Contact

Beth is the West of Lancashire Community Rail Officer and is a proud Prestonian, the city she was born and is based in. In 2024, Beth joined the CRL team as a Try The Train Facilitator, encouraging community groups to explore the railway on trips and build confidence to solo travel. Beth also is trained as an Actor and still works professionally in theatre alongside her CRL work. In 2025, Beth became a CRL Community Rail Officer and is really excited to work with lots of new people and develop projects in the West of Lancashire and Merseyside area. She hopes to incorporate her creativity and passion for inclusivity into the role.

Sophia is the SEND Community Rail Officer at Community Rail Lancashire, where she leads on an inclusive project focused on building rail confidence, safety awareness, and career exploration for SEND young people. Her work centres accessibility, creativity, and collaboration—working with schools, transport providers, and community partners to co-create resources and experiences that reflect the voices of those often left out of mainstream conversations. Before joining CRL, Sophia worked across the creative arts, wellbeing, and community development sectors. She has designed and delivered workshops which explore identity, mental health, and collective care, using art and storytelling as tools for empowerment and change. Her creative practice is grounded in lived experience and informed by a commitment to social justice and equity. She is also a proud member of Manchester’s first all Women of Colour football team, where sport is not just about the game, but about building joy, resistance, and community. Through both her professional and grassroots work, Sophia continues to carve out spaces where people—especially those who are marginalised—can connect, grow, and thrive.

Catherine joined Community Rail Lancashire in January 2023 after over 20 years teaching in primary school and SEND settings. She is working on different education projects as well as the Try the Train project which launched in 2023. She enjoys working with different groups to build people’s confidence to use the trains and giving them new experiences. Catherine has a lot of experience of taking children out on trips both through her professional roles and her role as a Brownie leader. In her spare time, when she is not taking her children to their many exciting out of school activities, she likes to go walking and supports Huddersfield Town FC.

Dave joined Community Rail Lancashire in September 2022 after spending the past 15 years as a qualified Geography teacher. Dave is working on the “Feel Good Field Trips” project funded by Avanti. He is looking forward to taking groups out on field trips along the West Coast Main Line. Dave enjoys the outdoors and has lots of experience leading groups on DofE expeditions and Geography field trips in the UK and abroad. In his spare time Dave enjoys running and is a run leader at Accrington Road Runners. He also has a season ticket for Accrington Stanley.

Shahiesta is based in Lancashire and is a qualified Secondary School teacher of 20 years. She gave up teaching three years ago to join Community Rail Lancashire’s education team and has never lookedback! Shahiesta works with Primary and Secondary schools all over Lancashire to deliver rail safety and confidence sessions. Although she loves working with children, Shahiesta has enjoyed working with adult community groups in East Lancashire over the last three years to help marginalised groups to travel safely and confidently by train. She has set up a women’s support group in Accrington known as Stations of Welcome who have adopted Accrington Station and has worked with a number of refugee families from Syria, Afghanistan and other countries to provide support and rail confidence to groups for whom English is not the first language. In her spare time she loves to walk and read, sometimes simultaneously!

Since 2018 Katie has worked in the wonderful world of community rail as part of the education team at Community Rail Lancashire. She started out working specifically with SEND schools and colleges on our rail confidence programme which grew to including arts and photography-based projects that aimed to connect youth and community groups to their local railways stations. During the lockdowns Katie found herself working to support technology-based resource development such as a virtual reality station environment and ‘how to….’ films that have the aim to give people an idea of what to expect from rail travel before they head out into the real world. She self confesses she’s not particularly tech-minded myself but always up for a challenge!

Karen, based in West Yorkshire, is a qualified teacher, who has worked in community rail for six years. Karen is currently on secondment at the Community Rail Network for 3 days a week. Karen enjoys facilitating safety, careers and sustainability sessions in primary and secondary school. She also works with colleges and community groups. Karen has worked on many award-winning projects including Backtrack: Anti-trespassing competition, 100 Women 100 Journeys and Horizons Art Mural at Dewsbury Station. She is an avid member of railway twitter and can be found at @kazza_belle . In her spare time, Karen enjoys keeping fit and travelling to new places with her son Laurie.