• Events and special celebrations taking place at stations across the network 10-12 June
• Passengers can look forward to cream teas, specially decorated stations and special competitions
• London Waterloo will host a ‘selfie’ competition with a royal throne
• Part of the nationwide ‘Station to Stations Queen’s Celebration’ offering rail passengers and communities the chance to celebrate historic occasion

Special celebrations will be taking place across the South West Trains network this Friday, Saturday and Sunday to mark the 90^th birthday of Her Majesty The Queen.

A range of South West Trains stations from Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside and Crewkerne to Portsmouth & Southsea will be offering special celebrations and recognitions to mark the special birthday and inviting passengers to join in the festivities. It is all part of the nationwide ‘Station to Station Queen’s Celebrations which is designed to offer passengers and local communities the chance to celebrate this historic occasion.

Arthur Pretorius, Customer Service Director for South West Trains, said: “Celebrations will be taking place right across the country to celebrate and recognise the 90^th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen and we’d like to invite our passengers to join the celebrations as well.

“The events at our stations have all been organised by the local station teams and we hope passengers and the local communities are able to join the fun and celebrate with us.”

Summary of events:

London Waterloo

Live music provided by the Southbank Sinfonia on Friday afternoon as passengers are given the opportunity to enter a ‘selfie’ competition on a royal throne. Entries can be submitted by tweeting #WaterlooQueenat90 with the lucky winner receiving tea for two at Windsor Castle as well as two first class return tickets on the South West Trains network.

Waterloo will also be decked out with royal bunting and staff will be wearing carnations throughout the weekend.

The ‘selfie’ competition continues throughout the weekend.

Special bunting will also be added to Clapham Junction, Portsmouth Harbour, Basingstoke, Richmond, Guildford and Southampton Central.

Windsor & Eton Riverside

Station will be specially decorated to recognise the birthday celebrations and also be part of the wider celebrations in Windsor. 

Gillingham

Friends of Gillingham Station, supported by South West Trains, are planning a celebration on Sunday 12th June 2-4pm to mark the 90th birthday of HM The Queen and also the 160th year of the founding of the Salisbury to Yeovil Railway Line.

The celebrations include music from the Gillingham Imperial Silver Band, Mini Museum, steam engine, displays, plant stalls, games, complimentary drink and birthday cake, official opening of the expanded Platform 1 café.

A special attraction will be a mini Museum with items from 1856 on display as well as memories of Her Majesty the Queen Visiting Gillingham Station

Meet the Friends of Gillingham Station (FOGS) and hear about the plans for improving the station appearance with flowers, book swap, community notice boards, walks from the station and art exhibitions.

The Mayor will be attending to officially open the new extended Platform 1 café at 2pm followed by saying a few words about the POP-UP Birthday celebrations

Portsmouth & Southsea

On Saturday, a range of celebrations will be taking place at Portsmouth & Southsea. The station will also be specially decorated with flags and bunting and passengers will also have the chance to take away free sweets and Royal face masks. Station staff will also be dressing up to mark the occasion.

Finally, a life size cut out of Her Majesty the Queen will also be available for photos.

Clapham Junction & Vauxhall

Passengers will have the opportunity to win a number of free first class upgrades at Clapham Junction while free coffees and cakes will be on offer during the morning and afternoons. Family games will also be on offer at Clapham Junction and Vauxhall.

Christchurch, Crewkerne and Templecombe

Tea parties will be taking place at these stations during different times of the weekend

Ryde Pier Head

Live music will be on offer to entertain passengers

• South West Trains is one of Europe’s busiest commuter train operators, running around 1700 trains a day out of London Waterloo covering routes through Hampshire, Surrey, Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Devon, Somerset, Cornwall and Great London, serving a mixture of commuters and longer-distance travellers.
• More than half a million passengers use South West Trains services every day.
• Island Line services on the Isle of Wight are also operated by South West Trains.

• Stagecoach Group is an international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, mainland Europe, the United States and Canada. The Group employs around 39,000 people, and operates around 13,000 buses, coaches, trains and trams.
• Stagecoach is one of the UK’s biggest bus and coach operators with around 8,500 buses and coaches on a network stretching from south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Low-cost coach service, megabus.com, operates a network of inter-city services across the UK and mainland Europe.
• Stagecoach is a major UK rail operator, running the South West Trains, Island Line and East Midlands Trains networks. It has also partnered with Virgin to run the East Coast and West Coast inter-city rail franchises.
• Stagecoach operates the Supertram light rail network in Sheffield.
• In North America, Stagecoach operates around 2,400 buses and coaches in the United States and Canada. megabus.com links around 130 key locations in North America. Stagecoach is also involved in operating commuter, transit, contracted, charter, airport shuttle and sightseeing services.