Helsby railway station has been named the Best Kept Station in Cheshire at a glitzy award ceremony

HELSBY'S picture perfect station has been named the Best Kept Station in Cheshire.

The 160-year-old station which connects the village by rail to Chester and Manchester, gained the title at an award ceremony on Tuesday evening at Weaver Hall Museum and Workhouse in Northwich.

The accolade, which joins a string of titles, is all down to the hard work of a team of rail enthusiasts who care for the station.

Even during the harsh winter weather, the team of six local volunteers donned their florescent jackets and set to work with their wheelbarrows, trowels and bin liners.

The Helsby Working Party has been tending the gardens for over a decade, and over the years they have notched up seven awards for their maintenance of the station.

John Hulme, organiser of Cheshire Best Kept Stations said: “This station has won an award every year since we started the competition in 2003.

“The team at Helsby is a great example of community involvement at our stations.”

Chairman of the working party, Will Ellams, said: “When we started the whole station was overgrown with weeds.

“The group was established in 1997 and within three years we won the Best Kept station award, this was at the first award ceremony.

“We get involved with everything to do with the railway, we come down and give out time tables, and if the trains are cancelled then we come down and direct passengers.”

The station has now gained so many awards that the group will have to make space to hang the plaques, which have filled the side of the signal box.

The working party is part of the North Cheshire Rail Users Group. Chairman, Janet Briggs said:“I am delighted with the win for Helsby. It says a big thank you to the volunteers and all the time they dedicate at the station.

“It makes it all worthwhile. If you are on the station, take a look at the awards on the signal box. Helsby has so many it will have to start on the other side.”

Also tended by the group, Frodsham, the next station down line, scooped the award for the Best Kept Station in Cheshire West and Chester after a Duke of Edinburgh project to plant a new garden last year.

Michael Trevor-Barnston MBE, the Chairman of Cheshire Crimebeat, who presented the awards said: “Both myself and the High Sheriff are delighted Frodsham has received an award.”