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“What makes Danny stand out? His desire to make a difference to those communities and charities close to his heart. Making time for schools, community groups, veterans, all the time linking Ebbsfleet International to the various groups. He’s raised thousands for The House of Mercy, and Ellenor Trust, collects warm clothing each winter for those less fortunate in our community. He is passionate about “giving backâ€, a pleasure to work with and call a friend.“
“Danny is the Poster Boy for the South East Local Plan and rightly so. As a Case Study he demonstrates the importance of rail stations in the community for which they serve. An ex-forces vet Danny knows the critical importance of teamwork and strives to bring along his team and those he works with in partnership. I know that Danny would not want to win this award for himself but for the team at Ebbsfleet International comprising Network Rail HS, Southeastern and Eurostar. This partnership does not work without a strong leadership team and Danny runs the ship as a Leader not a Manager. He has brought in many local charities and schools to widen the local understanding of the railway and the schools and individuals always write to praise his excellent support and assistance. His proudest moment is the year on year increase in charitable revenue generated for the British Legion, for which Danny volunteers in his spare time, and I'm sure that this year will be his biggest total generated to date. A lovely man with quality, the customer, and a smoothly operating ship at his heart.“
“Danny Hawkins, Station Manager of Ebbsfleet International and Stratford International at Network Rail High Speed is being nominated for his ongoing hard work with local charities and communities.
Danny’s management of events and stakeholder relations and work with the local community this past year has been outstanding and he continues to strive for high quality services to his staff, customers and community.
Stakeholder relations
Danny has met with the Gr@nd in Gravesend (a healthy living organisation) and worked with Southeastern to put a Health and Wellbeing award scheme in place for the stations.
Danny has created and rolled out a Management Development course for staff which has now been extended to our TOCs and the course has had great attendance. He is really helping our workforce realise their potential and he gives them key skills and takeaways for their ongoing development.
He also continues to work closely with the train operations and regularly does ‘back to the floor’ and ‘meet the manager’ days to discuss any concerns staff from any area may have.
Community engagement and charity work
Danny continues to push community engagement – he is in contact with local schools and has arranged and planned all aspects of several visits from classes. He has put together a programme where staff educate the children about the railway, safety and stranger danger. Thanks to his great relationship with the BTP, they have also been happy to take part.
He always looks for ways to give back to the community and having invited schools to sing around the tree at Christmas time, a local school will be given a tour of all the stations - they had such an enjoyable time during Christmas, they will be naming their classes after our stations!
Danny also arranges for the Poppy Appeal to come to the station every year and do collections, Danny makes sure that he is able to personally assist on the stands each year.
With the help of his team, a local Ellenors hospice have also had collections arranged at the stations – this has helped to raise awareness of all of the good they do.
Continued engagement with the community and raising money for local charities means Danny uses the great relationships he has to arrange raffles with train cab rides and tours of St Pancras Station (including the roof tour) as prizes.
Event management
Danny assisted with the planning of the World Athletics, West Ham football games and rock concerts. The increased footfall in the stations means he needs to ensure agency staff are hired for assistance and he has written and updates crowd control plans and contingencies. He also puts station contingency plans in place in case of emergency situations like a broken escalator.
All of the above speaks for itself. Danny is a key pillar in the community and within the stations team. He goes above and beyond daily, not just for his staff but for people local to the stations that are happy to engage with the great work he does.
Danny has built a lot of strong relationships both inside the station team and outside of it. Despite being very busy in his day to day job, he always finds time to help local schools or charities meaning they too are benefitting from the events he organises. His team are highly motivated and all feel that Danny is approachable and a great manager that will always go above and beyond.
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
Danny is well known in NRHS and his work has not gone unnoticed. He is regularly praised by the station management team and he is a great help at promoting our stations to the wider business.
Article submitted to the Railway Delivery Group by Customer Relationship Manager, HS1 in celebration of Danny’s hard work. Article below.
Danny Hawkins, born and bred in Kent, is the Network Rail (High Speed) Station Manager for Stratford & Ebbsfleet International.
Since becoming Station Manager, Danny, with the support of a staff of five Shift Station Managers and 15 Customer Service Assistants, has made it his mission to open up the station to the local community and make it a welcoming place for events and activities for young and old.
Working in partnership, staff from Network Rail (High Speed), HS1 Ltd, Southeastern and Eurostar want to encourage the local community to take pride in the station and the surrounding area. Local schools come to Ebbsfleet International to learn about safety, with sessions run in partnership with the British Transport Police. Staff make a special effort to create an environment suitable for children with special needs. For Christmas 2017, staff worked launched Lights of Life – a charity initiative to raise money for local hospice charity, Ellenor, raising £700 in donations from commuters, staff and the wider community. At the same time, local schools were encouraged to bring their choirs to perform in the station as well as the Association of Grace Baptist churches who conducted a carol service.
Staff at Ebbsfleet have lots of plans for the future. They are working with a Gravesend-based organisation called The Gr@nd, a mental health charity, to create tailored activities and initiatives that improve the health of staff and the community. The team is also working with Edible Ebbsfleet to develop a small allotment in the station to promote healthy eating amongst the local community. Station staff already maintain Ebbsfleet’s planters on a voluntary basis.
Working with the Poppy Appeal is an important part of Ebbsfleet International station’s annual programme of CSR activity. In 2017, volunteers at the station raised more than £9,500 in for the Royal British Legion.
Danny and and HS1 Limited are also working in partnership with a local creative artist to promote Northfleet Big Local, a group of local residents who aim to make lasting changes to improve the local area and foster a sense of pride among the community. As part of this, local people will be encouraged to contribute artworks and knitted items to brighten up the station.
Ebbsfleet Int also has a close relationship with Cherry Orchard Primary Academy, to whom HS1 recently donated £750 to purchase sports equipment for the children. The relationship is so entwined that the school is planning to rename its houses after the HS1 international stations at St Pancras, Stratford, Ebbsfleet and Ashford.“
“Danny is always on the lookout to support charities where he can and support them to set up stands in the stations that he manages. He also participates in charitable causes as well.
The local community appreciates his support and the impact he has made by supporting local charitable causes.“
“Just wanted to say a massive thank you and well done on Saturday night. It was a great evening which was thoroughly enjoyed. Hope you have managed to relax now! Thank you very much”
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