Primary schoolchildren plant trees at the Mountsorrel Railway

Children from Mountsorrel Christ Church and St Peters Primary School have visited the Mountsorrel Railway with their parents to plant new trees and hedgerow bushes along the formation. The planting was done under the watchful eye of our ecology group leader Lesley Humphries.



The hedgerows along either side of the trackbed had suffered through 50 years of neglect. Although our volunteers have worked hard over the last two and a half years to restore and encourage the hedgerows, there is still a long way to go.


 
Lesley commented:

It was great to welcome children from our local primary school to help with this important ecology work, which builds upon the planting visits we ran with the school last summer. It was lovely to see the children enjoying themselves so much!

If your school or young peoples' group, such as Scouts, Guides, Cubs, Brownies, or Boys Brigade, would like to help with planting native flora and fauna alongside the Mountsorrel Railway, we will be running a repeat of last year's popular planting visits this coming June. Please contact Steve Cramp, volunteer project coordinator, as soon as possible if you would like your school or group to be involved.

LanGuard VM sponsors the Mountsorrel Railway project

LanGuard VM, a nationwide vegetation management and weed control business with a head office in Leicestershire, have very kindly offered to undertake a program of weed control along the Mountsorrel Railway trackbed.

Steve Cramp, volunteer project leader, said:

"We were concerned that the onset of Spring would bring with it a whole raft of unwanted weeds creeping through our mile long newly ballasted trackbed. As with any railway, it's imperative that the ballast is kept clear of weed growth to ensure that it drains well and the formation of the railway is protected. The cost for controlling the weeds over a mile of track bed is substantial and a significant overhead for a community volunteer project like ours. We were thrilled when LanGuard VM offered to keep the weeds at bay for us at no cost to the project and we really can't thank them enough!"

LanGuard VM Contracts Director Tony Marlow commented:

"We had heard about the Mountsorrel Railway project and its hopes of recreating part of our local history for today's generations to learn from and enjoy, but it was only when we saw for ourselves the phenomenal work that their group of community volunteers have done over the past two and a half years, we were only too happy to be able to support their endeavours and to offer our services."

The Mountsorrel Railway project aims to recreate part of our local history by rebuilding the Mountsorrel Railway both for historical purposes and to carry passengers as part of the Great Central Railway experience. Community volunteers have reconstructed the old trackbed and are now running a track appeal to raise the money required to lay track along the railway.

"We have just launched our track appeal with the aim of raising the £150,000 we need to complete the project." continued Steve "Our aim is to relay track in stages as donations come in. Local support has allowed us to source the first lengths of rail and track laying will start this coming May!"

If you would like to support the Mountsorrel Railway project's track appeal, please see full details on the project website www.mountsorrelrailway.org.uk.