Croydon has got another railway garden.
Special sanctuary: Grace-Anne Stephenson shows visitors around the Norwood Junction garden last week
Using a patch of previously unloved and disregarded space, and converting it into a little haven of calm and peace, Norwood Junction is the latest railway station in Croydon to create a thing of beauty and refuge.
“It is more than a garden. It is a place where hope is being grown,” says the group behind the Mental Health Garden at Norwood Junction.
The garden is becoming a place of sanctuary, connection and hope for railway staff, passengers and the surrounding community.
The story of the garden began not with flowers or landscaping, but with a moment of human crisis.
Grace-Anne Stephenson is a train dispatcher who works at Norwood Junction. She intervened when a pregnant woman at the station was experiencing a suicidal crisis. It was an encounter that stayed with her.
Stephenson saw an unused area of land at the station and imagined something very different: a safe space, somewhere people could breathe, talk and reflect.
Two years later, that vision has blossomed.
With support from Network Rail, Transport for London, Carlisle Support Services and the train operating company, what could easily have remained a piece of forgotten railway land has become a thriving garden.
Last week, Railway Mission chaplain Manuela Mai joined David Statham, the managing director of First Rail London, area manager Neal Bailey, Peter Kodua, the station manager; and Stephenson for a visit to the blossoming garden.
Stephenson’s hope is to build stronger relationships with local schools, helping young people understand railway safety, giving them a sense of ownership in their local station and, in turn, helping to reduce anti-social behaviour.
“Caring for the youth is important,” Stephenson said. “The area we are in is so full of deprivation and problems. Sometimes it is about how you speak to someone and showing them that somebody actually cares.”
For Statham, his visit confirmed what can happen when railway people are given the opportunity to turn an idea into something meaningful. “This is a remarkable project, bringing life back into an area that would otherwise have been waste ground.
“I want to help in any way we can to bring the message of this garden to others across the route.”
That garden is not only intended for passengers and the local community. It is for railway staff too.
The site has been checked out. The pond water has passed tests to ensure its quality. There’s fresh herbs planted, which can be picked by visitors, perhaps to use in their tea.
A good summer for sunflowers: Stephenson shows the garden’s produce to Railway Mission chaplain Manuela Mai
Behind the garden is a small shed, a sanctuary, with heating, lighting, seating and tea and coffee-making facilities. It offers staff somewhere they can step away from the pressures of the operational railway, particularly following a difficult incident or during a period when life simply feels overwhelming.
“Railway people spend so much of their working lives looking after other people, keeping passengers moving, dealing with disruption and often being present when people are frightened, distressed or at their lowest point,” said Railway Mission chaplain Manuela Mai.
“Sometimes those same colleagues need somewhere that says, ‘You matter too’. That is what I feel this garden does. It creates a space to stop, to talk, to be quiet if you need to be, and to remember that behind every uniform is a human being.”
There are many conversations across the railway about mental health, suicide prevention, staff wellbeing, community engagement and tackling anti-social behaviour. At Norwood Junction, those conversations have taken root. The Norwood Junction Mental Health Garden has taken a space that might easily have been overlooked and turned it into somewhere people can feel seen.
Read more: Volunteers help to create new park at Coulsdon South Station
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