It was great to welcome so many people to the 150th Birthday Party at St Margaret’s station on Saturday 3rd October, organised by SCRP with station adopters and residents of Amyand Park Road.
Our guests included the Mayor of Richmond, Nancy Baldwin; Munira Wilson MP; Managing Director of SWR / NR Wessex, Lawrence Bowman; and the Minister of State for Rail, Lord Hendy with his fantastic heritage Routemaster bus!
And we really celebrated in style: with a street party; live music provided by The Elastic Band; children’s games in the grounds of Amyand Park Chapel; a stunning exhibition of the history of St Margarets Station by local residents (Michael Gambazzi, Paul Velluet and Chris Hurrey); topped off by an array of marvellous cakes.
One 65 year old resident fulfilled a lifelong dream to get in the driving seat of a Routemaster bus, and one of the older community members was reduced to tears by all the fun. We showed off the new mural, created through collaboration with three local schools, artist Will Parker and Turner’s House.
There was a display of children’s artwork in the waiting room on platform 1, and a chance to see the new planting at the station, for which The Friends of St Margarets Station received a London In Bloom ‘Celebration Stations’ award.
To round off the party, there was a resounding chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’, with the guests being joined by dozens of local residents.
As Madam Mayor of Richmond, Nancy Baldwin, put it : “The Railway coming to St Margarets was a huge leap into the future, and today we celebrate that. It’s so great to be with the people of St Margarets who have really taken their station to their hearts”.
