Kentish Express Ashford & District
Poppy fundraising shared by legions of passengers
A Southeastern high speed ‘poppy train’, that runs special services to raise money for the Royal British Legion, has now brought in a total of more than £45,000 for the charity.
For the past two years, the commemorative train has taken paying passengers on routes the high speed does not normally travel, ahead of Remembrance Sunday, with all ticket money going to the Legion.
The fund-raising trips, which have been organised by Kent Evenden, driver manager at High Speed Services, and Andy Harding, 395 Fleet engineering manager, started in 2014 to commemorate the start of the First World War.
Last year’s service, on Saturday, November 7, took 250 people on a round trip from London through Kent, and on to Eastbourne.
Now, after totalling up all the money that has come in, the figure raised since the duo started their fundraising efforts two years ago has reached £45,542.60
That total is made up of £20,242.60 for last November’s trip and £25,300 for the 2014 journey.
The pair hope to run a similar trip this November, with details released once this has been organised.
Mr Evenden said: “It has been great to be able to raise so much for such a worthy cause.
“The British Legion do a huge amount of good work and I am proud to support them in this way.”
Mr Harding added: “Now we have the final total in, it is great to see that over two years we have raised more than £45,000 for the Royal British Legion.
“The Legion do so much to support former and current military personnel and I am proud to be able to help in the way we have.”
Claire Rowcliffe, the Legion’s head of regional fundraising, said: “We are extremely grate- ful to Kent and Andy, and everyone at Southeastern, for their continued efforts and support which helps the Legion to provide its wealth of services.
“We hope to keep our partnership strong for many years to come as we continue to help keep alive the memory of the fallen and support the future of the living.”