It is 32 years this year (2024) since the regular passenger service from Stockport to Stalybridge via Reddish South & Denton Stations was replaced by a single, weekly, 'Parliamentary Train' running one way only from Stockport.

The Friends of Reddish South Station was inaugurated in July 2007 after Andrew Gwynne MP, then-Councillors Tom Grundy, Walter Brett & Joan Kidd feared that that the station would be closed altogether. The station was saved; our dual aims were to restore the station platform to something like its former prize winning glory and campaign for a full reinstatement of regular rail services, but going from Stockport to Manchester Victoria Station.
To celebrate our 15th Anniversary and to recognise Andrew for all his hard work on our behalf, he was invited, in July 2022 and accepted, the post of Honorary President of FORSS and the Campaign Group.

The Friends of Denton Station was formed in 2010, and together we campaign for the reintroduction of regular passenger services; not only for the benefit of Reddish & Denton residents, but the whole of Greater Manchester and beyond.

Unfortunately, in recent months, Denton Friends have had to suspend their activites, but we carry on for both groups and Alan Jones is still active as Chair. You will, in the coming months see more news about Denton on this website as more Dentonians join us!

Re-opening the line would create a South East Manchester Corridor and revolutionize connectivity between north, south and east Manchester in conjunction with the Ordsall Chord. 'Our' line remains the only one that runs into Manchester Victoria Station from the south of the city. Stockport Station could also transform into an interchange once more, thus benefiting the whole of the Greater Manchester region.

We have had many meetings and discussions over the years with TfGM, Northern Rail, and the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who is very supportive. Technical Chair Noel Henry has produced some impressive reports on behalf of the Friends of Reddish South & Denton Stations Campaign Group (FORSADS) to argue our case.
The bid put forward by Andrew Gwynne MP, with the Restoring Your Railways Scheme (RYR) was an unfunded scheme which has been abandoned by the new Government - but we carry on!

Meanwhile, the station has been refurbished with a lot of hard work by the Friends, with most of the landscaping work completed by 2013.  In 2011 the 'Second Chances' mural was unveiled, a project completed with the participation of the Stockport Restorative Justice Team and Arts for Recovery in the Community(ARC). We were only able to install 3 of the 5-panel design due to lack of funds but remedied this in 2012 when the mural was refurbished and completed. It has become our trademark, and many of the passengers on 'our' train - which is very popular with rail buffs - make sure they get a photograph while the train is in the station.

In 2013, after years of trying to weed the unforgiving ground at the station, we began a major refurbishment.  It was a concentrated effort over a week to screed the site and re-landscape to a plan, again by Noel, who also built the picket fencing. The result was a credit to all the Friends who participated; we have regular 'Station Days' to maintain the garden. Friends finish their gardening stint with a bacon butty and a cup of tea!

To celebrate the Friends 10th Anniversary in 2017 the mural was completely refurbished again, and is now back to its vibrant best.

The Friends entered, for the first time in 2023, the 'It's Your Neighbourhood' section of the annual Royal Horticultural Society North West in Bloom awards. The presentations were held on 17th October 2023. To our delight we were awarded Level 5 'Outstanding'. Our aim now is to keep the standard we have set ourselves in the coming years. We did! our second 'Outstanding' was awarded in October 2024.

We have completed other art projects - the 'Welcome to Reddish' poster designs in 2015, with 6 local primary schools, and in 2018 with the 1st/4th Reddish Scout Group, artwork to commemorate the centenary of the end of WW1.

Our most recent art project, in celebration of 75th Anniversary of VE Day, was  postponed due to Covid 19 - until 8th May 2022! It was a fantastic 'do' enjoyed by all. We continue to work in conjunction with ARC, especially Jacqui Wood, who provides invaluable support and advice.

2024 is the 175th Anniversary of 'our' line and in December we will be unveiling an exciting new artwork to celebrate.

A new project - to refurbish the raised beds across the road from the station which has been rather neglected and become overgrown, began the work in Autumn 2019, with a view to complete the major clearing and do some replanting. After an 18 month hiatus, and driven by Friend Noel, the project is going well, despite plants being stolen on a fairly regular basis!.
Due to Friends Dot & Dave's successful contact with, initially, the Mid-Cheshire Rail Users Association (MCRUA,) then Retrorail Tours, we have had some wonderful days out. Unfortunately our association with MCRUA was short-lived (not their doing), but James and his team at Retrorail Tours have made Reddish South Station a scheduled stop on their day excursions whenever possible since 2011.

Over the years we have been to places such as Cardiff, Edinburgh, Stirling, Canterbury, Lincoln, Skegness, Blackpool, Bristol, Bath, Paignton, Torquay, London, Newcastle, Norwich, and Stratford-on Avon.
The journeys (and we have had some long days), are as enjoyable as the sight -seeing due in a large part to our Folk Group (not to mention the alcohol that can flow on the way back!), and a good time is had by all. We can usually count on up to 50 passengers boarding at Reddish South. It is still a novelty for us to disembark and be able to stagger home in a very short time!
Since May 2018 our one way train has had a 100% increase in service( It now goes from Stalybridge to Stockport -and back again(!) and moved from Friday to Saturday. This has meant, sadly, that our annual and popular Good Friday Breakfast Folk Train has now ended but we did enjoy the music provided variously by Ged, Phil, Rob, Ryland, Penny and Michael plus some guest artistes from 2009-2018 when we invaded Stalybridge Buffet Bar to start the Easter Weekend in some style. The team at the Buffet Bar opened up early just for us - really generous especially as it was a holiday!  We do miss this event which was very popular. We did have an Anniversary Special in 2022 thanks to new manager Phil and team and we are hopeful there may be more.
We've been on TV! In 2016 Reddish South featured in Paul Merton's Secret Stations and we are also featured in 2 books; 'Tiny Stations' by Dixe Wills, and 'The Railway Adventures' by Vicki Pipe & Geoff Marshall - the couple who, you may remember, visited every station in Britain in 2017. We were fortunate to talk to the authors who seemed to be enthused by our commitment and  spirit!

Our local events held on the station platform include participation in the Macmillan Biggest Coffee Morning in the World every September, the Big Get Together in memory of Labour MP Jo Cox and our local arts day, Reddfest. We were honoured to be asked by the family of the late James Mills to commemorate his life; also we unfortunately lost one of our Life members, Graham Kelsey, similarly commemorated, with plaques on the station platform.
We have also been lucky enough to be awarded for our work. In 2012 we were recipients of the 'Community Pride Award' by Stockport Council, and, in 2016 (pictured below)  we received the Community Award (sponsored by the Association of Community Rail Partnerships - ACoRP) in recognition of our campaign to reinstate passenger services, by the Cheshire's Best Kept Stations Awards(CBKS). In 2017 we were  given a Highly Commended  in the John Hobbs award category (CBKS)  for  keeping on keeping on!! Latest news: we have just been  given a special award in the 2020 CBKS Awards for everything we have achieved as a community group. In the 2022 Railfuture Awards we won a 'Highly Commended' for the Twitter site, and a bronze for this website, plus a bronze for our campaign. In 2023 we have again been honoured with John Hobbs award by CBKS for the work done to canvass residents of Reddish & Denton to respond to a public survey for the RYR bid.
We are fortunate to to have the unparalleled support of the Heatons & Reddish Area Committee, who have been fantastic, as well as Stephen Forde (Council Transport Officer), Andy Burnham, Metro Mayor of Manchester, James & Lynne from Retrorail-Tours, local businesses Broadstone Mill, The Plaza Theatre, de Trafford Estates, Julian Wadden & Co, and First Aid for All in Denton.
Our former MP, Andrew Gwynne, deserves special thanks as, without his tireless efforts on our behalf, we wouldn't have got this far -  as do the local Councillors Tom Grundy, Walter Brett & the late Joan Kidd who started us on this journey in 2007, by asking Reddish residents to respond to the imminent closure of their station. You will notice we press-ganged Tom into service as our Group Chair and, despite his occasional protestations, have no intentions of letting him go!

We also need to especially thank Andrew and Andy Burnham, William Wragg MP, Angela Rayner MP and Navendu Mishra MP for the success of the bid through the 'Restoring Your Railways' scheme which is giving us the best chance yet of getting into Manchester & Stockport and beyond from Reddish Centre. We also are very grateful for all the extra work done by TfGM for the RYR bid.

We are very fortunate that our new MP Navendi Mishra, is proving to be as supportive of our campaign as Andrew was and we see him on a regular basis.
Acknowledgements and thanks go to Geoff and Vicky from @AllTheStations who got us help with the website when we thought all was lost, and to Andi North (@MangopearUK) for all the practical & technical help in actually getting us started again in 2018 and advising Alan & Kim in 2020 to start to update the site again and keep it relevant.

The FORSS Committee: 

Andrew Gwynne MP, Honorary President (inaugurated August 2022)

Tom Grundy, Chair,

Keith Chapman, Vice Chair, 

Dot Ashworth, Treasurer, 

Kim Burrows, Secretary/website

Noel Henry, Technical Chair/Station Landscape Design

Alan Burrows, Membership Secretary/website

Dave Ashworth, Twitter correspondent.

We are most grateful to the FORSS Committee for their input.

May our FORSS be with you!

Above left: New Honorary President Andrew Gwynne MP cutting our 15th Anniversary cake in July 2022

 Above right:Friend  Dot with Paul Merton  during filming of Paul Merton's Secret Stations in 2015

Above left: Andrew with help unveiling the 'Welcome to Reddish ' project in 2015.

Above right: From L to R: Alan, Dixe Wills & Noel at Bramhall Bookshop for the 'Tiny Stations' Book Tour 2014

Reddish South Station circa 1967

The centenary of WW1 in November 2018.

Dot & Kim ambush Burnley football team on their way to a match during Stockport Station Charity Day 2018.

Special thanks to Sam Vokes & Nick Pope.