Little Bytham Ticket OfficePurchase

Aim

To raise sufficient funds to purchase the freehold title for the former Little Bytham Ticket Office; which is being auctioned on 28/07/2026

Time is of the essence!  

Little Bytham Ticket Office has been put up for auction on 28/07/2026 and we are going to attempt to save it from commercial development and ringfence it for future use as a railway-orientated community hub.

A small team has come together to to attempt a mammoth fundraising task - to raise sufficient funds to enable a successful purchase of the ticket office.  The plan is to incorporate a Community Interest Company which will purchase the building if we are successful.  

By doing so the effect will be to permanently safeguard the site, which is of significant historic importance, from being lost to private commercial redevelopment.  The site and building will be 'asset locked' into this Community Interest Company to allow preservation and community activities to follow.

Once acquired, the long-term objective is to restore the building to serve as a dedicated community heritage hub. Little Bytham is closely linked to the world speed record of 126 mph for a steam locomotive set on Stoke Bank, just South of the site, in July 1938. Therefore a core focus of this space will be to preserve railway history through the creation, display, and operation of detailed model railways and related displays celebrating the achievements of those pioneering engineers who made the British railway network the envy of the world. This will provide a unique educational resource, foster community cohesion, and celebrate Little Bytham’s historic links to the railways of Great Britain and the globe.

A few housekeeping details:

All donations received will be retained within the fundraising account until after the auction date.

At the date of the auction, the maximum bit able to be placed will be calculated as the sum of the donations less fees and costs.  The bid will then be placed.

In the event we are successful all funds generated by donations will be drawn down to the CIC bank account and used pay for the property and the associated fees/costs.  Each donation, at this point and not before, will be subject to a 2.4% fee and 20p per transaction card fee levied by the Crowdfunder site.  Any funds generated that are surplus to the purchase price + fees will be retained by the CIC and used to support the project moving forwards.  

In the event the we are unsuccessful then 100% of the donations received will be refunded to the donors.  Should there be anonymous or otherwise unidentifiable donors then those funds shall be donated to CRUK, via Tony Wright's fundraising cause, again less any applicable fees.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 28th July 2026 at 9:00pm