We were delighted to be awarded first prize in the Railway 200 Legacy Award at the recent national Community Rail Awards for their Song for Edmondson project

Working with two local primary schools, Hallbankgate Village School and Lanercost CoE Primary School, and singer songwriters Gareth and Bronwen Davies-Jones, new songs were written about the heritage of Brampton Station and the innovation of its first stationmaster in 1836 who created the first pre-printed card ticket adopted.

During the project, the children enjoyed experience of travelling by train to Haltwhistle to see Edmondson tickets, learned why the station is 1.8 miles from the town, participated in songwriting sessions, even suggesting that some rap could be introduced in one of the songs.  So many new experiences and new skills learned for the schools; a sound engineer visited Hallbankgate School and a premiere of the songs in Lanercost Priory, an event so full of joy, enthusiasm and pride for the families of those involved.

Judge Emma Roberts commented “A huge amount of time and effort went into this and seeing the children delighted with their performance was a real treat – and what I had hoped Railway 200 would do”.

Read more about the project here and watch the performances at Lanercost Priory on our YouTube channel