Last Christmas for Willaston’s Hadlow Road Station?

In what may turn out to be the last public event at Hadlow Road Station for a long time, possibly ever, its Friends group invited the residents of Willaston and beyond to join them for a Christmas celebration on Sunday December 13th.

Attendees of all ages braved the rather chilly, wet afternoon, to enjoy entertainment from the Handbag of Harmonies Choir, led by musical director Matt Baker, and the City of Chester band, along with a sales table, suitably festive refreshments and a raffle to win one of a number of bumper luxury hampers, filled with goodies donated locally.

Santa and his elves were in attendance.

Santa and his elves were in their Signal Box grotto, taking visits from local youngsters.

Amidst all the festive frivolity, however, was a note of concern, as it emerged this week that the Ranger Services are vacating the station this week, presenting doubt over the future of the Grade II listed landmark. 

Chris Hampshire, Chair of the Friends of Hadlow Road, explained: “Cheshire West and Chester Council own the building and are currently deciding what to do with this Station Master’s House and outbuildings.

“The Friends of Hadlow Road Station group (FHRS) are concerned that it may be sold for commercial use. However we have suggested to the Council that we would be willing to consider taking a long lease on the building.

“Alternatively, the Council may wish to transfer the asset to the FHRS at a token value of £1 as a community asset. In either case, we do need a strong Executive team to negotiate with CWAC on the contractual terms and also, this Executive team would need to formulate a viable business plan that can be delivered by the volunteers that we already have.

“If you are able to assist with the provision of your expertise to this Executive team to help over the next 3 to 4 months or so then do please let me or any other member of the Friends team know. Without this Executive team the transfer by the Council to the Friends Group is not likely to happen and may then lead the Council to finding alternative commercial uses for Hadlow Road Station!

“As you will appreciate, time is not on our side, so please do step forward and let us know if you are willing and able to assist in any way to keep Hadlow Road Station within Willaston as a community resource.”

New Deputy Lieutenant of Cheshire, Mark Mitchell

During his address, Chris thanked Paul Taylor (Ranger on site on the day) for his invaluable support over the last year and for changing his working weekend to be there. He also thanked all the people who had helped make the event possible and introduced Mark Mitchell, recently appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Cheshire, who was attending his first community event since taking office.

Our thanks to David Sejrup for the photos in this article.

Help Save Hadlow Road

If you would like to offer assistance to the Friends’ appeal in relation to the future of Hadlow Road Station, you can contact Chris by telephone on 0151 327 4511 or by email.

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