East Midlands Railway (EMR) is marking this year’s Remembrance Day with several initiatives involving its employees, trains, and local communities across the East Midlands.

The company holds services of Remembrance at Nottingham and Derby railway stations on Remembrance Day to mark Armistice Day. This year, it is supporting The Veteran’s Charity with special ‘Routes of Remembrance’ lanyards for its employees and has applied a vinyl to one of its Class 222 trains that travel along the Midland Main Line.

In a further venture, unique artwork installations have been created for this year’s Remembrance Day through a collaboration between local artist, Mel Langton, and eight community groups across the East Midlands.

Taking advantage of interactive workshops, participants used different art mediums to represent Remembrance in their community. Each group created a unique piece of artwork, which is now displayed at their local station together with a commemorative plaque and QR code. Funding for the project came from East Midlands Railway, Community Rail Network, and six Community Rail Partnerships in the East Midlands.

Eventually, the eight individual pieces of art will be combined into a single large artwork and displayed at both Nottingham and Derby railway stations. They will be transported by rail from their local stations to Nottingham and Derby stations. Work to combine the individual pieces of art into a single piece and place them on display by the war memorials, will be completed in time for the services on Remembrance Day, Friday, 11th November.

The artwork can be viewed online at https://www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/remembrance, whilst travellers at the local stations where the individual pieces are on display can scan the QR code to view the larger artwork installation on East Midlands Railway’s webpage.

Among the community groups taking part were the Sleaford Cadets, from St. George’s Academy in Sleaford. They took part in a film produced by East Midlands Railway’s and ‘AV IT! Media in which they explain what Remembrance Day means to them. The film also features ex-service East Midlands Railway employees alongside the Cadets, telling of their experience in the Armed Forces and the importance of Remembrance Day.

Listed below are the community groups who participated in the project and the stations where their artwork is displayed:

• Rhubarb Farm – Langwith-Whaley Thorns railway station
• 9th Lincoln Rangers – Lincoln railway station
• St Martins School Horizon Group – Peartree railway station
• Ambergate Primary School – Ambergate railway station
• Allison Scout Troup and Wilford Scout Troop – Barrow-Upon-Soar railway station
• Great Coates Primary School – Great Coates railway station
• Sleaford Cadets – Sleaford railway station
• Arts & Minds at Middleport Pottery – Longport railway station

Will Rogers, Managing Director for EMR, said “The unique artwork pieces created by the community groups are brilliant. Each piece tells its own story about their local area and then when the pieces come together, they cleverly create a new image.

“It is incredibly important that we never forget the past and it’s great to see people from all generations remembering those who were brave enough to risk their lives for the world we live in today.”

Donna Adams, Head of External Relations for EMR, said: “Each year we work on this special initiative for Routes of Remembrance, I am overwhelmed by the enthusiasm from the community to ensure we remember our fallen heroes.

“It has been wonderful to be part of this community project, seeing how each group represents their local area and finding out what Remembrance means to them.”

The artist who has helped create the unique artwork installations, Mel Langton, said: “It was an honour to be asked to help put together the artwork for the Routes of Remembrance project.

“Working with such diverse and wonderful groups across the East Midlands to create their special pieces has been a real joy.”