Friends of Batley Station celebrate ninth birthday

Members of the volunteer group joined together with Kim Leadbeater, the MP for Batley Spen, Tracy Brabin, the Mayor of West Yorkshire, local historian Tony Dunlop, pupils from Lydgate Primary School and representatives from both Network Rail and Northern Railways.

The event included the unveiling of a new painting by local artist Gordon Benson of the historic Station Hotel in its heyday, while the artist also provided a surprise donation of a further painting depicting the station itself, at around the same period.

Pupils from Lydgate recited poetry, including work by year 5 pupil, Alina Brdar, who is the West Yorkshire Young Poet Laureate.

Posting on Facebook, Kim, whose sister Jo Cox helped to start the group in 2015, said: “It was a real pleasure to join Friends of Batley Station for their ninth birthday celebrations.

“Brilliant poetry performances by the children from Lydgate, excellent paintings by artist Gordon Benson, history from Tony Dunlop and more lovely poetry from Stuart Bailey, plus very moving comments from founder and chair Gwen Lowe, who started the group with the support of my sister.

“Huge thanks to the dedicated volunteers for all their hard work and to everyone involved in putting together such a special celebration.”

The Friends of Batley Station were also presented with a certificate by Kim for winning second place nationally for the work they did during Keep Britain Tidy Week, as part of the The Great British Spring Clean 2024.