VOLUNTEERS are needed to help smarten up stations on the Cotswold Line later this year.

Train operator First Great Western wants volunteers to help carry out work at stations in west Oxfordshire at the end of May and start of June, when the line will be closed for a week so engineers can commission four miles of new double track between Charlbury and Ascott-under-Wychwood as part of a £67m modernsiation scheme on the route between Oxford and Worcester.

Brian Clayton, secretary of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, said: “The work will probably involve cleaning, gardening and some painting.”

Volunteers should contact Martin Barnett at First Great Western, 4th Floor, Milford House, Milford Street, Swindon, Wilts, SN1 1HL or call 07590 601374.