April 2014 : HTC has a new permanent Station Supervisor, he’s called Steve Sharp previously working at Whalley Bridge.“I have been on the railway for 6 years, starting as a conductor at Manchester Victoria. I then moved in to retail side an.d have worked at Whaley Bridge Station since September 2012.I have met some of your group when you supported the 150 anniversary of the line extension to Buxton in June of year.I am a big supporter of ‘Friends’ so please make yourselves known to me and anything I can do to assist or facilitate your needs just ask!In my time at Whaley Bridge I won an Acorp Award for ‘Passengers Matter’ also the National Rail Staff Award Winner for Station Staff last year. I really enjoy my job and I class myself as a ‘people person’.I am relishing taking over at Heaton Chapel and looking after the passengers and keeping the station in pristine condition.So please pop in and introduce yourselves.”

FofHCS welcome him to our Heatons community. 

Steve is an award winning and very popular Station Supervisor at Heaton Chapel Station. He has just been nominated for a Pride of Northern Rail, PEOPLE’S CHOICE 2015 award by Alex Hynes, CEO Northern Rail.

Steve already has many other awards for his excellent service, some of which are on display in an awards cabinet at our station.

2013 photos14th December 2013 : Father Christmas, one of his elves and a polar bear meet children at HCSNovember 2013 : ramp-working party – purely by chance, just before the Royal visitSeptember 2013.The steep ramp to platform 2 has been upgraded by the Friends. This scheme involved weed clearance and elimination, rubbish removal and levelling, followed by a terram membrane being fitted, then covered with a 2-3 inch layer of decorative stone. Some 12 tonnes of Cotswold Cream stone was funded and purchased via generous grants.Four bags of the ten bags [ten tonnes]  of Cotswold stoneOld railway posters displayed on the stairs down to the upline, platform 1.All the locations on the old railway posters are in the northwest and Heaton Chapel station could be a convenient station to begin the journey.Snow in February 2013 pic provided by @fetchtheheatons

14th November 2013

Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip pay a visit to Heaton Moor and Heaton Chapel station on her way to Cumbria via Manchester.

She and Prince Philip were driven to Heaton Chapel Station to board her Royal Train on platform 2 to travel north to Manchester Piccadilly station. The Royal Train was powered by two silver DB class 67 locos.

She was met by a group of well-wishers, children and Friends of Heaton Chapel Station waving flags at Heaton Chapel and she waved as she made her way down to the ramp and on to the train.

A check of the records back to the L&NWR (pre-1923)  reveals that there has never been a Royal visit to Heaton Chapel station before. 

A round up of the year

Station Supervisor John O’Connor 

Christmas tree donated by Easy Access Self Storage, lights donated by John O’Connor, baubles and tinsel donated by Julie Chapman; many thanks to them all.

Old porters’ trolley kindly donated by the station manager Theo McLauchlan.

Heaton Mersey Farmers Market September 2012

Heaton Moor Festival FofHCS stand July 2012

SMBC Heatons & Reddish Area Committee held a Pride in Heatons & Reddish Awards 2012 evening in the Stockport Town Hall ball room on Monday 1st October 2012 at 6.30 pm.

 We are delighted to announce that our Friends of HCS group won first prize in the ‘Environment Champion’ category. This award was for those making a positive contribution to improving or protecting the environment, over a wide area, or doing something local such as in a local park or station.

 Rory Alkin our FofHCS chairman won a highly commended award in the  ‘Volunteer of the Year’ category and we all congratulate him in winning this well earned award.

 Gail Morley, the treasurer of FofHCS, was also awarded first prize in the ‘Beyond the call of duty’ category as recognision, particularly, for organising the Four Heatons Summer Festival.

Well over 200 people attended the launch of the artwork on Friday 25th May 2012  [we expected only 80].

Here are five short Youtube videos of the launch :

1. Rory Alkin, Chairman of FofHCS thanks all the ‘Friends’ and introduces our local VIP Jessie Rose 

2. Natasha Wilding [Northern Rail Head of Stations] and Rory Alkin and Theo McLauchlin [Northern Rail Station Manager] present the local local primary schoolchildren at Norris Bank school with certificates and awards at Heaton Chapel Station

3. Certificates presented by Natasha Wilding, Head of Stations, Northern Rail entertained by the local Ukali Band

4. The local Lamplighters Ukulali Band entertain the audience at the launch of the Artwork Project.

5. Jessie Rose and local primary schoolchildren unveil the Heaton Chapel station 18m Artwork project down on platform 2.

Great news, our one year old Friends of Heaton Chapel Station group were nominated for FOUR ACoRP [Association of Community Rail Partnership] awards this year. 

On Friday 29th September 2012, four FofHCS members, Rory Alkin, Karen Allerton, Bob Barlow and Phil Rowbotham were all invited to a Community Rail Awards ceremony at the STEAM museum at Swindon as we’d been nominationed for four awards [there are a total of 15 categories of awards; we’d only applied for 4].

Apparently, no new group has ever been nominated before for so many awards. These awards can be won by any of the hundreds of Friends of Stations groups covering the whole of Britain and it’s 2,953 railway stations [2012].

FofHCS were nominated for, and won :

1. Community Art Scheme                       – awarded First and £250

2. Best Community Rail event                  – awarded Second 

3. Outstanding Volunteer Contribution   – awarded Second 

4. Outstanding Railway Staff                   – awarded a Commendation 

We were delighted to receive awards in each of these four separate categories, particularly winning the Community Art Scheme award for the ‘Running Man’ , when we were thrilled to win first prize.

This was a community project including children from local schools so we’d like to thank everyone who was involved as well as the local businesses who kindly sponsored this project.

Issue 11 October/November 2011 page 63

Whether you’re a daily commuter or an occasional user of Heaton Chapel Station, you might have noticed that it’s been looking a bit tired and tatty lately. If so, you’ll be delighted to hear that The Friends of Heaton Chapel Station has been set up. The group has already started looking at potential improvements to the look and feel of the station.Funding has been sought from local groups and businesses and applications have been submitted for grants from a wide variety of sources.  We’ve already discussed some excellent ideas – some of which are long term and will take careful planning and budgeting – but some improvements will happen very quickly.Notice Boards have been ordered for the station and up-to-date messages will be posted to keep everyone aware of planned activities.  One of the first areas of interest will be a free book swap in the main ticket office. You can bring books you no longer want and exchange them for others you would like to read…simple!  Basic landscaping work will commence in mid-September, carried out by a number of volunteers who will be closely supervised to comply with strict railway Health and Safety guidelines.

The Friends of Heaton Chapel Station Gardening