It’s not far, but a “History Walk” led by Ged Austin from Styal Station to Handforth Station took 4 hours last week!
Ged is known as Manchester’s “Urban Poet”, and has previously mounted an exhibition of his works at Handforth station. To celebrate Community Rail week, the Friends of Handforth Station (FoHS) commissioned Ged to write a Timeline story about the history of the area.
Ged based the walk on his Timeline story, stopping numerous times to look at local pieces of history and interesting sights. He added readings and his own poems to the historical information, and participants also added their local knowledge.
The walkers (most from Handforth, Styal and Heald Green) all agreed it had been a very enjoyable day out. Even the weather helped: it was a cool late Spring day and the rain held off until after the finish.
Amanda (who travelled by train from Heswall specifically to join the walk) said “It was fascinating to see so much history being revealed in such an interesting manner.”
Hugh, Secretary of FoHS who joined the walk, added “Even though I’ve walked the paths he took us along several times, there was so much I hadn’t even spotted, let alone knew about. A guided Station to Station walk is a very civilised way to learn about the local environment”.
Two more such walks are planned for later this Summer; watch facebook, twitter and www.handforthstation.org.uk for more detail.
