. Fingers crossed we will get this soon, but feel free to express your support so we can show how much PG residents care!