Govia Thameslink Railway awards £375,000 for community-led social and environmental projects
- charitylinks
- Nov 8, 2023
- 3 min read
Govia Thameslink Railway awards £375,000 to help 19 charity projects
Train operator awards £375,000 to support 19 local community improvement projects
Winning schemes chosen from over 370 bids
Next year’s fund now open for applications
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has awarded grants totalling £375,000 to 19 charities who are launching community projects in areas served by the train operator. [For a full list and outlines of projects, click here.]
The charities were chosen from over 370 organisations who answered GTR’s invitation to bid for support from its “Your Station, Your Community” fund last summer. Funding support ranges from £1,000 to £50,000, with larger awards split over two years.
The winning projects will involve and enhance local communities in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, London, Surrey, Brighton & Hove, and East and West Sussex.
They include schemes aiming to increase wellbeing and independence for young autistic and disabled people; to improve internet skills among the digitally excluded; to reduce anti-social and criminal behaviour among young people; to improve mental health through gardening or art; and to build life and employment skills through bike restoration and maintenance.
In Cambridge, a grant has been awarded to the Red Balloon Educational Trust to support their Travel Bursary Scheme. The scheme will help bullied and traumatised young people in financial hardship to attend educational support sessions and travel to beneficial extracurricular activities. Red Balloon’s programmes help vulnerable students grow in confidence, regain social skills, catch up on academic skills, and earn qualifications.
The Trust’s Director of Education Rob Watson said: “Govia Thameslink Railway's generosity will have a huge impact on some of our most vulnerable students. These are students whose recovery is at a very delicate stage, and we need to encourage them to develop their emerging social skills and give them opportunities to practice key academic skills, so they can resume their journey towards an independent and fulfilled adulthood.
“The cost-of-living crisis has created additional barriers to this delicate but urgent work, specifically around the travel costs associated with taking advantage of the opportunities to meet in person. This grant provides the means to ensure there is one fewer barrier ahead of our students, and on their behalf, we thank Govia Thameslink for the impact this grant will have.”
Among four station-based public art projects is a mural at Finsbury Park station. GTR have part-funded workshops run by community art organisation Co-Creative Connection for local people to design and create the mural, guided and inspired by a professional artist. Co-Creative Connection specialise in helping communities collaborate to create public murals with focus on wellbeing, local pride and making social connections.
Rose Hill, Founder and Muralist at Co-Creative, said: "Murals are such an amazing way to bring a community together! It's incredible seeing people of all ages, abilities, and walks of life taking part - we love adding colour to transform an area into a joyful space! That's what Co-Creative Connection is really about: bringing people together to learn, create, and paint.
We're thrilled to be collaborating with Finsbury Park on this mural, along with a series of mindful workshops. Thank you very much to GTR's community investment fund grant, which has made this impactful project a reality!"
GTR’s Chief Executive Officer Angie Doll said: “I’m delighted to congratulate the nineteen successful organisations, many of whom are new partners for us. We’re excited to be working with them all to generate the social and environmental benefits their projects are designed to deliver.
“We’d also like to thank everyone who applied. The magnificent response and extremely high quality of the bids shows the incredible energy, creativity and commitment our local communities possess.
“It has been really hard to decide who the first winners were, as all the bids addressed important social needs. Unfortunately, we can only help fund a fraction of the projects, so many excellent bidders will no doubt be disappointed, and I encourage them to try again now for next year’s fund.
“I would also like to thank our existing partners such as the community rail partnerships and tourism bodies, who did a brilliant job spreading the word across our network.”
The criteria for a successful grant application included how closely the aims of proposed projects match the train firm’s own key priorities for community support, which include mental health, life and employment skills among marginalised groups, diversity and inclusion, and environmental sustainability. GTR’s assessment of the applications was overseen by passenger watchdog Transport Focus, and the Department for Transport gave final approval for each grant award.
Your Station, Your Community improvement fund 2024/25
From today [9th November] GTR welcomes grant applications for the improvement fund’s 2024/25 allocations. The closing date is 15 December 2023; full details are available on Thameslink and Great Northern websites.
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