Lincolnshire County Council has chosen the former Market Rasen Railway Station building as the new home for its day care centre for adults with learning disabilities.

The County Council has agreed a long-term lease with the Market Rasen Station Community Project CIC to take over the building and turn it into a community day care centre.

The Council needed a new venue for its day care service, as the previous building failed to meet their current needs.

The Grade II listed former railway station building closed in 1995 and was purchased by Lindum Group at auction in 2014. A Community Interest Company was formed to restore the building and bring it back to use. The group secured a large grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, together with a significant contribution from Lindum and additional funds from the Railway Heritage Trust, Tesco, West Lindsey District Council, the Rotary Club of Market Rasen and Market Rasen Town Council.

The restoration project was completed by Lindum BMS in 2019 and won a National Railway Heritage Award for its partnership work with local organisations including the Town Council, De Aston School, Market Rasen Racecourse and CLIP.

Emma Wardell, chair of the Market Rasen Station Community Project, said: “It is fantastic news that Lincolnshire County Council have decided to use the former railway station building as the new venue for their day care service in Market Rasen.

“We very much welcome the fact that the Council is supporting this local landmark, helping to preserve the history of the town. The new lease agreement has secured the future of this beautifully restored Grade II listed building, creating accessible day care for those that need it and enabling local people to learn about its heritage.”

The Council has plans for day centre clients to gain experience in serving the general public by running a café and for there to be public access to the heritage display area.

Councillor Stephen Bunney, Mayor of Market Rasen, said: “I am delighted that the building is being saved and now going to be used throughout. If you look back around 10 years, it was a redundant, run-down building and we were at risk of losing it, which would have been a shame.

“Now the entire building will be put to use, with the café, which has previously been difficult to lease, will be used for training and to develop skills. I hope the community exhibits will be available for visitors and the local community, so they can fully engage with the history of the building and our town.

“Two of the previous tenants will be staying in Market Rasen as well, which is more good news for our town. It is good news all round.”

Railway station opening, photo courtesy of the Market Rasen Mail

As part of Lincolnshire’s Heritage Open Day programme over 40 people visited the Heritage Centre on Saturday 14^th September. It is nearly a year since the building was first opened and visitors were able to look at the displays and artefacts that date back as far as 1848.

The day was hosted by the Market Rasen Station Adoption Group who made use of the pop up café that had been opened for the event and served refreshments throughout the day. We would like to thank the team from the Group for volunteering their time on Saturday.

The Heritage Centre is free to visit and is usually open Monday-Saturday 9:30am-3pm.

We were delighted that the Station was the destination for the Pirate Gold on BBC Radio Lincolnshire’s treasure hunt programme on Sunday 6th January.

The exciting chase following cryptic clues around Lincolnshire culminated with the treasure being found at the Station. If you didn’t hear the programme live the show is still available on the BBC Radio Lincolnshire website.

After the ‘gold’ was discovered, the Radio Lincolnshire Reporter was given a tour by Hazel Barnard and was very impressed by the Heritage Displays, the Heritage and Community Room and the sympathetic restoration of the listed building.

The Treasure Hunt also included a visit to the old Police Station in Market Rasen and the Festival Hall. All in all a good day for people to learn more about what is going on in Market Rasen and what opportunities are available.

Now the restoration work at the station is complete, if anyone is looking for a room to use for groups to meet our Community Room is available to hire. The cost is £15.00 per session and refreshment facilities are available, plus a plasma screen if required.

The hire price goes towards the future upkeep of the Station.

Parking is also available immediately outside in the Station Car Park.

For more information or to book please call Lynn Ritson on 01522 852441 or email holdings@lindumgroup.co.uk.

On Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th November we welcomed over 100 children to the Station to learn the history of the building. Year 5 and 6 pupils from Nettleton Primary and Market Rasen Primary School were given the opportunity to have a lesson outside of their normal classroom.

Using our learning resources that are available to be downloaded from the website the children learnt about some of the people that worked at the station, what the railway was used for and why the building went into disrepair.

The two day event was supported by Daniel Clark from Lindum Group Ltd who also showed the pupils and teachers the journey we have been on to restore this wonderful building. Students were able to look at several heritage items that were used when the building was first opened in the 1800’s.

All the children who attended are now doing a project at school to show what they have learnt during their visit. We are running a competition to pick the six best projects where each pupil will receive a special secret prize!!

We hope that other schools, youth groups and even families with children will download the learning resources and visit the station to learn some interesting history. What a great way to spend a day out during any school holidays or even at a weekend.

Our heritage centre with displays on the history of the railways in Market Rasen is now open and available for everyone to visit free of charge.

There are lots of displays telling the history of the station and please also take the opportunity to give us some feedback.
In fact, we have lots of local schoolchildren visiting next week to work on a historical project and competition and we hope they enjoy their visit.
On a less positive note, unfortunately the person who rented the café has decided its not for them, which is disappointing, but this means that there is an exciting opportunity available to someone else.
If you are interested please give Lynn Ritson on 01522 852441 a call to have a chat. Or if you know anyone else who may be interested please pass the contact details on.

The project has just about reached the finish line and the building is looking stunning, both inside and outside.

The decorators have been in and put the finishing touches to the foyer area and the furniture has arrived for the community room. Our tenants Torbulk Ltd have successfully moved into the office accommodation and are extremely pleased with the space they have.

At the moment the cafe is being set up, with furniture being installed as we speak. If all goes to plan the cafe will be open from the 4th August. An official announcement will be made on our twitter page.

Another date for everyone’s diary… on Saturday 8th September we are having an opening day for everyone to come and see the finished project. Details will be released in due course as to what other activities will be happening at the station on that day.