Lip-syncing railway colleagues smash fundraising target for NHS workers

Dozens of Govia Thameslink Railway colleagues have been spreading some cheer by taking part in a fundraising Amarillo lip-syncing music video.

Organised by GTR’s Southern rail enforcement officers (REOs), colleagues in various roles across the network have been enthusiastically mouthing the lyrics to Tony Christie’s classic song.

In addition to this, the Southern REOs have also dyed their hair blue, held a fundraising darts match, planned a quiz night and intend to auction off pieces of artwork created by a colleague. After setting their target at £500, they have already raised nearly £1,600 for NHS Charities Together, which supports NHS staff and volunteers caring for Covid-19 patients.

REO manager Wayne Harris, who has worked on the railway for 11 years, said: “The NHS have done so much for everyone and have always been the backbone of the country, and this is our way of showing support for everything they have done. Obviously as key workers, we take immense pride in getting them to work.”

Speaking of the fundraising, Wayne added: “We've tried to keep our activities fun and light-hearted to give people a smile through these difficult times. We thought we would do well if we got anywhere near £500, so to raise more than £1,500 is absolutely amazing. The support we have had has been great and I can’t believe how well the video has gone down.”

The colleagues were inspired by Peter Kay’s re-released version of Amarillo as a thank you to NHS workers when creating their video.

To support the REO team's fundraising visit their JustGiving page here. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/southern-rail-enforcement-team1

To watch the video, go to https://youtu.be/ENb51V2cnSs

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