Friends of New Milton Station

 

How your Friends group started. 

The Friends of New Milton Station was started in 2024 by a few like-minded volunteers who wanted to make a difference in our town.  The station was the first building in New Milton from which the town developed.  It is central to our community and we felt it deserved to be looked after and celebrated.

What your group does.

The aim of FNMS is 'To celebrate and promote our station’s heritage and to create a welcoming hub for passengers, community and nature'.

What makes your station and community special.

The station was the first building in New Milton from which our town developed.  It was, and still is, hugely important to the community.  The FNMS are a passionate and enthusiastic group of volunteers who want to:  make the station more attractive with planting and art; renovate the station buildings to bring them into community use; connect our station with the community to ensure that it remains the heartbeat of the town.

Current or recent projects.

No.1 New Milton

Called No.1 because the Station was the first building in the town, the Friends are working towards renovating the station buildings and bringing them into community use.  Public consultations have indicated that the community would like to see a café, heritage centre, exhibition space and meeting rooms in the buildings.

Art

The Waiting Room

The Friends are using the waiting room to host ‘pop up’ exhibitions showcasing our local art, nature and community.  The latest exhibition is a series of posters on the history of the station and the town created in partnership with the Milton Heritage Society.  The next series of posters will showcase six local artists with artwork on the theme of ‘Coast’.  Previous exhibitions have included: the winning poems from a travel themed poetry competition working with Artful Scribe and the Play on Words Festival;  a series of posters on Swifts created with the help of Hampshire Swifts; and an exhibition of artwork by Nathan White, whose love of art took him from a place of despair to a renowned local street artist.  The exhibitions are often timed to tie in with local events such as the Rectory Quilters tri-annual quilt festival in September.

The Four Doors Project

The Friends are also working on the ‘Four Doors’ project with local arts charity Culture in Common.  This project will see the installation later this year of four life-size local historical characters on four doors at the station.

New Milton Arts Trail

The public consultations carried out for the No.1 Project demonstrated that the community would like to see more art and artists are in need of exhibition space.  The Friends are working hard to install more art at the station but came up with the idea of asking the whole town to help.  From 1st to 15th August over 80 artists will be exhibiting in shops and businesses, local venues and public buildings.  Starting and finishing at the station, a trail map will guide people round 40 stops showcasing the artists’ work whilst also shining a light on our shops and businesses.

Station History Mural

The mural was created in 2025 to celebrate Railway 200.  The artwork by one of our volunteers Nicky Brooks (then Judd) shows the development of the station and our town across four panels.  Historical text is by the Milton Heritage Society, and the project was funded by local businesses. The Mural was awarded Highly Commended in the Best Creative Project in the South Western Railway Community Awards 2025.

South Side Buildings

When the Friends started in 2024, the south side buildings facing the entrance looked very drab and unwelcoming.  The boarded-up windows now have colourful posters celebrating New Milton’s unique position ‘twixt forest & sea with images of the local area.  These are much appreciated by the community and continue to be sponsored by local businesses.

Planting

The FNMS are rightly proud of the planting at the Station.  In 2025, having only been working at the station for a year, we won the South & South East in Bloom ‘Celebration Stations’ Award beating over 100 other stations!

The Platform Planters

The station has 10 large platform planters installed by New Milton Town Council.  When the FNMS formed in 2024 they took over the care of these from the Council.  The FNMS wanted to move away from annual bedding plants and create a more sustainable planting plan for the station with perennial plants.  Working with the New Milton Horticultural Society, the planters now feature a scheme based on New Milton’s position ‘twixt forest & sea.  The north side planters celebrate the forest and the south side the sea.

The Station Master’s Garden

This has been a labour of love for the volunteers and is still a ‘work in progress’!  Completely overgrown, it now boasts a wildflower garden, a small meadow, a flower border, colourful pots of flowers and a space we can now use for small events.  New Milton Town Council have been hugely supportive and have taken away over 50 giant dump bags of green waste for recycling.

Train Engine Planter

This wonderful wooden planter now standing on Platform 1 was built for us by the New Milton Men’s Shed.  A recent competition for children to name the engine will see it named at ‘Milton’ shortly.

Men’s Shed Planters

The Men’s Shed built, painted, and installed a number of wooden planters around the station including in front of the Station Master’s House.  These are planted up with perennials and are much admired!

Indian War Memorial event

The Friends are commemorating the thousands of Indian Soldiers who passed through New Milton Station on their way to convalesce during WWI.  The volunteers created 40 rag wreaths which now line the platform.  The Indian flower of remembrance is the marigold and the wreaths reflect the orange and yellow colours.  Marigolds have also been planted around the station.  A memorial event is held in nearby Barton on Sea every year on 10th July.  The Friends will be laying a wreath.

Navvies plaque

To commemorate the 10 navvies who died building the line between Brockenhurst and Bournemouth, the Friends installed a plaque on the Station Master’s House in March.  This was attended by the SWR Chaplain, the Deputy Mayor and historian Nick Saunders.  Traditional music was played and sung by The Hobos and the event was attended by about 100 people from the community.

Emma Newhook plaque

The Friends worked with the Milton Heritage Society to install New Milton’s first blue plaque honouring Emma Newhook whose ‘New Milton’ post office gave our town and our station its name.

 Social Value

 South Western Railway is currently placing a strong emphasis on Social Value, and we'd love to highlight this too. Please tell me about the positive difference your group makes. This might include:

 Improving the station environment.

South Western Railway is currently placing a strong emphasis on Social Value, and we'd love to highlight this too. Please tell me about the positive difference your group makes. This might include:

 Improving the station environment.

The Friends have improved the station environment by:

  • Making the waiting room a more welcoming space for all. Artwork is installed and is changed on a regular basis.  There is a  free book library run for us by the local WI, local information leaflets, and most importantly cushions on the freezing cold metal benches!
  • Litter picking is carried out twice a week by the volunteers and a major litter pick is carried out at least once a year in many of the further reaches of the station area.
  • Planting has been enhanced by adding to the existing 10 planters with three wheelbarrows, an engine planter and lots of planting in the Station Master Garden.
  • At Christmas, the station is decorated with a tree and lights in the waiting room and the platforms are decorated with colourful red bows.
  • The station is tidied and swept every week and windowsills and paintwork washed down.
  • We receive many compliments for how lovely our station looks!

Bringing people together through volunteering.

The Friends are made up of approximately 25 working volunteers who meet weekly, hold regular team meetings offsite, put on creative workshops attend many local events.

It’s not just our little group – the reach of the Friends across the community is growing.  We have made it our mission to make this a ‘whole town project’ – a phrase coined by Sue Larking, Chair of the New Milton Residents Association when we first spoke to her about the project.  Whenever we are looking at a new project at the station, we consider how we can involve another part of the community.  For example:

  • The Men’s Shed have worked with us on a number of projects including the fabulous engine planter.
  • The WI run the bookshelf for us visiting the station weekly to top up the shelves.
  • The New Milton Horticultural Society designed the planting scheme, helped plant up the platform planters and continue to work with us at the station.
  • New Milton Town Council support us by removing all the green waste and summer watering.
  • The Milton Heritage Society support us with historical information for posters and artwork.
  • The South Coast Model Railway Club made a 1950s model of the station and invite us to attend their two-day exhibition each year.
  • New Milton Residents Association have supported with funding
  • We held a fundraising history talk at the Forest Arts Centre where we also unveiled our model railway. We are continuing to forge relationships with the Forest Arts who are supporting the Arts Trail and we are looking at featuring them in one of our pop up exhibitions.
  • We have connected up with the Library who are a host venue for the Arts Trail and we are looking at holding craft workshops at the Library inviting the community to create remembrance wreaths for display at the station in November.
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  • Local businesses sponsor some of our posters and the mural
  • The new Arts Trail has already connected us up with 27 shops, the local arts centre, dozens of artists, the local schools, the library, and a mental health charity.
  • Then there are all the individuals who have donated historical items ranging from a pallet truck to old station lamps and from wheelbarrows to railway tickets.
  • Many passengers stop to chat with us at the station. Often to compliment us and sometimes to reminisce about the station and the town.

We feel we are really making a difference in the town and connecting up many groups and people.  We were honoured to win the Best Community Engagement Project from South Western Community Rail in 2025.

Supporting local events.

The Friends attend many local events where we usually have an information stand and sell our New Milton Station merchandise.  In the last year, we have attended:

The New Milton Residents Association Network Fair July 2026

The Lions Carnival in May 2026

Arts & Crafts Fair March 2026

The Lions Christmas Fair in December 2025

South Coast Model Rail Club exhibition July each year

Mornington Court Care Home Christmas Fair December 2025

 

We have also attended:

The Mayor’s Christmas Carol Service in December 2025

Wreath laying at the Town Remembrance Service each November.

Wreath laying at the Indian War Memorial Service each July

Biodiversity and sustainability projects.

The Friends are working hard to increase biodiversity and sustainability at the station by:

  • Using perennial indigenous planting where possible.
  • Allowing an area of the Station Master’s Garden to grow naturally as a meadow with cutting in autumn
  • Two small sink ponds have been installed to supply water for smaller animals, birds and insects.
  • Some plants originally planted by NMTC were ‘saved’ taken home by a FNMS volunteer, overwintered and replanted, twice.
  • Homegrown plants have been donated by NMHS, FNMS and the Rectory Quilters such as foxgloves, fennel, sunflowers, ivy.
  • A regular wildflower survey is conducted by one of the volunteers who is using her considerable knowledge to help some of the other volunteers ID the plants. An insect survey is planned soon.
  • Unfortunately, the splendid fir tree in the Station Master’s Garden which played host to many birds and wildlife was felled recently.

Encouraging people to travel by rail.

The Friends have been complimented on how much safer and more welcoming the station feels now.  This is especially apparent on the north approach where the history mural has been installed making what was once a very dark and forbidding entrance, much lighter and friendlier.  We are also visible evidence of a community that cares about our station and our town.

Whilst there is no data to support the idea that we have encouraged more people to use the trains, those that do use the station definitely feel much happier!

Sustainable Travel Team

We have set up a small team to look at working with other stations and groups to encourage sustainable travel.   This is ongoing.  They have already held a bike marking event at the station with the local police and conducted a questionnaire with views of cyclists leaving bikes at the Station or boarding the train.

Working with schools or community groups.

FNMS contacted Rail Safety Wessex about Child Safety at the Station and as a result three schools in New Milton undertook the sessions during assembly. This was the first time that any schools in our community had received any safety training.

Anything else you're particularly proud of.

We are particularly proud of our amazing volunteers who come along to the station every week come rain or shine without complaint.   During hot spells, some of the volunteers come along twice a week to help with the watering, no mean feat when it has to be transported by hand over the footbridge to water on the south side!  They are also incredibly creative with ideas for projects at the station, many of which have been implemented.  The latest is a fantastic installation of rag wreaths to commemorate the Indian Soldiers who passed through our station during WWI.  Their work was rewarded last year when received Highly Commended in the Outstanding Volunteer Contribution award from South Western Community Rail