Press release -
Thameslink and Great Northern railway staff raise over £14,000 for Keech hospice
Thameslink and Great Northern railway staff have given Keech Hospice Care in Luton a further £518 at the end of a year's support which has netted the charity over £14,000.
The money was donated by the parent company Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) following its latest annual employee survey. GTR promised to give £1 for every survey completed to whichever charity that member of staff selected. In total, 518 people selected Keech although it was beaten by the East Anglian Air Ambulance.
Keech was last year's chosen charity and the latest contribution takes the total raised for the hospice by Thameslink and Great Northern railway staff to £14,184 for the 12 month period. The money was made through events and collections, including station cake sales and a charities week.
Caron Hooper, corporate fundraiser for Keech, said: “This overwhelming donation helped fund our music therapy service for four months. Everyone at Keech Hospice Care would like to say a huge thank you to all the staff and passengers who supported us over this last year. You have all made the difference to our patients at the time it matters most.”
A spokesman for Thameslink and Great Northern said: "Keech is an amazing, unique charity that gives vital support to children and adults from across the area. Our staff are proud to have made such a difference."
ends
Editor's notes
Keech is a charity which supports adults from Luton and South Bedfordshire, and children from Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes, who have life-limiting illnesses. We are unique as we are one of the few hospices in the UK which provides care for both adults and children.
Keech is based in a purpose-built facility in Luton, however, its hospice care is delivered to patients, children and their families in a variety of settings including the family home, school or in hospital. Keech is there for its patients and their family and friends at a time in their lives they need it most. www.keech.org.uk
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Govia Thameslink Railway
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) operates Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express services as follows:
- Thameslink – services between Bedford and Brighton, Luton/St Albans and Sutton, Wimbledon and Sevenoaks
- Great Northern – services between London and Welwyn, Hertford, Peterborough, Cambridge and King’s Lynn
- Southern – services between London and the Sussex coast (Brighton, Worthing, Eastbourne, Bognor Regis, Hastings) and parts of Surrey, Kent and Hampshire (Ashford International, Southampton, Portsmouth)
- Gatwick Express – fast, non-stop direct services between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria
GTR is the largest rail franchise in the UK in terms of passenger numbers, trains, revenue and staff. The operator carries about 326 million passenger journeys per year, and employs around 6,500 people. Its aim is to improve services across all four networks.
Southern has the fastest passenger growth in the UK with numbers into London having doubled in 12 years - compared with the industry as a whole doubling over the past 20 years. To meet this growth and to future-proof the network, GTR is modernising the rail service for passengers.
GTR has introduced more new trains in the past year than all other franchises put together, with 500 new carriages so far.
The transformative £7bn Thameslink Programme will bring hundreds more daily services from 2018, increasing the number of trains though the central London core from up to 15 to 24 trains per hour. Network Rail has also launched a £300m programme to improve resilience across the GTR network.
GTR is modernising how it works, with new technology in use at our stations and on our trains, smartcard ticketing and a new, flexible on-board role on many Southern services. This ensures fewer cancellations, and with more staff on board our trains now than ever before, passengers are enjoying a much better level of on-board customer service.
The GTR investment programme for stations includes funding for more CCTV, toilet refurbishments, new retail facilities, help points and car park improvements – as well as plans for increased motorcycle storage and improved transport integration.
www.southernrailway.com, www.gatwickexpress.com, www.thameslinkrailway.com,www.greatnorthernrail.com
