30 Sep 2025
A vintage bench marking the Railway 200 initiative has been unveiled in the garden of St Albans South Signal Box alongside a mosaic designed by pupils from Camp School.
The project was conceived back in March at the National Community Rail Awards (CRA) in Newcastle, attended by Andy Buckley, line officer for Beds & Herts Community Rail Partnership, and Chris Blanch, senior arts development officer from St Albans Arts Team CIC.
Andy mentioned that his family had an old garden bench which needed renovating, and he had approached Tony Franklin from HACRO (Hertfordshire Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders) to ask if they would like to take it on as a possible refurbishment project. Andy and Chris spoke with various guests at the celebration who mentioned there was funding available for projects which celebrated Railway 200 in September 2025.
The theme of Railway 200 was to include the old, the present and the future and it was agreed to use images depicting ‘No 1’ of 1825 (the ‘Locomotion’) which hauled the first public train, the current Class 700 for the present, and the latest (Class 810 ‘Aurora’) to represent the future.
Running mosaic sessions to create the panel along the back rest of the bench was Audrey from Montet Designs, who regularly delivers mosaic workshops in Emmaus Hertfordshire’s St Albans community workshop. One of the homelessness charity’s residents (known to the charity as companions), Lee, set to work completely restoring the vintage bench, sanding it right back to basics and returning it to its former glory.
Gemma Beckett, business development manager at Emmaus Hertfordshire said: “This really was a fantastic collaboration between us and a number of local organisations, to create a wonderful community feature and commemorate this year’s historic milestone for modern railway.
“Our companion Lee did a fantastic job of restoring the bench to its former glory and the HACRO clients’ mosaic was incredible, all thanks to the tuition of Audrey of Montet Designs and the creative Year 4 pupils at Camp School, who created the locomotive drawings featured on the plaque. A huge thank you to all involved!”
Chris Blanch said: said: “Myself and Andy have worked closely with Tony Franklin from HACRO and his Turnaround participants for over three years, and with the close ties to Emmaus and the weekly carpentry workshop, we included them in the project. They were already skilled mosaic artists and carpenters!
“Year 4 pupils from The Camp School in St Albans started off the project by designing images of the old and new engines for Audrey to use in the final mosaic design.”
Andy Buckley added: “It really was a very quick turnaround as we managed to fit in The Camp design session early in July before they broke up for the school holidays – so just three months from start to finish.
“I was pleased when we approached the Signal Box Trust to ask if we could place the bench in their garden. Initially we received a guarded ‘Yes, maybe’ – (they had seen the condition of the bench before refurb!) – but when they saw the finished item arrive there was all round approval and relief at how good the bench looked!
“Lee told me how much he enjoyed working on the bench project; so much so that he has now discussed with the Signal Box Trustees about volunteering with them to refurbish another bench (possibly two!) in the signal box museum garden.”
This celebration is the conclusion of three major art projects at St Albans City Station, delivered by St Albans Arts Team under the GTR ‘Your Station Your Community’ fund including; HACRO photos on Platforms 1 and 4; a 6-panel mosaic installed outside by the taxi rank made by The Daylight Club and Fleetville Infants Year 2 pupils and Andy’s Family’s Railway 200 bench, which was supported by additional funders.
