The Higgins Bedford

02/06/2026

Whooop! It is Puggle Club, this Friday (6 June)

Puggle Club is a free, monthly, drop in offering arts, crafts, sensory play and stories for children under 5s with their parents and carers. Pop in anytime between 10.30am - midday or 1-2.30pm. The workshop space is fully accessible with toilets close by. We look forward to seeing you.

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Tomorrow (3 June) if you are near St Mary's Church, Goldington from 9.30-10.30am or Queen's Park Community Centre from 12.15-2.15pm, we also have a Pop Up Mini Puggle! Come and say hi, get creative, and play!

02/06/2026

A fascinating talk this evening 2 June at St. John’s church hall at 7.45pm by the Bedford Railway club. Do pop in and see the display in our Foyer, last few days! On until the 7 June.

Join the Bedford Railway Club at 7:45 pm tomorrow (2nd June) at St John’s Church Hall, St John’s Street Bedford MK42 0DL when Sean Devaney will be giving an illustrated talk on growing up in the crossing keepers house at Kempston Hardwick.

St John’s Church Hall is just a short walk from Bedford St Johns Station. Entry fee just £3.

Don’t forget our special Marston Vale Line 180th Anniversary display in the foyer at our good friends The Higgins Bedford until 7th June. This display has been curated by our fantastic Friends of Ridgmont Station volunteers, sharing key milestones and stories for the Marston Vale Line over the decades. Free Entry!

The display includes a memories folder containing a selection of photos depicting places, trains and events related to the line. Visitors are invited to share memories these photos evoke for them or to complete a ‘Share Your Story’ postcard.

This is all part of our Marston Vale 180 Memories Project through which we will be compiling and publishing 180 memories about the line, community and stations from local people.
Also just a short walk from Bedford St Johns station!


Community Rail Network
Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity
Ridgmont Station Heritage Centre
Bedford Borough Council
London Northwestern Railway
Forest of Marston Vale
Bedford to Bletchley Rail Users' Association
Beds & Herts Community Rail Partnership
Arts Council England
East West Railway Company
Rail Delivery Group
Bedfordshire Archives
EMR Community Rail

27/05/2026

If you are hoping to escape the heat, it is the last few days to see Stanny's Stus: Images of Bedford Physical Training College Exhibition - ends on 31 May. Explore this fascinating exhibition, or take the opportunity to re-visit before its finishes. A uniquely curated display of photographs from early 1900s through to post WW2, with a few contemporary sports groups featured - we look forward to welcoming you.

27/05/2026

Do something creative today and make a fabulous fantasy puppet!
We still have spaces for the Fantasy Puppet workshop today. Booking details in the comments. The studio where the workshop takes place is super cool and then there is air conditioning in the galleries too! Plus, given the current rain, it is indoors and dry!!!

24/05/2026

Planning a visit over the Bank Holiday? We are open on Sunday and Monday from 2-5pm. Did we mention we have air conditioning?

23/05/2026

Edward Bawden - Snails for All opens today. Find out more about in this brilliant BBC article

The book Snails for All by Edward Bawden will be on show alongside work created by schoolchildren.

22/05/2026

Our new exhibition 'Edward Bawden Snails for All' open this Saturday. Like all our exhibitions it is completely free to enter.
Find out more from our exhibition trailer:

Edward Bawden | Snails for All

22/05/2026

Our new exhibition ‘Edward Bawden – Snails for All’ opens tomorrow. Whilst our curator was researching all things snails she came across the British Snail Watching Society.
The short-lived society was started as a joke by Peter Henniker Heaton in 1945 but swiftly found itself as the international defender of molluscs.
Its mission was to 'to promote interest in and appreciation of the snail for its own sake’ and its motto was Semper Domi – always at home.
One of their favourite activities was snail racing finding that ‘when you are used to snail-racing, horse races are over too quickly’.
When Edward Bawden’s book on snails was published in Pavillion magazine, Peter wrote to him to say that the society had elected him a Corresponding Member ‘in recognition of services to the cause of the snail’.
Bawden must have been pleased as he pasted the letter and his membership in his sketchbook now in The Fry Art Gallery Saffron Walden.
You can see Edward Bawden’s snails in our new exhibition ‘Snails for All’ for free here at The Higgins Bedford.

19/05/2026

We are delighted to have a display for the 180th Anniversary of the Marston Vale Line in partnership with Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership, details below. More information on The Higgins Bedford website.

Super excited to have a special Marston Vale Line 180th Anniversary display in the foyer at our good friends The Higgins Bedford from today until 7th June!

This display has been curated by the fantastic Friends of Ridgmont Station volunteers, sharing key milestones and stories for the Marston Vale Line over the decades. Free Entry!

The display includes a memories folder containing a selection of photos depicting places, trains and events related to the line. Visitors are invited to share memories these photos evoke for them or to complete a ‘Share Your Story’ postcard.

This is all part of our Marston Vale 180 Memories Project through which we will be compiling and publishing 180 memories about the line, community and stations from local people.

Huge thanks to the Bedford Borough Council Reprographics Team for all their help with design and printing and Arts Council England for their support with funding.

Join us for our special Bedfordshire Railways 180 years of the Marston Vale Line Reminiscence session on Thursday 21st May to share your own memories of the railway. 11am – 12.30pm. Free Entry, Refreshments £1, No Need to Book

Visit https://www.thehigginsbedford.org.uk/Whats_on/Reminiscence_Sessions.aspx for details.

All just a short walk from Bedford St Johns station!


Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity
Ridgmont Station Heritage Centre
London Northwestern Railway
Forest of Marston Vale Community Rail Network
Bedford to Bletchley Rail Users' Association
Beds & Herts Community Rail Partnership
Bletchley Park Thameslink EMR Community Rail
East West Railway Company
Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership
Railway200 Railway Heritage Trust
Whatsup Bedfordshire
Woburn Sands Town Council
Bletchley Fenny Stratford TC
The Green Man, Lidlington
Ridgmont Village, Bedfordshire
Stewartby and Kempston Hardwick Parish Council
Marston Moreteyne Parish Council
Bow Brickhill Parish Council

16/05/2026

It is still a week until 'Edward Bawden - Snails for All' opens but the snails are already crawling up the walls. They aren't all Bawden's snails, there are special little snails by the brilliant children from too.
Snails for All opens on Saturday 23 May.