Great Northern and Thameslink staff get on their bike (and much more) to raise money for charity

Railway workers from Thameslink and Great Northern have raised over £1,600 for children with genetic disorders during a Charities Week.

Thameslink and Great Northern have been backing the Max Appeal charity which raises awareness of the DiGeorge syndrome, VCFS and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (DS) and gives families affected the essential support they need.

Great Northern Hitchin depot driver Mark Tripp of Biggleswade (pictured centre), has a son, Adam, aged 10, with the condition. A trustee of the charity himself, he presented the cheque to Max Appeal’s chair of trustees Julie Wootton (pictured right).

Mark said: “Once again it’s amazing to see colleagues from across the network come together for such a great cause. The monies raised will help Max Appeal provide support for all those with 22q11.”

He explained the money would help fund two camping weekends for those with 22q11, where the children enjoy archery, rifle shooting, wall climbing, hiking and building camp fires.

“We use this weekend to promote confidence and to allow them to be just like ordinary children. The money raised during charity week will be used to finance these weekends so will be used to help make a difference.”

For seven days last month, staff including the Resourcing Team at King’s Cross, ran a variety of activities to raise £1,680.50 including a bake-off competition, a 10-hour exercise bike marathon, raffles.

Great Northern's Passenger Services Director Keith Jipps said: “At Great Northern, and Thameslink, we are committed to supporting charities across our network. Max Appeal is a cause our staff are passionate about and it’s wonderful to see so many of them go out of their way to help raise much needed funds.”

Thameslink’s Passenger Services Director Stuart Cheshire added: “A donation of £1,680.50 is an excellent result for the hard work of the teams across both services and we would also like to pass on our thanks to those organisations that supported us with the donation of items for our raffle, as well as our passengers who made donations as well.”

Great Northern and Thameslink staff are now voting on a new corporate charity to support for the year.

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Notes to editors

Charities Week began with a successful cake sale at the company’s head office, with a variety of baked goods sold. Shortly after, the company's choir sang a medley of tunes at East Croydon station, to delight passengers heading home for the evening.

As the week rolled on, a variety of individuals spent a day trying to cycle the distance of 200km from Brighton to St Neots, via Blackfriars. Using two exercise bikes, setup at Blackfriars, they set themselves the challenge of completing the distance in 10 hours, and the company promised that if they made the distance an extra £700 would be donated. The morning started with CEO Charles Horton clocking up 8km in 15 minutes, before other staff took on the challenge, with one even achieving 40km in 60 minutes. In total the group of staff cycled over 320km, with many passengers digging deep and making donations to support the good causes.

Alongside these activities a staff raffle was also held, with prizes donated by members of staff, as well as Beetroot, Clemtech, Fairfield Hall, Keolis, Network Rail and PR Eye Photography.