In total, London Midland and its community rail partners, walked away with five awards. First prize in the ‘Involving Diverse Groups’ category celebrated the work of Sandwell College construction students and the new station adoption group formed through the Abrahamic Foundation in helping to regenerate Smethwick Rolfe Street station.

This win was followed by four more awards for London Midland projects, including third place in the Community Art Schemes – Permanent category for the Love Thy Neighbour mural at Smethwick Rolfe Street, second place for the Stone station artwork project in the Community Art Schemes – Renewable & Smaller group and third place for Wellington station walkers’ information board in Small Projects – Under £500. Second prize went to the Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership for its work with Oaklands College, promoting the line through marketing activity.

The ceremony was held at the Roundhouse in Derby and the London Midland team were joined by members of the project teams including Art Alert from Nuneaton, representatives from Sandwell College and Oaklands College.

Over the course of 2017, London Midland worked with many community groups and individuals on community rail projects and through its Adopt a Station scheme. As a result of the hard work of all the volunteers, there are now 30 new station adoption projects live, with many more in the pipeline.

Faye Lambert, head of community rail at London Midland, said: “Winning these awards is the result of lots of hard work that has gone on over the past year. The projects have involved people of all ages, faiths and cultures who have embraced the opportunity to be part of making their local railway better for everyone. Even though each project is individual in its own way, they all have the same goal at their heart: helping people to take pride in their local area.