This is part-time role, offering 25hrs a week between Monday – Friday and is a 2 year fixed term contract. This role offers flexibility and a good work/life balance, with support and training provided.
Please note, this is not an office-based role, but an active, people-focused position centred on community engagement.
Click here to see the entire Mural (14MB PDF download)…
This art work is a collaboration between: WCRP; The Arts Society Worcester; the Colour Palette Co.; Worcester BID; Estee Allen-Powell (the artist); and two art mentees.
It has been funded by CRN, WMR, Worcester BID, Arts Society Worcester, and the WCRP.
Maggie Keeble Chairperson TAS Worcester:
“It is an exciting experience to be commissioning public art for a very visible site. The winning artist/designer has an opportunity to create an installation that will transform the space and be seen by many thousands of people”
Fiona Saxon from Worcestershire Community Rail Partnership:
“This innovative art installation at Worcester Foregate Street Station will offer rail passengers a unique and colourful insight into the cultural heritage of the city. It will celebrate the fantastic city of Worcester and by encouraging visitors by train will also help to promote rail travel as a sustainable form of transport”
Stacey Barnfield designer of The Worcester Colour Palette:
“I’m so excited by this project. It will be the first time one of the colour palette designs will have been used to influence an accompanying piece of art and I can’t wait to see what the region’s artists and illustrators put forward to incorporate the palette and create an eye-catching welcome to Worcester Foregate Street station.”
Crystal Thompson from Worcester BID:
“Worcester BID is thrilled to participate in the project to introduce new wayfinding artwork at Foregate Street, the city’s central station. This initiative will offer a vibrant and welcoming introduction to our city, which is home to fantastic businesses, a rich history, inspiring art, and unique independent venues.”
Alvechurch Library has taken proud possession of a hand stitched tapestry commissioned by Worcestershire Community Rail Partnership (WCRP).
The Stitch Train Worcestershire Project was a collaboration between WCRP and Woolly Mammoth Stitch Works CIC and its aim was to find a way for existing WCRP volunteers to stay involved when Covid-19 restrictions were in place. It also proved to be a fantastic way to connect new people across the county with their local train station.
Cllr. Keith Wiseman, Alvechurch Parish Council, welcomed the tapestry as a record of the alternative types of activity that kept residents motivated during the pandemic.
Cllr. Keith Wiseman added ‘The Parish Council were very pleased to receive the Tapestry on behalf of the residents of Alvechurch’
‘The trains are the only major form of public transport to and from the village and so the significance will not be lost on the villagers. They also make a nice addition to the local memorabilia section in the library’.
Tapestries for each of the 18 train stations and for the two rail companies operating along Worcestershire lines were created. An estimated 678 hours of volunteer time across the county helped deliver the project and each tapestry is unique.
WCRP’s Vice-Chair, Colin Major said ‘we were overwhelmed by the response from volunteers across the county so much, so we had to arrange additional sewing kits. This clearly demonstrates how much communities identify with their local station’.
The Alvechurch Station tapestry can be viewed during the Library’s opening hours and further information can be found at the WCRP website or by emailing enquiries@wcrp.org.uk.
Bethany’s multi-coloured train travelling through the countryside topped the ‘My Dream Railway Adventure’ drawing competition which took place at Worcestershire Parkway Railway Station in the summer.
The competition was organised by Worcestershire Community Rail Partnership and saw 28 children enter a drawing. Colin Major, Vice Chair Worcestershire Community Rail Partnership, said: “We are delighted that Bethany rose to the challenge of drawing this picture, without knowing the subject until she arrived at the Health and Wellbeing Day. Having presented her with the four tickets her wide smile and enthusiasm for the trip was a delight to see.”
Councillor Mike Rouse, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, who judged all the entries, said: “Bethany’s drawing definitely stood out but there were some fantastic entries.
“It’s great to see children getting excited about rail travel in Worcestershire and it really shows in their drawings. I hope Bethany and her family have a lovely day out in London.”
Bethany, her mother Maya and little brother Theo went along to Worcestershire Parkway this week where they were presented with their train tickets.
We hope the map will encourage Worcester visitors to use sustainable forms of transport – such as rail – to both access, and move around, the city.
It has been created by WCRP with funding from GWR. We worked in partnership with the University of Worcester and Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership (GCRP) to produce a valuable resource for visitors to the city.
Students from the University received training and guidance from GCRP on how to walk the routes collecting data which was sent to the designer for input onto the map.
A unique collaboration between students at the University of Worcester, a regional railways community development organisation and the Worcestershire Ramblers has just produced its first set of concept design work.
Year 2 Graphic Design students on the ‘Graphic Information Design’ module have just submitted a wide range of concept designs for an overview leaflet for Worcestershire Community Rail Partnership (WCRP). This explains the new 95 mile long ‘Worcestershire Rail Trails’ project, which allows users to walk between stations in the region and then return quickly by train to their start point. One or more students’ designs will be picked for use for marketing the scheme.
Students were set the ‘live’ brief in early February by Rail Trails project team members Lyndon Bracewell (instigator of the project and representing Worcestershire Ramblers) and the University of Worcester’s Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design, Andy Stevenson. The aim was to give students experience of working to a ‘live’ design brief of this nature along with the pace, interaction and steer of real clients including WCRP’s Partnership Officer Fiona Saxon.
Norwegian visiting Yr2 graphic design student Marie Oye said of her experiences on the project: “This was a relatively new area of experience for me, as I had not previously designed a walking routes leaflet before however I gained new skills during the project, including adapting my design to fit the project’s requirements and balancing the visuals with the necessary information.”
“In class, I found the learning to be very helpful and engaging. I appreciated the opportunity to receive feedback from my tutor Andy, the client Lyndon, and my classmates. I also found it helpful to do additional research and visit museums and galleries outside of class to gain inspiration and refine my design skills. …Overall, I feel that I learned a lot during this project and developed new skills in information design and layout. I look forward to applying these skills to future projects”.
Rail Trails project instigator and steering team member, Lyndon Bracewell, said: “I was impressed by the students’ skills and enthusiasm. It was very much a two-way process. I learnt a lot about how younger people access and use information through various digital means. Hopefully the way we have presented the Rail Trails in an entirely web-based and smart phone friendly format will help to broaden the Trails’ appeal to a younger audience too”.
Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design Andy Stevenson added: “There’s nothing quite like working on a real-life design project for our students and on this module they were able to apply their new-found skills in developing information graphics and mapping.
While we run student briefs in other modules in lots of areas of the design genre: such as web design, branding and packaging, this module brief also helped students equip themselves for studio working experiences that require wider visual communication skills: diagram design, wayfinding design considerations, pictogram design and how to create linked maps – a form of information diagram. It’s also been great to work alongside a community organisation and know that the new learning and outputs from students have helped give much-needed visual
design input into this project.”
WCRP’s Partnership Officer, Fiona Saxon, has been impressed by the students’ creativity and enthusiasm for this project and adds: “The ideas and application by the students has been amazing and it’s been fabulous working with future designers on a venture that offers tried
and tested linear walks from stations. It provides walkers with opportunities to use sustainable rail travel to access some of the best destinations in the country right here in Worcestershire.”
The Worcestershire Rail Trails project is currently developing its initial web presence and has recently hosted a ‘Taster’ day at the Hive in Worcester on Sunday 11th June. We are now focussing on the serious business of choosing one or more ‘winning’ student designs on which to base the final overview leaflet.
Once a final design(s) is chosen this will then be created in full for commercial print. This successful Knowledge Transfer collaboration will then continue into the next academic year to complete remaining components of the project.
WCRP took part in a Safer Communities Day at Christopher Whitehead Language College and Sixth Form earlier this year where the film was shown to 250 pupils followed by discussion on the main themes. Platform, our rail education scheme, also offer classroom based activities on their website here platformrail.org/resources/which-side-of-the-tracks.
WCRP Vice Chair, Colin Major said “I am delighted that this collaborative work between the West Midlands Safer Travel Team, West Mercia Police and West Midlands Railway lead by our WCRP Partnership Officer Fiona Saxon has been recognised. The video is available to anyone who can alert young people to the dangers of County Lines and to assure them that help is available.”
Known as ‘County Lines’, gangs and organised criminal networks move illegal drugs and weapons from one area to another using dedicated mobile phones lines.
They groom children and vulnerable adults to assist them with this by using coercion, intimidation, and violence.
The video has been developed in partnership with Worcester Cathedral, Platform, the Clewer Initiative, Mothers’ Union and Worcestershire Community Rail Partnership (WCRP).
A new video resource to help schools, train operators and youth workers prevent children being groomed and exploited by drug trafficking gangs has been released.
This video is a resource to help schools, train operators and youth workers prevent children being groomed and exploited by drug trafficking gangs.
Exploitation of children and vulnerable adults in this way is recognised as modern slavery and perpetrators can be prosecuted for forcing their victims to sell drugs.
If you are worried about a vulnerable person, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit Fearless at crimestoppers-uk.org/fearless
