Siggy Cragwell has recorded bite-sized memories with the BBC to teach 5–7-year-olds about how the railway has changed over the years
Press release -
Thameslink's Siggy, 83, shares railway memories with schoolchildren
Siggy Cragwell, Thameslink's very special station assistant from Elstree & Borehamwood, has recorded bite-sized memories with the BBC to teach 5–7-year-olds about how the railway has changed over the years.
Teachers can use the resource, available now on the brand-new BBC Teach educational series 'Then and Now’, available on the BBC History Key Stage 1 website .
Siggy, who at 83 is Thameslink's oldest employee, is well-placed to tell the tale. He's worked on the railway for 61 years after coming to the UK as part of the Windrush generation in 1962.
Standing on the platform at Elstree & Borehamwood, he tells the children: "I was born in Barbados in the 1930s. When I was a child, we didn’t have a car, or a train and we used the bus or we used the bicycle.
"Trains now are completely different. Trains now have lots of new technologies. Most of the trains that we use are powered by electricity. In those days, we had stream trains, which were very smoky, and when you’re travelling, you have your own compartment."
Siggy has already won two lifetime achievement awards and was a guest of honour at last year's unveiling of the National Windrush Monument in London Waterloo station, alongside the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate.
He has no plans to retire. He gets up at 4am to do the 6-11am shift at Elstree & Borehamwood and then does gym and Tai Chi to keep him fit for cricket – which he still plays at an international level.
Thameslink's Customer Services Director Jenny Saunders said: "Siggy is an absolute legend and loved by all of us and his customers at Elstree & Borehamwood. It's typical of his generosity that that he should want to share some of his lifetime of memories with the next generation."
Click here to view the video: KS1 History. Changes within living memory: Transport
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Govia Thameslink Railway
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) operates Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express services as follows:
- Thameslink – cross-London services between Bedford/Peterborough/Cambridge and Brighton/Horsham/Littlehampton/East Grinstead, and between Luton/St Albans and Sutton/Wimbledon/Rainham; plus services between London 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
www.southernrailway.com, www.thameslinkrailway.com, www.gatwickexpress.com, www.greatnorthernrail.com
