It has been a busy few months with various Community Rail conferences and events attended by South East Lancashire CRP.
6 and 7 October 2025 saw Community Rail Officer Emily Oldfield attend her first Community Rail Conference – an annual event hosted by Community Rail Network in partnership with The Department for Transport. It took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nottingham and was a highly informative two days, featuring an Open Platform format where CRPs had the opportunity to pitch topics for discussion.
Later in the month, both of SELCRP’s Community Rail Officers Dr Steph Dermott and Emily Oldfield attended Network Rail’s Community Day on Friday 24 October. Taking place at Manchester Square One near Piccadilly Station, the day was an opportunity to meet external stakeholders, hear updates and give input.
November saw Steph and Emily attend two Northern Conferences, the first being the Northern Community Rail Conference on Friday 14 November at The Lowry Hotel in Salford. It was a varied and interactive event, including a talk from The Samaritans and a discussion around social media usage and its benefits. This was followed by the Northern Stakeholder Conference on Wednesday 19 November at the Hilton hotel in York.
The final conference attended by SELCRP in 2025 was the Avanti West Coast Community Rail Conference which took place at the brand-new Vault Youth Zone in Preston on Tuesday 2 December. There were various presentations and discussions, with items including a Case Study of the Hidden Gems Project, presented by Katie Douglas (Community Rail Lancashire) and artist Gosha Gibek. Avanti also provided a preview of a Christmas Campaign with The Railway Children charity.
The conferences and events attended have been a valuable learning and networking experience, and SELCRP look forward to more in 2026.
