Folk legend writes song about Thameslink’s oldest station worker, 85

• National BBC Radio 2 commissions piece to celebrate 200 years of the birth of the modern railway

Download pictures from the bottom of this press release

Multi-award-winning singer-songwriter, folk ‘legend’ Richard Thompson OBE has written a song about Thameslink’s oldest employee, 85-year-old Elstree & Borehamwood station assistant Siggy Cragwell BEM. It is being aired on national radio this week.

The special track about Siggy, from Hampstead in London, is one of five commissioned by BBC Radio 2 to tell the stories of people whose lives have been influenced – or changed irrevocably – by trains.

Together they make up a week of folk music, entitled 21^stCentury Folk which this year celebrates the 200^th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway – Railway 200.

• A video of Richard Thompson performing the song to Siggy for the first time can be heard here: Radio 2's 21st Century Folk 2025 - Canvas
• A two-hour documentary about all the songs and stories behind them can be found at: The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe - 21st Century Folk Celebrates Railway 200 - BBC Sounds
• Siggy will also appear on The Jeremy Vine Show, Radio 2, alongside Richard, this Wednesday (30 July 12noon – 2pm).

Siggy, who lives in Hampstead, London, came to Britain as part of the Windrush generation in 1962. He started work the very next day after his ship docked in Southampton and he has been delivering excellent customer service on the railway non-stop ever since. He tried to retire once but found life so boring he came back to work.

He’s received two lifetime achievement awards – one by popular vote in his local north London community – and a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to the railway. He previously played cricket for the England over-70s, and still takes wickets from players in their 20s.

Siggy said: “It’s such an honour to have this song written about me. I could never have dreamed when I came to this country that I’d still be working for the railway 63 years later and be receiving all these accolades.”

Singer-songwriter Richard Thompson co-founded Fairport Convention – who invented the distinctive sound of British Folk Rock – and has been named in Rolling Stone’s top 100 guitarists of all-time.

Like Siggy, Richard is cricket mad and the song he composed was recorded with Siggy’s cricketing colleagues on backing vocals at their club, Holtwhites-Trinibis, near Gordon Hill railway station (see editor’s notes below for the full lyrics).

Everyone's favourite: Siggy has been interviewed many times

Richard said: “It was fascinating to meet Siggy and learn of his life on the railway with Thameslink. Recording this song about him at his cricket club has been great fun.”

Mark Radcliffe, who hosts Radio 2’s Folk Show on Wednesdays 9-10pm, and is featuring all five songs in 21st Century Folk 2025 on Sunday 3 August (8-10pm), said: “Folk music tells the story of everyday life, with melodies and lyrics that are passed down through generations of families. It’s been amazing to see these listeners’ stories take on a life of their own with these special compositions, written and performed by some of the folk world’s most loved artists. I can’t wait to share them with the Radio 2 audience.”

ENDS

Contact: Roger Perkins, Media Relations Manager 07711149245

Editor’s notes

The lyrics to Richard Thompson’s song about Thameslink’s station assistant Siggy Cragwell:

Well, I’ll sing you a song of celebration

(Go Siggy, go Siggy!)

About a hero of our nation

(Siggy, knock them wickets down)

Siggy Cragwell, don’t you know him?

(Go Siggy, go Siggy!)

85 and he’s still bowlin’

(Siggy, knock them wickets down)

He came our way on an ocean liner

(Go Siggy, go Siggy!)

From old Barbados; there’s none finer

(Siggy, knock them wickets down)

Got a job on the railways, cleanin’

(Go Siggy, go Siggy!)

They gotta keep those steam trains steamin’

(Siggy, knock them wickets down)

Well, he’s still on the railways, oh what a joy

(Go Siggy, go Siggy!)

63 years, man and boy

(Siggy, knock them wickets down)

He makes the passengers feel so good

(Go Siggy, go Siggy!)

At Elstree and Borehamwood

(Siggy, knock them wickets down)

Siggy knows a thing about cricket

(Go Siggy, go Siggy!)

A couple of times, he took 10 wickets

(Siggy, knock them wickets down)

Siggy Cragwell, he’s one in a million

(Go Siggy, go Siggy!)

Send you straight back to the pavilion

(Siggy, knock them wickets down)

He’s up every day at 4am

(Go Siggy, go Siggy!)

Keepin’ healthy in the gym, now

(Siggy, knock them wickets down)

And just to prove that he’s the best

(Go Siggy, go Siggy!)

There’s an empire medal stuck to his chest

(Siggy, knock them wickets down)

Well one more verse and enough’s been said

(Go Siggy, go Siggy!)

We don’t want it to go to Siggy’s head

(Siggy, knock them wickets down)

What is Railway 200?

The Stockton & Darlington Railway opened on September 27, 1825, connecting places, people, communities and ideas and ultimately transforming the world.

Railway 200 is a year-long nationwide partnership-led campaign to celebrate 200 years of the modern railway and inspire a new generation of young pioneering talent to choose a career in rail.

Railway 200 is showcasing how the railway shaped and continues to shape national life.

https://railway200.co.uk/about-railway-200/

Details of the other four contributors to this year’s 21^stCentury Folk:

• Charlotte and David live near Bradford, West Yorkshire. Charlotte was beside a train track intending to take her own life when David, a train driver, got out of his cab and spoke to her until she felt able to board the train. She later contacted him to say thank you, they started dating and are now married with children. Their singer-songwriter is Kate Rusby, from Barnsley in South Yorkshire, one of the most successful folk singers of her generation. She is performing the song alongside her husband, musical director and Northern Irish musician, Damien O’Kane.

• Joanne lives in Darwen, Lancashire, and is an accountant by day, but in her spare time volunteers as a ‘steam locomotive fireman’ on the Llangollen Railway in Wales. Joanne survived a rare form of cancer in 2019 and is an activist for diversity and inclusion within the Heritage Rail sector. Scottish musician Findlay Napier, who lives on the Isle of Arran, has written Joanne’s song. He performs as a solo artist and as part of folk-rock supergroup, The Magpie Arc.

• Tom is a railway station foundling. In 1965 as a two-week old baby he was found in the ladies’ waiting room of Reading railway station in Berkshire. He was left well-dressed and tucked under a bench with a spare nappy and bottle. He discovered more about his story much later in his life, and now lives in Nottingham. Singer-songwriters, Chris While and Julie Matthews, from Sheffield in South Yorkshire, are Britain’s longest-enduring female duo having performed together for over 30 years. They have played more than 2,500 gigs and appeared on more than 100 albums.

• Ken is from Liverpool but now lives in Greater Manchester. He is an Alstom employee based at Widnes depot, and to mark 50 years of service a locomotive was named in his honour. Ken knew from four years old that he wanted to follow in his dad and grandad’s footsteps and his family have worked on the railways for a combined 157 years! Singer-songwriter, Bill Ryder-Jones, is co-founder and former lead guitarist with The Coral; he’s released several solo records and collaborated with artists including Arctic Monkeys, Graham Coxon and Paloma Faith. He shares Ken’s deep love of Liverpool.