Jack’s the lad for railway challenge
TRAIN-MAD YOUNGSTER HAS RAISED THOUSANDS FOR CHARITY
TRAIN-MAD schoolboy Jack Thompson set himself a challenge to memorise 94 stations on three London underground lines and has raised over £4,000 for his efforts.
The 11-year-old has now raised more than £68,000 for good causes, with his latest efforts for children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent.
Jack came up with the idea while shielding at home during the coronavirus pandemic.
Born with a brain tumour and registered blind, Jack’s passion is anything to do with railways, so he decided to base his challenge on his hobby after studying tube timetables and underground lines.
He figured he could remember up to 100 stations and decided on memorising all those on the Bakerloo, Piccadilly and Victoria lines as they added up to 94 stations.
After more than two weeks hard work he managed to remember them – in order – with his challenge captured on video by his nana Elaine McKay.
“I can’t go out and fundraise at the minute so I decided I wanted to do something while I wasn’t going out,” said Jack, of Wardley, Gateshead. “I absolutely love trains and I know the London Underground like the back of my hand.
“I watch stuff on YouTube about it - the order in which the lines opened and all about them. I love reading the time tables, I was even working on the Information Desk at Newcastle Central Station before lockdown happened.
“It took me about two-and-a-half weeks to remember all the stations. There are 94 in total and when I did the video I said 93 and missed out South Harrow. No one else noticed but I did, so I made sure I did it again. There are 94 stations and I know all of them.”
Jack’s efforts have raked in over £1,000 while Morrisons Foundation, which has CLIC Sargent as its chosen charity, has given another £1,000, while Morrisons fundraising staff have gathered another £2,000 to support Jack.
Jack was born with an optic nerve tumour the size of a golf ball. Seven rounds of chemotherapy have reduced the size of the tumour to a pea and enabled him to grow to the average height of a boy his age.
He is registered blind but can see shapes and colours in the distance and read signs close up. He uses his overhead projector, bought by the Chronicle’s Sunshine Fund, to magnify his favourite train timetables and railway maps.
Nana Elaine, 63, of Washington, said: “I’m so proud of Jack, he just loves raising money. He came up with the idea to remember all 94 stations while on lockdown.
“He told me he could memorise about 100 stations so he figured out which three lines have around that many stations on them combined.
“It took him under three weeks to learn them and he reeled them off to complete his challenge.”
Jack was first featured by The Chronicle back in May 2017 when we told how the young fundraiser already had three jobs helping out at Homebase, Sainsbury and Washington Wetland Centre, where bosses gave him mini uniforms.
He’s also mastering the art of trampolining, does karate, train spots at Newcastle Central Station and knows many of the guards on the platform, as well as visiting his elderly friends at Wardley Gate Care Centre.
We’ve followed the St Augustine’s Primary School pupil’s fundraising story about how he has been raising cash for the past five years and holds cake stalls, tombolas and raffles to collect funds for charities raising more than £68,000 so far for CLIC Sargent, Heel & Toe and The Chronicle Sunshine Fund.
He also ‘works’ at Morrisons in West Denton, Newcastle, where he helps the charity team raise funds and has won a Chronicle Champions award for his great work. Last year he was ‘station master’ for the day when Great Western Railway helped to make his wish come true.
Joe Burns, Fundraising Manager at CLIC Sargent, said: “Jack has been a fantastic fundraiser for CLIC Sargent for a little while now, raising tens of thousands for children and young people with cancer. And the way he raises money for us is always so inventive as well, as this incredible challenge shows! Thank you Jack - and well done on successfully reciting all 94 tube stops.
“In response to the coronavirus pandemic, families of children with cancer need our help now more than ever. So the money raised by Jack’s challenge will make a huge difference. Thank you Jack!”
Jack added: “I just love raising money for charity. I’m very proud to say I have a Morrisons home delivery van named after me and it is the only one in the country. It’s based at Doxford Park and it has my name on the side of it.”