Great-great-grandmother station adopter celebrates landmark birthday

A great-great-grandmother who volunteers at her local railway station has celebrated her 90th birthday.

To mark the day Margaret Whysall, from Willington, went for a birthday walk at her local railway station where she has been a station adopter for the past three years as part of the Willington WI.

Station adopters do a range of important roles: they make sure the station is welcoming; keep an eye out for any unusual activity; report any faults and issues; and maintain planters and gardens. They make a huge difference to every single passenger.

Margaret has played her part in lots of projects at the station, including looking after four large planters, a flower border, a commemorative poppy display and developing a beleaguered dark corner plot into an area of colour and interest.

She said that volunteering down at the station has been wonderful for her mental and physical health.

She said: “I live on my own so I do get lonely but being able to spend time with other people down the station has been wonderful. I really enjoy the company and they are such a nice crowd down there.  I especially like gardening and catching up with everyone, hearing about what they have been up to and such.

“It’s very rewarding as you feel a real sense of civic pride. We are helping to brighten up the place for everyone in the village and its lovely when you get nice comments from people.”

Margaret also said that It also helps her exercise and stay fit which must come in handy as she has two daughters, four grandchildren, five great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren – with another one on the way.

Donna Adams, Community Engagement Manager at East Midlands Railway, said: “Everyone from EMR would like to wish Margaret a happy birthday. We are so thankful to have volunteers like her who give up so many hours to help improve their local stations.

“Her energy and enthusiasm is so inspiring. We wish we could clone her and have a Margaret at every station across our network.”

Get involved

We welcome station adoption at the EMR-managed stations around the network. To see which stations we look after and more information visit our website www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/stationadoption