Coventry Station Community Day

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HEART OF ENGLAND COMMUNITY RAIL PARTNERSHIP

JOINTLY FUNDED BY AVANTI WEST COAST AND COVENTRY CITY COUNCIL

Coventry Station Community Day was a joyous celebration for the all the family, marking both the completion of a £82 million redevelopment of Coventry’s railway station and its 60th anniversary.

Featuring an exciting line up with fun for all the family, highlights include: music from John Bernard and Sandra Godley, dance from Louis Lewinson and Gabhru Panjab, workshops from Coventry Transport Museum exploring green transport, and ‘Learn to Ride a Bike’ sessions for children.

The day concluded with a grand finale of In Transit from Highly Sprung, telling stories of movement, migration and innovation in the city. Learn more about the performance here.

Gallery:

A crowd watches John Bernard, a rapper, as he performs in an outdoor square outside Coventry station. In front of him a toddler is dancing.

John Bernard at Coventry Station Community Day, credit Andy Moore

A group of bhangra dancers perform outside. In the foreground is a south asian woman, with a decorative green, pink and white clothing, lifting one arm into the air.

Gabhru Panjab, at Coventry Station Community Day, credit Andy Moore

A child plays with a wood train and train track. It is outdoors on top of some concrete paving slabs.

Playhem at the Promenade, Coventry Transport Museum, credit Andy Moore

A woman laughs and high fives a child who wears a cycling helmet, both standing in front of an 'Avanti West Coast' sign. The woman is white, in her thirties, wears glasses and has blonde hair that is tied back.

Coventry Station Community Day, credit Andy Moore

Full Gallery

“Avanti West Coast worked alongside Highly Sprung to celebrate the opening of the new Coventry station facility. Highly Sprung were incredibly professional and demonstrated real skill in bringing such diverse project partners together to create an award-winning community event.

Schools, small businesses, council departments, university partners and artists all felt ownership of the celebration event that delivered a thoroughly memorable experience for all involved, including a sizable crowd of audiences and visitors.”

Craig Mortiboys, Avanti West Coast

“Working with Highly Sprung enabled us to think bigger than we have done before and really extend our reach into the community.

Working alongside the Highly Sprung team we developed an award-winning community engagement project that brought members of the public to the train station for a day-long event and engaged hundreds of young people in performance. Performing alongside children and young people aged 6-15 the professional performers created a spectacular family friendly performance based on transport and it’s importance to the community of Coventry through the centuries.

The day showcased the best of Transport Innovation, Culture and Creativity in Coventry and it would not have been achieved without the huge amount of work and dedication that Highly Sprung put in to collaborating with us on it.”

Julia Singleton Tasker,
Community Rail Partnership

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