Matthew Springett

Said the following about Oxford Charity Team:

“Great Western Railway (GWR) is one of the biggest rail franchises in the UK, part of the First Group of companies, operating the Western network since 1996, rebranding ourselves as GWR in 2015. We employ over 6000 people across our network and we carry more than one and a half million customers over two million single journeys on 10,000 services every week. People are at the heart of our business and our ethos is that we are 'greater together'.

The Oxford Charity team, led by Oxford DSM Warren Bartlett, along with station colleagues Tim King and Anna DylÄ…g, formed (of their own volition) a Charity Team as they wanted to give back the local community and had decided that the best way of doing this was by helping to raise money for local projects and charities, those that would mean something to local passengers and colleagues.

They started by setting up the Oxford station charity book shop. Coining the phrase "Buy a book - swap a book - donate a book" they worked hard to pull in interest and contributions. The Bookshop was set up in the waiting room at Oxford.

They were only hoping to raise a small amount of cash for local causes, and little did they realise the interest and impact the project would have over the months that followed.

Within the first 3 weeks, the team had exceeded the original target of £200 in aid of SSNAP (special care new born unit at the John Radcliffe hospital) thanks to GWR’s ‘matched funding' scheme, and the team were able to hand over £450.

The team then went on to raise a further £450 for Multiple Sclerosis society, £450 for a racehorse sanctuary and £450 for the royal National institute for the blind. £700 then followed for the Helen & Douglas house hospice in Oxford.

It was then the third anniversary of the sudden passing of one of their much valued and missed colleagues at Oxford. In his memory (choosing a charity that had been their for his family) the team decided to raise funds for Seesaw, an Oxford based grief counselling service for bereaved children.

Over the months that followed the team managed to raise £1500.

As the team reached its first anniversary, fundraising had exceeded £4000, and the team began raising money for 'Calm' a Swindon based charity supporting children with cancer and leukaemia, another charity that had given assistance to an Oxford station team member.

In just over a year they have raised over £5,000 for local charities nominated by passengers and colleagues.

The Bookshop has received heavy praise from passengers, even attracting several Celebrity donations. Other stations have asked for help in setting up their own Charity bookshelf. Along with the book shelf, the team have done numerous other charity events within the station and outside of the station to help local causes and charities.

Every charity has been incredibly thankful to the Oxford Charity team for the donations received, and several letters from passengers thanking them for setting up the Bookshop have been received. The team has also received praise and requests for help from other stations, who wish to set up a similar team and scheme in their area.

To say that the Oxford Charity Team have set the bar high would be an understatement!“