Station to station – Greenmount gets makeover

People will be looking at Greenmount in a whole new light following a makeover of the former station and sidings.

The site had been tree planted in the 1980s but had become heavily overgrown.

With help from Bury Council and £26,000 from the Big Lottery Changing Spaces programme, the site has been opened up, a pond created, the bridlepath re-surfaced and a new, two-directional, bespoke feature bench built at the Brandlesholme Road end of the site. The previous bench faced a wall of vegetation, while the new one offers an enticing view south towards the pond.

The project will be officially opened on Saturday 7 September at 10.30am, followed by activities, stalls and refreshments in Greenmount Old School. Weather permitting there will be pony rides from 10.45am, a bike ride at 1pm, a history walk at 1.30pm and a bat walk at 7.30pm.

Alistair Waddell, chair of the Greenmount Community, said it would be a new focal point for the village. “Our Greenmount bench is a magnet for people and provides a great place to meet or rest before or after a walk or a ride along the Kirklees Trail. We learned a lot from making a funding bid and did some of the initial clearance work ourselves, but our relationship with the site isn't over. We are now hoping to attract a sustainability grant to support the community in helping to look after the site.”

The funding has been provided under the Community Spaces scheme operated by the Groundwork Trust, as a distributor for the Big Lottery. The funder's local facilitator was Martin Proffitt and the contractor was local company, Groundwork Landscapes Ltd.

ENDS

Press release issued: 21 August 2013.

Picture attached: The new bench.