looking into closing sta-

t i o n s — m e n t i o n i n g

Denton particularly in the

article.

MP Andrew Gwynne has

been particularly vocal in

our defence, and asked a

question in the House of

Commons on the subject.

He also wrote to Network

& Northern Rail for assur-

ances on this matter.

It was publicly denied by

the consultation panel -in

fact they emphasized

that the franchise is in-

tended to improve local

links and services, not

close stations down.

We had a successful

meeting at South East

Manchester Rail commu-

nity partnership (SEMcrp)

on July 23rd where Chair

Craig Wright and Policy

Officer and transporta-

tion representative David

Huber were strong in

their support and will be

writing a response to the

consultation in liaison

with Stockport & Tame-

side Councils.

Not our usual colourful

start to the newsletter for

this edition, but we have

important news that could

see us getting some head-

way towards our main aim

to re-establish a regular

passenger service from

Stockport—Manchester

Victoria via Reddish South

& Denton Stations.

The public consultations for

new franchise require-

ments for Northern Rail

and Trans-pennine express

services have begun.

The new franchise has al-

ways been our best hope of

advancing our cause, and

most of you will know that

the new franchises have

already been delayed for

some time because of vari-

ous (can’t write what we

would really like to say

here!) ’inadequacies’ in

other franchise bids organ-

ized recently!

There have been a series of

meetings held in various

locations over the last few

weeks.

FORSS were present at the

meeting held at County

hall, Preston on July 3rd.

Representatives of Rail

North, and the franchise

co-ordinators gave short

presentations before

opening the floor to

questions from those

present including user

groups, councils and

friends groups.

Friend Noel Henry has

produced a superb report

on behalf of the friends

of Reddish South &

Denton Stations Cam-

paign Group and we pre-

sented copies to the Rail

North Chair, David

Brown, Passenger Focus

Chair, Guy Dangerfield,

and incoming project

manager Eddie Murazko.

We have also distributed

copies to other user

groups. Network & North-

ern rail, local Councils,

local MPs, ACORP and

Rail activists.

With the report is a well-

crafted DVD which is now

on YouTube. If you would

like to view it—see the

link right.

The consultation also

gave us the opportunity

to ask about the local

news item that had bro-

ken in the Sunday Times

a few days before which

reported that DfT were

FORSS/FORSADS Campaign intensifies as

Franchise consultations begin August 2014

Volume 6 Issue 3

The Friends of Reddish South

Station

Newsletter Summer 2014

‘Why not?’

by Noel Henry is the report in

response to the Franchise con-

sultation document.

In it, he argues that existing

rolling stock, instead of stand-

ing idle, could easily go to

Stockport and provide a service

to Denton & Reddish South Sta-

tions—a much better use of

spare capacity in the network

without massive investment—

everything s already there!

You tube link:

http://youtu.be/8YnZFvar0pg

Inside this issue: page no.

Retrorailtour to Edinburgh 2

Reddfest 4

Reddish Vale Fun Day 4

Terry’s Lottery News 5

PACT meeting 6

Apologies, mistakes &

omissions

6

Snippets &

dates for your diary

7

It was an early start—

down on the station for

5.55am– and it wasn’t

the best of weather as

you can see (left ) but we

were all in reasonable

spirits for the Retrorail

tour to Edinburgh.

However, after an hour

and no train we were be-

coming a bit concerned–

so a bit of ringing around

discovered the excursion

train had been held up

outside Crewe by a bro-

ken down Arriva train—

then we found out later

on that the Arriva

recovery train had also then

broken down– totally out of

Retrorail’s control but frus-

trating nonetheless.

James from Retro thought

the train might be an hour to

an hour & 20 minutes late,

so we all trudged off for a

comfort break and a warm

drink.

Unfortunately, as it turned

out , we had all interpreted

the information differently,

and when most of us were

back on the platform and we

were informed the train was

on it’s way, some of our party

were missing, including our

chairman and the folk group!

Frantic phoning went to

voicemail, we reluctantly got

on the train, and as we un-

derstand it, the train had just

pulled out of Reddish South

as the remaining passengers

arrived.

Stalwarts Graham & Marga-

ret caught us up at Preston—

and with the changes in arri-

val times all the way we

made up the lost time and

arrived in Edinburgh on

schedule.

Retrorailtour to Edinburgh

The excursion

train had been

held up outside

Crewe by a

broken down

Arriva train-

We found out a

bit later on that

the Arriva

recovery train

had also broken

down!

Page 2 The Friends of Reddish South Station

What do you

mean...too early

and too wet??

Friends &

passengers

Keith & Sue

aboard the

‘Retro Electric

Scot’

This is how your Membership Secretary, Secre-

tary, Website Manager, & Treasurer spend their

time!

Above: pictured L to R: Alan, Kim, Dave & Dot

You will be gratified to know

that the Queen must have

been informed we were com-

ing as she was in residence

at Holyrood House. (pictured

top left).

The oldest house in the city

is John Knox’s house pic-

tured top right.

Middle right is just one of a

plethora of beautiful stained

glass windows in St Giles’

Cathedral.

The weather was pleasant

and everyone enjoyed their

time in Scotland’s capital

city .

When we came back to Edin-

burgh Station, we were de-

lighted that our station had

actually made it onto the

departure board—fame at

last!!!

10.55pm— nearly home and

not far to walk to get there

(see picture below)

Thanks James and the Retro-

rail crew for a fab day!

We were

delighted that

our station had

made it onto the

departures

board at

Edinburgh

Station as a

scheduled stop—

fame at last!

Page 3 Volume 6 Issue 3

Dot sharing a

photo with retro-

rail regular

‘Bobby Ball’ who

is now a mem-

ber of the

Friends’ group

Maria & party

( and those

ladies did party,

cocktails & all)

pictured with

Dave

We thought we might try our

‘stand‘ on the station platform

this year—with the view we might

see no-one if the weather didn’t

favour us—but we needn’t have

worried—Friend Terry Rourke set

himself up in Houldsworth Square

and not only publicized our loca-

tion , he managed to hold another

lottery in aid of Macmillan Cancer

Support. Cheers Tel!

We got good support from people

who were really interested in the

campaign and the station -and

we added to our membership in

the process. One of our first visi-

tors was MP Andrew Gwynne, with

wife Allison who is also a Denton

councillor and Claire also from

Denton.

Reddfest— June

From L to R: Ken Holt, Deputy Mayor Councillor

Linda Holt & Councillor Tom Grundy

Reddish Vale Fun Day—July

Reddish Vale Fun Day was a

humid one and didn’t start too

well when we forgot the table

and the more importantly, the

flask!

However, again it was well at-

tended—and we got a lot of

interest at our stand. We were

placed near the entrance too

which was a good position for

us.

The organizers made sure eve-

rything went smoothly so

thanks to them. Deputy Mayor

Councillor Linda Holt attended

the event and we had a chat

about our campaign.

Entertainment was provided by

‘Vintage Pearls’ and a DJ—plus

welly throwing, various stalls

and ice cream van and a very

popular Punch & Judy Show.

We were so busy the time went

in a flash—sadly we didn’t win

anything on the raffle—other

wise it was a very good day!

Reddish Vale

Fun day didn’t

start too well

when we forgot

the table, and

more

importantly , the

flask!

Page 4 The Friends of Reddish South Station

Friend

Noel

Henry

with

festive

balloons

Plenty of interest

in our display at

Reddish Vale

Pictured L to R: Clare, Allison Gwynne, Andrew

Gwynne & Councillor Walter Brett

We managed a look around Houldsworth

Square where the majority of the action was

and the stands were varied and busy. The

cakes were gorgeous!

L to R:

Friends Alan, Dave, Noel, Dot, Keith & Sue

Friend Terry Rourke has been pulling out all the stops this year fund raising for Macmillan

Cancer Support. He has drawn the ‘Dates’ lottery and also ran a train lottery at the Reddfest

Day in June.

Once again we cannot thank Terry enough for all his hard work—he’s keeping the totals a

secret for now and will announce them at the Macmillan Coffee Morning in September. We

have no idea how much but know its going to be record breaking!

Over to Terry:

Terry’s lottery news

All draws were

carried out at

THE LATE

BREAKFAST

CLUB

at

THE REDDISH

COMMUNITY

CENTRE

in front of an

average

audience of 50

people.

These draws

were carried

out by

members of

the FRIENDS,

Peter and Joan

Leigh,

Graham Brook,

Brenda

Brookes,

Margaret

Rourke,

Stanley

Prescott,

Peggy Hearn

and

supervised by

Terry Rourke.

Page 5 Volume 6 Issue 3

THE FRIENDS OF REDDISH SOUTH STATION

MACMILLAN ‘THE WORLDS BIGGEST COFFEE MORNING’.

NAME THAT DATE LOTTERY 2014—WINNERS LIST

FIRST PRIZE £100—21st OCTOBER

WINNER: ST. JOSEPH'S CARERS GROUP, ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH, REDDISH)

FIRST RUNNER UP £25- 13th OCTOBER

WINNER: BRENDA HIGGINSON, THE LATE BREAKFAST CLUB

SECOND RUNNER UP £25—24th SEPTEMBER

(SUE HARRIS, THE FRIENDS OF REDDISH SOUTH STATION)

Many thanks to all who bought dates and a special thanks to all those who bought multiple dates. MACMILLAN and FORSS salute you all. A very special thank you to BRENDA HIGGINSON who donated her entire winnings to MACMILLAN. A great gesture for which everyone concerned is truly grateful. Although organising the lottery was more difficult and time consuming than originally thought, it was a labour of love especially with the knowledge of the destination of the funds raised. “Some people think it's all over!” Well this draw is but look out for more fund raising before the end of September!

FRIENDS OF REDDISH SOUTH STATION and MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT

REDDFEST, Houldsworth Square

Saturday 14th June 2014

MALLARD MODEL ENGINE COMPETITION

THE ENGINE STOPPED AT HAZEL GROVE STATION

HOLDER OF THIS WINNING STATION WAS

TARA O'DONNELL of

REDDISH

The latest PACT meeting was

held in July, and attended by

Friends Dot Ashworth and

Alan Burrows on our behalf.

The meeting is always

chaired by PC Andrew Collier

who has worked hard since

the group was formed to

promote effective policing in

and around our railway sta-

tions.

Representatives from the

police, Northern Rail, com-

munity groups and railway

workers share concerns and

achievements .

Obviously we don’t often

have much to contribute, but

we always find the meeting

useful and recently have had

cause to thank Andrew and

the team with regard to our

station.

We have reported someone

sleeping rough on the plat-

form and have found used

needles . We have also suf-

fered some vandalism (very

unusual for us) although we

don’t know how much all of

these occurrences have

been connected.

It was good to see that the

British Transport Police had

spoken to the person sleep-

ing on the station and they

followed up our report of

finding used needles— offi-

cers visited the station re-

cently and checked if there

was any more activity.

Police & Community Together (PACT)

Apologies, mistakes & omissions

together, (see table ).

Coombe and Shippea Hill

had significantly different

services (all taken from

online timetables with each

TOC).

Note that the services I

quote included those going

in both directions from

each station, so comparing

like with like for Reddish

South, e.g. comparing 1/

week for Reddish South

(122) with 4/day in

Coombe (48).

I thought you might find the

revised table useful, espe-

cially as it makes an even

better case!’

Thanks Arthur!

At the risk of sounding like

the Guardian newspaper,

unfortunately your newslet-

ter editor was guilty of some

erroneous information in the

last issue. This comes from

believing what you read in

Wikipedia and Google and

we promise we’ll try to make

sure it doesn’t happen again!

The article was regarding the

Office of Rail Regulation sta-

tistics, and those stations

whose footfall comes below

ours which we featured in

the last issue.

We are grateful to Arthur

Thomson from Railfuture,

who, as he points out,

strengthens our case !

Over to Arthur:

‘In looking at the figures

you quote, I found there

were a few errors in the

services on the other sta-

tions quoted.

In fact the services are dif-

ferent for some of the sta-

tions that had been listed

Apologies go to

MR Aubrey

Lawlor, who, in

Terry’s Lottery

news in the

last issue was

mistakenly

named as

Audrey.

Very

sorry Mr.

Lawlor.

Page 6 The Friends of Reddish South Station

Station Service Footfall

Coombe

(Cornwall)

4/d M-Sat 48

Shippea Hill

(Cambs)

1/D M-F

2 Sat

50

Kildonan

(Scotland)

7 per day, M-Sat, 1

Sun

62

Buckenham

(Norfolk)

2 Sat

8 Sun

72

Tees-side Airport 2 on Sundays! 8

PC Collier pic-

tured centre

with col-

league and

Friend Dot at

last year’s

Edgeley Sta-

tion Fun Day

Fantasy Football League

All of you who have joined the Fantasy Football League should have received your entry

code. If you have not or have any problems please email Alan forss1@ntlworld.com asap.

If you’re in, you need select your team before 11.30am on 16th August, the day the glori-

ous Premier League starts again (not missing it at all really, can’t you tell?!) but the Com-

monwealth Games have finished [weren’t they fab?] & F1 is on a 3 week break—so bring

it on!!

Good Luck Chaps & Chapesses!

Remember we reported that members of our folk group and

our Chairman had managed to miss the train on our day

excursion to Edinburgh?

Well it seems there may have been a twist in the tail…….

Ged & Michael might have not been able to be with us , but

we think we might have spotted Tom incognito in Edinburgh

town centre after all…….

What do you think?

Snippets………………………...

And Finally...

The Manchester & Stockport

Canal Society

One of our affiliate Friends’

groups recently had a plaque

unveiled near Nelstrops Mill ,

Lancashire Hill, commemo-

rating the Stockport Canal

line. The then-Mayor Chris

Murphy and his Mayoress,

Dot, did the unveiling.

Page 7 Volume 6 Issue 3

Pictured: The Mayor & Mayoress

Chris & Dot Murphy plus mem-

bers of the Canal Society

Dates for your

diary:

Sunday

10th August

Edgeley Station

Fun Day

10am-4pm

BANK HOLIDAY

MONDAY

25TH AUGUST

RETRO

SHAKESPEARIAN

TUG

RETRORAILTOUR

TO

STRAFORD-ON-

AVON

SPECIAL RETRO

OFFER

£4 FARE

REDUCTION FOR

FORSS MEM-

BERS WITH BUS

PASSES

BOOK NOW!!

Sunday

21st September

Platform weeding

day

Drinks & bacon

butty thrown in!!

10am—12 noon

FRIDAY 26TH

SEPTEMBER

MACMILLAN

CANCER

SUPPORT

WORLD’S BIG-

GEST COFFEE

MORNING

ON THE

PLATFORM

10AM-12 NOON

Friday

31st October

Ghost Folk Train

9.26am on the

station platform