Just a quick reminder that Christmas is coming to Glossop Station on Saturday 8th December between 11.00 and 13.00. Santa as always is the star and he is due to arrive at 11.49. Courtesy of Northern each child will receive a free goody bag. We are also delighted that Ian Bevan, Managing Director of Northern, intends joining us to switch on the Tree lights at about 11.20. Refreshments, including Bunty's and Jacqueline's famous home made soups, will be available! Glossop Model Railway Club will have a layout on display and Spindrift make a return visit to provide some festive music. Lesley and Sue will help children make decorations for the tree. There will be a raffle with a variety of prizes. Posters with all these details are now appearing around the town and station. Flyers are also available. Do come and join in the fun!! FOGS hope to decorate the station in the week before the event and we are grateful to Glossop Garden Centre for kindly donating one of its attractive pine trees to the Station.

 Last week Neil paid a visit to Glasgow for much of the week. Included in the itinerary was a lunch with John Yellowlees, First ScotRail's Community Activities Director at the delightful Franco's in Glasgow Central station. Glasgow Central station is an architectural gem!! Its renovated dark wooden buildings provide all modern facilities whist leaving a huge white floored area for people to circulate and sit!! Airy, clean and spacious! John is a font of all that is going on in Scotland regarding community activities - I40 stations now involved and John knows all the volunteers personally - his tales of what's going on and where are very informative and entertaining! John was generous in his praise of Glossop's Poetry Platform - his own take on this has been a recent poetry train on the Largs' Line and trialling of contemporary poems, in display poster boards, at Wemyss Bay and Largs Stations. Our own Poetry platform compiler, Emma is delighted that the idea has crossed the border! We wish this project every success. Incidentally Emma's next theme is our Industrial Past - ideas, poets and contributions welcomed!!
 The following day Neil revisited Wemyss Bay to renew frienships with Nancy and her team. Another warm welcome and a chance to catch up. Wemyss looked lovely even on a grey day - the bookshop, open every day by Wemyss volunteers is a delight - books, tourist information, local pictures - and Nancy had been busy planting polyanthus too in containers. Clearly a good plant for stations!! Like us a Christmas event is planned for December 8th - see Wemyss Website - a link is there from FOGS - for more details. Whisked back to Glasgow in the quiet comfort of a Class 380 there was much for Neil to reflect on. He thanks, as always, John and Nancy for their kind and warm Scots' hospitality.

On the 28th October the Sunday of the clock change the Embankment Gang paid their final visit of the season to weed and plant.Oh, the luxury of a 7.00 start - in reality 8.00!! Hard graft for several hours resulted in the Embankment garden looking its very best for the Winter. We have been delighted by the number of people passing compliments about it. Eric's polyanthus have done us proud and are flowering even now in mid November!! Our thanks to Russell Pike and Mike Franklin at Network Rail for making this happen. Mike has already been in touch about renewing our safety licence for 2013.