Customers arriving at a train station near Macclesfield are being greeted by a beacon of hope created by a talented group of local schoolchildren.

At Prestbury CE Primary School, 400 children were asked to paint images that represent hope onto tiles. The epic creation is now complete, and a ceremony officially 'opened' it at Prestbury Railway Station.

Friends of Prestbury Station brought together all of their artwork to create a stunning display, which was unveiled during a ceremony at the station earlier this month.

The volunteer group wanted to transform an unsightly area under the pedestrian bridge by installing an inspiring piece of community art, as part of an ambitious 18-month project.

The mural is a culmination of a year-and-a-half's worth of improvements by Friends of Prestbury Station.

Carol Waters took charge of the project after coming up with the idea for the display, while Shaun O'Neill and Peter Holes designed, built and installed the steel frame for the tiles.

Northern, which runs the station, and the Community Rail Network provided funding for the project while Tile Giant Macclesfield donated the tiles.

Alex Thomas, President of Friends of Prestbury Station, said: "We're really pleased the project has been completed. It's turned out even better than we hoped it would.

"We had the schoolchildren come down to the station and unveil the artwork themselves and you could see by the look on their faces they were thrilled.

An image of volunteers Peter Holes, Shaun O'Neill, Mike Waters and Alex Thomas, who all worked on the Prestbury Station artwork project.

"The project has delivered everything we thought it would. It brought the community together—young and old—all with a collective goal of improving our station.

"This is the culmination of a lot of hard work and effort. Huge thanks to everyone involved."

Craig Harrop, regional director for Northern, said: "We're grateful to the talented children and volunteers who have worked so hard to create a fantastic display that our customers can enjoy for years to come.

"We are proud to work with hundreds of adoption groups who are committed to making stations across our network pleasant and welcoming places for people to visit."

(Image - CC 3.0 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prestbury_Station_from_outside.jpg Unchanged Danny Molyneux / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.