Tuesday 20 Dec 2005

BIG HEARTED RAIL STAFF HELP CHARITY

Region & Route:
Big hearted staff working for Network Rail in Preston have shunned Christmas cards in favour of a national charity. Instead of sending cards to each other they have decided to give the cost of a packet of cards to Cancer Research UK. It was one of the team working for Gary Openshaw, Network Rail’s general manager who came up with the idea. As Mr Openshaw explained: “Every year we all give cards to one another and after Christmas they either end up in the bin or go for recycling. One of the members of my team suggested to a colleague that they donate £3, representing the average cost of a packet of cards, to a charity rather than send cards round the office and it snowballed from there.” Others in the office thought it was a good idea and so far 36 staff have joined in, raising a total of £132 for the charity, which was drawn from several suggestions put into a ‘hat’.

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We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

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