Friends of Kenilworth station

Friends of Kenilworth Station is a local group who look after the station garden and general user experience of the station. The group came together in 2019 and organised a series of social and gardening events.

Kenilworth station garden is situated on the periphery of the parking lot. The plot covers shrubs, trees and flowering beds. The garden was handed over from Warwick District council to West Midlands Trains during the re-opening of the new station on 30 April 2018.

The plan for maintaining the garden involved working along the station garden in small sections, clearing weeds and re-planting trees and bulbs. Taking advantage of links with the University of Warwick, the group joined Warwick Volunteers and actively took part in the planting plans. These covered clearing weeds and planting over 200 bulbs on the first visit. The station garden group, alongside Warwick Volunteers, took part in Woodland trusts’ “Big climate fight back” on 22nd Nov 2019 and planted 5 English birch tree saplings and over 800 daffodil, crocus and allium bulbs were also planted on this day.

The current focus for the garden is promoting a diversity of wildlife as the garden has a mixed variety of trees, shrubs and plants. Walking across the garden, one will see daffodils, crocuses, tulips, forget-me-nots, crossflowers, alliums, with regular visitors such as butterflies, flies and beetles. The plants planted at the station are contributed by Kenilworth locals and local stores such as Kenilworth Pet and Garden Shop.

The community aims to contribute towards a bigger picture involving local residents, by organising multiple community event in the upcoming years, and being partners with local charity, shops and businesses. The educational impact (such as importance of green space etc) of projects at the garden is exponential and being situated close to some of the best schools and universities in the UK is an added bonus for organising community events.

In spring 2020, the community received a donation of 4000 pansies from Plants2people at Whitehall Farm, Stratford-upon-Avon. In addition, local Kenilworth residents have come together to help replanting the station with more volunteers and garden donations.

Further plans for 2020 include: updating the tree rings, improvement of decor of the station, building a shed and water bath, painting some fences and walls, and overall maintenance of the garden. The station volunteers are also looking into the overall improvement of the station and to liaise with the Kenilworth town council to improve the overall user experience of the station.

If you live in Kenilworth and would like to join then please telephone: 07427 617821