The culmination of months of work came to fruition on Saturday 1st May with the official opening of the Melksham Hub Café at the town’s railway station. Converted from a disused building thanks to funding from Great Western Railway, the Community Rail Network and station sponsors Knorr Bremse, the facility is open six days a week.
Chippenham MP Michelle Donelan assisted by Wiltshire Council and TransWilts board member Richard Gamble, Melksham Mayor Pat Aves, TransWilts Chair Paul Johnson and Wiltshire Council and TW board member Horace Pricket.
The project has also included extending the car parking around the station, providing electric car charging points and offering a cycle hire facility. This was made possible after negotiations by the TransWilts CIC to take on the lease for the land from Wiltshire Council. Income from recently introduced car parking charges will help to finance the on-going running costs.
Sian our Café Manager.
The opening ceremony was carried out by Chippenham MP Michelle Donelan assisted by Wiltshire Council and TransWilts board member Richard Gamble as part of a morning of events at the station.
BTP joined us for a bike marking event.
The café, which has just been awarded a 5 star food standard rating by the local authority, offers a takeaway drinks and hot food menu as well as an outside seating area between 7.30 and 2.30 Monday to Friday and 7.30 to 12:30 on Saturdays.
Ken Curtis from Melksham Men’s Shed. Thank you to the Men’s Shed for kindly making and donating some lovely planters.
We hosted a mini petting zoo on Saturday. Stars of the show were our rescue lambs.
Thank you to everyone who joined us. The sun shone and lots fun was had by all!
If you would like to volunteer or donate to our growing hub garden, please contact sophie@transwilts.org.