Portway Art & Ride

Year 7 students from Oasis Academy Temple Quarter in Bristol see out the academic year with a special train trip to Portway Park & Ride Station to view their ‘newtiful’ art in situ, accompanied by Platform, Severnside CRP and special guests from GWR, CrossCountry Trains and the Community Rail Network.

Back in December, Platform gave the students the opportunity to put their rail safety and confidence training from their in-school workshop into action with a train trip to Severn Beach. Part of their time there was spent test driving Platform’s newly launched ‘Transport Takeover’ card game, which was celebrated in a previous blog here.

For their other workshop session, the students worked with Severnside CRP’s Faye Keane – someone who is as passionate about art as she is about community rail – to create some new artwork for Portway Park & Ride Station.

Why Portway Park & Ride? Why newts? Cue Severnside’s Manager, Heather Cullimore, who explained that the site was home to the endangered great crested newt, a species safeguarded by UK law. As such, when it came to designing and building the station, it was Network Rail’s responsibility to protect them. The sustainable solution: an underground newt crossing. And so, what better subject for Oasis Temple Quarter’s artwork at the station than the newt! Inspired by Antoni Gaudí’s mosaic art, the students used mixed media collage (Posca pens and tiny squares of multi-coloured paper) to create their own newts.

Funding from GWR, CrossCountry Trains and Community Rail Network resulted in all 60 collages being professionally reproduced and installed along the railings at Portway Park & Ride Station. And on Monday 22nd July, Platform had the pleasure of coordinating not one, not two, but three train trips along the Severn Beach line from Bristol Temple Meads, in order for as many students as possible to view their ‘It’s a Newtiful Day’ art in all its glory.

This gave Platform another opportunity to revisit the key rail safety messages and to spend some time building on the students’ awareness and understanding of features of Temple Meads station, such as the departure screens, gateline and underpass.

On board the train, students enjoyed having their tickets checked by Ellie in role as a train guard, and being  reunited with ‘Transport Takeover’. 

After safely disembarking from the train at Portway Park & Ride, each group made their way to the ramp at the end of the platform, its railings now transformed on both sides with an explosion of colour and eye-catching designs, thanks to their newts and Faye’s effective curation of the space.

Being a high profile event in the Severnside CRP calendar, the school was joined by many treasured supporters of community rail, all keen to see the art for themselves and to share the whole experience, from catching the train with Platform to chatting with the students about their artwork. Bristol Radio even got in on the action, with an interview with Heather Cullimore during their Monday breakfast show. 

Once the students had had an initial look at all the newts in situ, Heather revisited the stimulus for their art before splitting them into two groups. One went away with Faye to look more closely at the art while the others stayed with Heather and Imogen who tasked them with completing a sentence stem related to the project. Their responses were fantastic. Here are a sample of them:

The newts are important because…they are endangered.

The newt crossing is important because…it means the newts don’t have to move out of their natural habitat. 

It is important to have art at the station because…

…otherwise the train station looks dull.

…kids can see it!

…it makes their journey more exciting.

…it could attract more people.

…it brightens up the station.

Our artwork makes the station…

…more vibrant and beautiful.

…more welcoming and colourful.

Being part of this project makes me feel…

…happy.

…like a part of a whole that makes an impact – our artwork could make someone’s day a little less bleak.

…known because my art has been recognised.

My favourite bit of taking part in this project was…

…drawing the newts.

…learning how to take the train.

…seeing my artwork up and making people more aware about the area.

Keen to build on the buzz of the day, Heather took the opportunity to promote Severnside CRP’s  ‘ALL ABOARD the Art Trail by Rail‘ map, of which ‘It’s a Newtiful Day’ is one of the featured pieces to go and see.

After one last look at their art, and being sure to share their appreciation with Faye and Heather, the students boarded the return train, laden with gifts: a copy of the art trail by rail map, a book mark and portable power charger from Network Rail, and their original piece of newt art.

“The Newtiful Day scheme was a wonderful opportunity to expand our partnership work with Platform and engage with Oasis Academy Temple Quarter, who were welcoming their first cohort of young people. The project has enabled the students to develop their rail travel confidence, learn how engineers protect local habitats through design, as well as creating vibrant newt collages for display at the station. We were thrilled to have over 60 students join us for the official launch event, allowing them to see their artworks in situ, knowing they will be enjoyed by thousands of passengers coming through the station over the years. We are looking forward to continuing our work with the school as they grow and move into their new location next to Bristol Temple Meads Station.”

Faye Keane, Community Development Officer, Severnside CRP

“We watched the construction of Portway Park and Ride with interest and were impressed by the care taken to ensure the protection of wildlife habitats.  This project has been a wonderful opportunity to support Oasis Academy Temple Quarter students to become safe and confident rail passengers and for them to learn about the measures taken to protect wildlife and create ecosystems around the local rail network”.

Heather Cullimore, Manager of Severnside CRP

“Having our students take part in this exciting project promoting the underground newt crossing at the new Portway Park and Ride station is a great honour. It has been fantastic to see our students learn about the ecological importance of great crested newts and use their creativity to highlight the significance of protecting this species.”

Mr Richard James, Head of School for Oasis Academy Temple Quarter

“It has been a pleasure forging a strong connection with Oasis Temple Quarter over the past year. What began with in-school rail safety and confidence workshops back in October has resulted in a trip to Severn Beach, being the first young people to play our ‘Transport Takeover’ card game, collaborating with Faye and Heather to create the newt art, and travelling to Portway Park & Ride this summer to see the finished article. With the school’s official building underway just behind Temple Meads Station, we are proud to have been in a position to educate the students about rail safety, how to navigate a busy station like Temple Meads with confidence, and to promote rail travel as a fun, safe, sustainable and viable means of transport. With many of these students already, or soon to be, taking the train to school, this kind of training is invaluable. As always, we are immensely grateful to our funders, whose generosity means we can continue to offer free rail education to schools within our five CRPs.”

Ellie Swain, Senior Learning Development Officer, Platform