For the last ten years, Andrew Loxton has been brightening Bridlington railway station with a cornucopia of beautiful flower displays.
Currently, the station is adorned with hanging baskets filled with petunias, begonias and trailing ivy, as well as wooden planters featuring everything from asters and aloe vera to conifers and giant sunflowers.
Now Loxton, who works as a customer service assistant for Northern, has announced that he intends to add some fruity flare to his floral collection – avocados and lemons.
The 60-year-old resident gets in early when he’s working in order to tend to the plants, and even makes the trip to the station to care for them on some days off, too. He took the additional position following the passing of local volunteer Chris Hanson, who was previously responsible for tending to floral displays at the East Yorkshire station.
Loxton said:I couldn’t just let it all wither, so I started tending to the flowers and picking up some new ones.
I had to learn on the job. I didn’t even do any gardening at home when I started but it’s become a real hobby over the years and it’s definitely addictive.
Over the past decade, Loxton’s floral displays have received great praise from the local community, and have won a number of accolades, including a Gold Award in the the Railway Stations and Transport Hubs category of last year’s Yorkshire in Bloom awards.
Initially, Loxton paid for all of the plants himself, but now receives support from the Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership (YCCRP).
Rachel Osborne, Community Rail Officer at YCCRP, said:Every year his flower displays get better and better and are one of the most commented things about the Yorkshire Coast Line, with many people travelling by train to Bridlington especially to see them.
Andrew is a community hero and is very popular with the people of Bridlington and as such receives many donations of plants from the community to help towards the displays.
Our volunteers also support him in his work, and he is a tremendous support to us too, being an active member of our committee.
Andrew’s enthusiasm and love for what he does shines out of him and it is obvious that he takes enormous pride and pleasure in looking after the station.
In addition to the lemons and avocados, Loxton is now attempting to grow olives, as well.
