This blog isn’t just about gardening; it’s also about where we garden – at a lovely Victorian station, built in 1877. The railway line itself (now, the East Coastway) was built before our station appeared, with the section to Seaford opening on 1st June 1864. That, strictly speaking, was the 150th anniversary we were celebrating on Saturday 7th June at London Road Station. It started with rain, but the sun came out …

Though it was not really ‘our’ anniversary, we were delighted to celebrate links between stations and their communities. We spruced up the gardens, planted up the tree pits in front of the station and even planted up the little planters outside our pub The Signalman, which faces the station at the end of Shaftesbury Place.

During the day, we served cake and coffee to over 120 neighbours and train travellers – cake using fruit and vegetables in honour of our  edible garden (though this early in the season, we weren’t able to use our own ingredients). Chris made Dutch apple cake, lemon cake and carrot cake; Simon came with beetroot cake and two wonderful neighbours both named Jane turned up with a beetroot and chocolate cake and a courgette cake respectively.  Simon had also produced intriguing fridge magnets, which raised over £30 for the Railway Children charity.

Our MP and local resident Caroline Lucas launched the celebrations, emphasising the importance of sustainable transport and community involvement in the railways, and blew out garden-themed candles on the biggest apple cake.

The weather forecast had been dire: torrential rain throughout the day. But the sun shone on Shaftesbury Place just as The Dawn Chorus community choir sang ‘Great day, and the sun is shining …’ – and it did, lasting through the day.

Indeed the 150 or so people waiting later on the platform to see the steam train ‘Oliver Cromwell’ chug over London Road Viaduct and through our lovely Victorian station were glad of some shade. While waiting for the train, children were delighted by the Brighton Model Railway Club’s miniature lay-outs, while their parents read the posters we’d researched, detailing the history of the railway and its impact on the area, which were displayed around the station.

Visitors explored our edible growing garden and Anna from Brighton & Hove Food Partnership demonstrated how produce currently available (chard, mustard leaves, mizuna, rocket, mint) could be used to prepare delicious food: pakora, a leaf-filled version of Spanish omelette and various dips and sauces. She and her team produced food for around 50 people.

We had music throughout the day: everybody joined in with the Dawn Chorus on ‘This Train …’, with great accompaniment from Stuart and Linden. Linden and friends then morphed into the Brighton Acoustic Jam band, playing up to and after the arrival of the Oliver Cromwell, followed by Mel’s All Stars.

The steam train itself was delayed at Newhaven on its way into Brighton, but when it finally came chugging over the Viaduct, blowing its whistle and puffing steam, it was quite magical. Having spent weeks trawling through old photographs of the station for our historical posters, it was wonderful to see a real steam locomotive going through.

Music, sunshine and a vintage steam train …at a small station with a big heart. No better way to spend a Saturday in June.

A big thank-you to everybody who was involved – LRSP members, our lovely neighbours, Ben from The Signalman, Julie and the singers in The Dawn Chorus, Anna and her team from Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, Brighton Acoustic JamBand, Mel’s All Stars, the Brighton & Hove Model Railway Club, and of course Nick at the station, Kate from Southern and Sam from SCRP. Thank you also to neighbours Graham and Gordon for great photos.