Railway fundraising group closes its doors

A CHARITY which raises funds for the North Yorkshire Moors Railway through recycling paper and aluminium products is closing its doors after 40 years.

Volunteers with the York Area Group have recycled more than 3,100 tonnes of waste paper and cardboard, seven tonnes of aluminium cans, 32 tonnes of aluminium foil and 103 tonnes of glass, raising more than £113,000 for the railway.

The group started collecting waste paper in the old waiting room at Pickering Station in late 1973 and in 1974 moved to the location at Poppleton on the outskirts of York. It has enjoyed rentfree accommodation with three owners over the years but the site is now required for redevelopment, meaning the group’s operation is ending this month.

In recent years the group has raised funds for a variety of projects, including the railway’s rolling stock. Other projects have included funding and repairing the track maintenance vehicles, which are now highly mechanised with ever more sophisticated and costly equipment used.

Chris Price, the railway’s general manager, said “The York Area Group have been an integral part in the railway’s wider fundraising effort and without the group’s valuable support over the past 40 years many of the projects would not have come to fruition.

“Many of the projects carried out by the group have been vital for the railway’s development and ‘behind-the-scenes’ work, including storage for our Permanent Way department, which cost in the region of £100,000.

“The railway costs around £6.4m each year to operate and without fundraising groups like the York Area Group, we would not be able to keep the railway functioning.”