Blooming marvellous! We team up with South Western Railway to plant 600+ bulbs in Tolworth

A group of people in hi-vis jackets stand outside Tolworth Station waving their hands

We teamed up with a group of South Western Railway employees in early October to plant more than 600 flower bulbs along Tolworth Broadway.

All being well, next spring the planters in front of the shops from Princes Avenue all the way to the Tolworth traffic island and around Tolworth railway station will be bursting with bright colours as a blend of crocuses, tulips, daffodils and narcissus come into bloom.

Before planting could start, the 15+ strong team of volunteers cleared litter, weeded the planters and replaced the topsoil.

The event was part of the rail operator’s National Customer Service week, which took place at 35 stations across its network from 3rd to 7th October and saw more than 17,000 bulbs planted.

Himali Patil, a member of The Community Brain team and local Community Rail Partnerships Officer said: “It was a lot of hard work, especially clearing out the litter from the planters, but it was also fun.

We’re really grateful to SWR for the bulbs and I can’t wait to see the Broadway in full bloom next spring!”

Nominated for two rail industry awards

Two men and a woman in hi-vis jackets clear rubbish from a concrete planter. — Before the new bulbs could be planted, volunteers weeded and cleared out each of the planters along Tolworth Broadway.

Earlier this year, our programme to completely reimagine and transform part of Tolworth Railway Station into an exciting and vibrant community was shortlisted for two national rail industry awards.

We were nominated for the Outstanding Contribution to Society category at the National Rail Industry Awards and shortlisted for the Best Community Engagement Project at this year’s National Community Rail Awards, for Celebrate 72 / Ziggy Returns.