The Arora Hotel, Crawley was the venue for the Arun Valley Line Stakeholders Annual Meeting last Thursday (9th November), by kind permission of the owners.
Delegates at the meeting were given a presentation on the future developments of Overline House and the surrounding area.
The meeting then continued with presentations from the Sussex Community Rail Partnership, bringing delegates up to date with recent projects.
Bob Lanzer, the Chairman of the Arun Valley line community rail partnership, who chaired the meeting, said
“I am very grateful to our new line officer, Rowena Tyler, for arranging such an interesting evening, with a great set of speakers.
Clive Robey, Network Rail Level Crossings Manager, gave a lively talk on the importance of safety around level crossings, and showed some thought provoking clips taken from real life CCTV footage, all along the Arun Valley Line.
And Jim Nunn, chairman of the Crawley Signal Box Preservation Society, gave an illuminating talk, taking the audience back over the last 40 years, from the days when the signal box was in full operation, through to the modern changes which eventually brought about the closure of the signal box, – and ultimately to the Heritage Listing of this signal box, which helped the Crawley Preservation Society to adopt the box, clean and paint it, and remove the pigeons which had taken up residence.
The evening truly showed that the local community is at the heart of the community rail partnership.
