Press release -
Railway staff help charity fund new centre for children with special needs
Staff from Govia Thameslink Railway have raised £12,000 to help an Eastbourne charity open a therapy centre for children with special educational needs.
GTR adopted Embrace as one of its two corporate charities, for its Southern Railway network, following a vote by staff last year who have been fundraising ever since.
The new centre has opened next door to Eastbourne Railway Station and offers sessions in a new sensory room, a parent support group, law clinic, messy play, singing and signing, a children’s hairdressers and a Saturday club.
Eastbourne’s Area Station Manager Andy Leister said: “Embrace is a fabulous charity and very important to the people who work here at Southern. Station staff, engineers, drivers, on board staff, people from our head office - we've all got together to raise money and on their behalf I can honestly say we're delighted to help Embrace move into this wonderful new building and become our new neighbours.”
Rebecca Whippy, Embrace founder, said: “There is a huge amount of excitement and expectation surrounding the launch of the Embrace Centre. We are so grateful of the support our children have received this year from the business community and from our families that we work with.
“We love working with our children and feel honoured and excited to be able to offer them a new centre to improve their learning experiences. The centre and sessions offered there have the potential to make a huge difference to many isolated children and families and really impact the level of support and education that local disabled children and their families receive.”
Local MP Stephen Lloyd cut a ribbon to open the centre on 8 September in front of assembled guests that included the local Mayor and chamber of commerce.
ends
Notes to editors
GTR staff voted Embrace to be its corporate charity in the south of its network, where Southern Rail operates. Keech Hospice in Luton was their choice for the north, where Thameslink and Great Northern operate.
Topics
Categories
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: GTR carries about 326 million passenger journeys per year, and employs around 6,500 people. Its aim is to improve services across all four networks.
Ticket revenue is passed to the government which pays GTR a fee to operate the franchise which is adjusted according to how well the train service is performing.
Southern has the highest passenger growth in the UK with numbers into London having doubled in 12 years - compared with the industry 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
