Leanne Buckley, GBRf’s Peterborough-based Locomotive Fleet Planner called on the Wizard of OBS to help her dance school put on a whizz of a show to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Leanne joined the Vera Frances School of Dance a year ago, just as it was to put on a three-night production of the Wizard of Oz. Everyone involved with the school was asked for sponsorship suggestions and Leanne asked GBRf for support to cover the cost of producing the programme.

“We wanted every penny to go to the charity,” explained Leanne, who had landed the part of an Emerald City Guard. “With GBRf’s help we managed to smash our target and beat previous shows by quite a margin.”

GB Railfreight raises £160,000 for good causes in 2017

Staff at GB Railfreight (GBRf) spent 2017 raising money for three charities and on Saturday (27th January 2018) it was time to hand over the fruits of their efforts, with the worthy causes splitting £160,000 between them. Over the year, members from all levels of GBRf’s team embarked on a charity train tour, bike rides, half marathons, netball tournaments, football games, dress down days, cake sales, calendar sales and raised money from staff collections on away days.

Speaking on the efforts of his team, John Smith, GBRf’s managing director and parent company Hector Rail’s chief executive, said:

“I could not be prouder of my team for all their efforts during 2017 to raise money for these most worthy of causes. We hope that these sums will go some way towards helping them continue to fund their activities in 2018. They all do such amazing work, both in terms of national challenges, and for local communities that it has been our privilege to be able to associate ourselves with them.”

Speaking on behalf of the British Heart Foundation, the UK’s leading charity fighting to end heart disease which received £100,000 from GBRf’s fundraising efforts Sarah Miller said:

“We have been really impressed with all of the fundraising activities GBRf has gotten involved in…. We aim to invest £100 million into research every year to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease, and it’s thanks to companies like GBRf that we are able to do this…thank you for the time, the energy and the commitment you have all put into helping us continue our life saving work.”

The Ripple Project, which received £30,000, is based in Edinburgh and is a community-based venture that provides a variety of services to people of all ages, including youth mentoring, a local newspaper, and lunch clubs for elderly residents. In addition, its volunteers run the Hub Grub Café, which enables local people to come together and socialise over a cup of coffee and a cake. Speaking on the donation from GBRf, Fiona Cross of The Ripple Project said:

“You are a gift to the community, and your money had real impact in our charity…and our projects”

Also receiving £30,000 was Woking Homes, which aims to provide a secure, relaxed and homely environment in which the care, wellbeing and comfort of residents are of prime importance. They provide residential care for people who have worked in the railway industry and their spouses, from train drivers and ticket collectors to engineers, guards, and booking office staff.

Sarah Kemp, chief executive of Woking Homes said:

“We are very grateful for the generosity of GBRf staff, which has enabled us to replace our ageing minibus: the new one has the GBRf logo proudly displayed. It is also very important to us to ensure that the rail community as a whole is aware of the services we provide.”

GBRf will be continuing its fundraising efforts over the course of 2018 for Macmillan Cancer Support and Headway, a charity supporting those with brain injuries.

John Smith commented:

“Macmillan Cancer and Headway are both deeply personal charities for us, with various staff members having experience of the challenges they are seeking to address. I know everyone at GBRf is looking forward to doing their bit to ensure we raise as much, if not more, for our charity partners this year.”

ENDS

For further information, please contact:
Westbourne Communications
020 3397 0100
GBRF@westbournecoms.com

Notes to editors

This press release was amended from the version that was sent out to correct an earlier error in the description of Woking Homes. GBRf is happy to make this clarification.

About GB Railfreight
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in London, United Kingdom, GB Railfreight is the third largest rail freight operator in the United Kingdom, with a turnover in excess of GBP 120m. GB Railfreight is one of the fastest growing companies in the railway sector and transports goods for a wide range of customers.For more information about GBRf’s 2017 charity partners, visit www.bhf.org.uk, http://rippleproject.co.uk/ripple-services/get-involved/, and http://www.woking-homes.co.uk/.
For more about GBRf’s 2018 charity partners, visit www.macmillan.org.uk and www.headway.org.uk.