Bentham Line railway community groups are pleased to have been short-listed in five categories at the 2026 national awards.

The Leeds-Morecambe Community Rail Partnership (LMCRP) has been shortlisted in the Community Creative Projects and Station Arts section for their work with St. Peter’s Church of England Primary School on the Birds of the Bay project. Everyone at the school (over 250 pupils and staff) took part in creating an eight-metre-long ‘Welcome!’ mural of their class birds displayed on a time-changing background of Morecambe Bay. Copies of the mural can be seen at the school and at Heysham Port station  

The LMCRP has also been chosen for the Tourism and Leisure Award, for their month-long summer campaign ‘Grand Days Out on the Bentham Line’, using multiple social-media platforms. It resulted in a vast increase in the number of media viewings and new engagements.

The Friends of Bentham Station have been shortlisted in the Railway 200 Legacy Awards category, for their dual celebration of Railway 200 and Bentham Station 175 on 2nd May 2025.

At Bentham station a commemorative plaque was unveiled to mark the 175th anniversary of the railway arriving in Bentham and a photographic display reflected the ups and downs of the station throughout that time.

Catherine Huddleston, Partnership Officer, has been shortlisted in the in the ‘Essence of Community Rail’ photograph competition. Her photograph ‘High-Five’ was taken at Morecambe station this summer, during a seaside visit by the ‘Fifty Things to do before you are Two’ visit by a group of young mothers and their young children from Bradford.

The Friends of Cononley Station made their first entry to the awards this year and have been placed in the ‘It’s Your Station’ – Silver category, We now wait to see if they will receive the award for the ‘Best Silver’ entry.

The National Community Rail Awards and Gala Dinner will be taking place at the Derby Arena on Thursday 19th March 2026. Good luck to all!