The Haltwhistle is Something Special exhibition “What’s for Tea” has been unveiled in the waiting room at Haltwhistle Railway Station. This is the third exhibition commissioned by Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership as part of their engagement with the community with the aim of making stations a welcoming environment.

The content has been researched by local group Zig Zag, an organisation coordinated by Haltwhistle Partnership, which supports people who feel isolated due to disability, unemployment, mental health or other issues with regular meetings, activities, and days out. Days out for the group usually include a visit to a café or tea room, so the group decided that the theme for their exhibition would be something which concerns everyone, food.

The group visited a wide range of local food producers and suppliers learning about how food is produced, the importance of a quality and varied diet to sustain physical and mental health and how buying locally supports the community as well as being a positive action at this time of climate change.

With the help of the Haltwhistle Film Project, the design of the What’s for Tea logo was created using images of fruit and vegetables to form the words. Local designer, Marcus Byron, who is based in the studio next to the waiting room, discussed the content, artwork, and colour schemes with group members before finalising the poster designs.

Topics include some foody favourites, bread, sausages, salmon with others about allotments, foraging, food banks and local supermarket, Sainsbury’s. The result is a colourful informative display, which certainly confirms that Haltwhistle is Something Special.

Community Rail Network’s Rail Support Officer for the North of England, Ian Davies cut the ribbon to the open the exhibition with assistance from Marie Addison, Northern’s Regional Community & Sustainability Manager, and Zig Zag members, Sarah and Alistair. Ian said he was “very proud to be able to support this exhibition and to meet such a fabulous group and to hear the stories of their research. Food and railways, two things which bring people together.”

Fiona Forsythe, TVCRP officer, said “we are grateful for the support of CrossCountry Trains, Community Rail Network and Northern and to the enthusiasm and effort of all the members of Zig Zag.”

The waiting room is open every day so if you are in Haltwhistle, go along and learn about our local food.

Each exhibition has showcased completely different topics – the first was about dogs and the second the history and heritage of the area. Read about these here. 

Watch out for the next exhibition, hopefully later in 2025.