THREE railway stations in the Basingstoke area have been adopted as South Western Railway (SWR) celebrates a landmark milestone with its railway stations.

SWR is celebrating as over 100 of its stations are now adopted by local community volunteers, with Basingstoke, Whitchurch and Hook stations all previously adopted.

Basingstoke was adopted by The Arts Society Basingstoke, a member of the arts education charity The Arts Society. It runs an exhibition space at the station for young artists to display their work.

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Hook was adopted by Hook Station Adoption Group, whilst Whitchurch was adopted by the Whitchurch Station Adoption Group, which placed planters filled with flowers outside the station.

The 100th station to be adopted was Staines in Surrey.

Station adopters are groups of volunteers who work with SWR on making the most out of their station spaces and environments and take the lead in imagining new and creative ways for their stations to better serve their communities and strengthen their place within their local area.

Station adoption at SWR began with the formal adoption by the Friends of Christchurch station in Dorset in 2007.

Station adopters include community groups, charities, and businesses. SWR funds their membership of the Community Rail Network, the national body of over 1,000 station adopters across different train operators, which provides access to grant opportunities from the SWR station adoption fund and the Community Rail Network, as well as additional training, advice, and resources.

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Peter Williams, customer and commercial director at South Western Railway, said: “The bond between South Western Railway and the communities we serve is of great importance to us and our fantastic station adopters have been vitally important in cultivating and deepening that relationship.

“Our station adopters are an integral part of the wider railway family, and it has been wonderful to see the many creative ways that they have contributed to local communities across the network as the number of adoption groups has expanded.

“I congratulate volunteers at Staines on becoming our 100th station adoption group and I look forward to seeing everything that they will achieve at our award-winning station.”

More information about station adoption, as well as details regarding how local communities can volunteer to adopt their station, can be found on the SWR website at southwesternrailway.com/other/about-us/community-and-rail-station-adoption/station-adoption.