Artists, participants and members of the public gathered at Edge Hill Station on Saturday 26 September to celebrate the unveiling of a colourful new community artwork inspired by journeys, connection and railway heritage.
The artwork, titled Come on! Ride with us. We know where we are going, was created with the newly established Friends of Edge Hill Station and co-commissioned by Rocket: All Aboard and Metal.
Since June, the group had been meeting at Metal, based at Edge Hill Station, exploring the station’s heritage and sharing their own stories of travel, places and people. Those conversations sparked a wonderfully varied collection of ideas, brought together by local artist Mark Brogan in the final artwork.
Photographer Emma Case and BSL practitioner Lucy Cossins also worked with the group. The result brings portraits, photographs, gestures and railway imagery together in a bold window mural that is full of faces, movement and personality.
A fitting home
Edge Hill has a special place in the story of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The original station opened nearby in 1830, while the present station opened in 1836. For generations, people have passed through Edge Hill on their way between Liverpool and places further along this historic route.
That makes it a particularly fitting home for an artwork all about journeys and connections.
The finished piece fills one of the station’s tall arched windows, bringing a splash of colour to its historic surroundings and adding a new chapter to the story of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
People at the heart of the story
The unveiling brought the project full circle, as the people who had shared ideas, stories and creativity came together to see the finished artwork in place.
Come on! Ride with us. We know where we are going celebrates those connections, linking the pioneering railway story of Edge Hill with the community around the station today.
The project was co-commissioned by Rocket: All Aboard and Metal and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players, with thanks to Vinyline and Northern Trains.
