The Leeds-Morecambe Community Rail Partnership have said that they have been shortlisted for all three entries they had made at the National Community Rail Awards.

The excellent news came from the Community Rail Network with the Bentham Line listed for the ‘Influencing Positive Change and Sustainability in the Railway’, ‘Most Effective Communications Campaign’ and the photographic contest ‘The Essence of Community Rail’ categories.

The shortlisting for the ‘Influencing Positive Change and Sustainability in the Railway’ recognises work carried out by the Leeds-Morecambe Community Rail Partnership alongside the help of consultants, Stantec UK and AllanRail on a project called  ‘Bentham Line Strategy to 2042′ which came together after more than 500 positive responses were made by the public who live along and beyond the line. The project also saw 30 in-depth discussions with potential stakeholders such as rail bodies and councils throughout Yorkshire and Lancashire. The strategy’s final stage and the associated executive summary have seen a positive response in a large number of groups.

The Bentham Line has also worked with Northern‘s Year in Industry students for the ‘Access for All to the Bentham Line’ project, which has taken place over the last 10 months and was recognised for the ‘Most Effective Communications Campaign’ category. The project has seen the design and production of an accessibility guide for the line, its trains and every station and has seen excellent reviews for creating 22 three-minute interactive films, utilising 360-degree film technology including all stations and diesel units which operate on the line. As part of the project, a number of practical station accessibility improvements were also carried out at Bentham, Long Preston, Steeton & Silsden and Shipley stations.

For the third listing, the photographic work of Ollie Rouse who is one of the young volunteers within the partnership has been recognised as part of the photographic competition ‘The Essence of Community Rail’. One of Ollie’s photographs captures a fun shot of the Partnership in action during a promotion event at Leeds stations earlier in 2022 and is titled ‘Follow the Beard and Try the Train’. This piece is in contrast to Ollie’s usual work which is more commonly made up of scenic and train compositions and can be found on the Bentham Line website.

Votes are open with members of the public getting their chance to select their ten favourite pics online by visiting https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CRA22 until August 30th.

The Partnership will discover if they have won at the awards ceremony and gala dinner which will be held in Manchester on the 5th of October.

Further to the above nominations, the Partnership was also delighted to have supported three other projects regarding dementia-friendly station signage, a line guide and a seaside adventure for groups of families with children aged under five years which have also been shortlisted in three different categories.