The sun shone bright on Sunday 22nd October 2023 to mark the completion of the restoration of 120-year old Bricket Wood station by the Bricket Wood Station Heritage Trust.
All photos below were taken by Chris Clark unless otherwise credited.
Crowds gathered from 11:00 to enjoy tea, coffee and cake provided courtesy of Cheryl Clark and The Tea Room:
Whilst enjoying their refreshments, visitors were able to explore many high-quality displays of historical maps, photos, information and artefacts detailing the history of the station and the surrounding area, as well as the restoration itself:
At 13:00, the speeches began with Dave Horton and Laurie Hart, Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively of the Bricket Wood Station Heritage Trust, kicking things off, watched over by the Mayor of St Albans, Cllr Anthony Rowlands (photo immediately below courtesy of Mike Lamport):
Special thanks was extended, amongst many people and organisations too numerous to mention in this blog post, to the Trustees who had made this restoration possible (Paul Amsterdam, Nigel Watson, Dave Horton, Vito Sepe, Bill Pryce, Laurie Hart, Ray McLean, Robert Yorke, Paul Harper), as well as to Christine Peever (architect), Cheryl Clark (of the Tea Room) and to Vicky Cropper-Clarke (formerly Community Strategy Manager for West Midlands Trains, who was instrumental in securing the funding for the Trust through their Customer and Communities Improvement Fund):
A particular tribute was paid to Michael Korn (shown on the left in photo below), whose comprehensive article about the history of Bricket Wood station in the October 1990 edition of the Historical Model Railway Society Journal, planted the seeds of the vision of what has been achieved today. Michael, now a resident of Canada, had flown in especially for the occasion (photo courtesy of Paul Harper):
This was followed by some words from Darren Ward, Operations Director of West Midlands Trains. Darren is a ‘local lad’ who once drove trains on the Abbey Line:
The ceremonial aspects were rounded off with the cutting of the ribbon by Henry Holland-Hibbert, Chair of the Hertfordshire Community Foundation and resident of nearby Munden House, whose grandfather was an employee of the original LNWR company. Henry paid tribute to the community spirit, dedication and tenacity which had turned the dream into a reality:
And to top it all off, the trains ran on time!
