Emma Winfield

Said the following about c2c Communications Team:

“The communications team champions c2c every single day; whether representing the business at industry events, with stakeholders, the media, customers, potential partners, fellow TOCs, industry bodies and fellow colleagues, the team works incredibly hard to celebrate the wins and reduce the negative impact of the losses.

We may be a lean team, but each of us contributes to the overall success of the department and is a real example of collaborative working. Over the last year the team has joined the Customer Experience department, bringing us closer than ever to our customers and communities. Due to various industry challenges, there have been numerous and wide-ranging multiple priorities for the team, and each member has stepped up and played a critical role in maintaining a focus on delivering on these. Each member brings their own skills and creativity and instinctively knows when each other needs help - this is key to working well and supporting each other.

The team juggles multiple projects with enthusiasm and dedication, which is key to not only maintaining the business' reputation externally but boosting staff morale in what has been another challenging 12 months for the industry. The wealth of knowledge and expertise we have collectively is second to none and even when the work is challenging, we have bags of enthusiasm and don't get flustered even when dealing with the unexpected!

Strike action and the ticket office consultation process have heavily impacted promotional plans, but rather than let this dampen spirits, we have risen to the occasion, ensuring that customers have access to the information they need, and utilising internal comms to support colleagues.

With a focus on meaningful projects, we have been able to deliver some brilliant initiatives, both internally and externally, helping to bolster morale at a really challenging time, and helping to grow our reputation externally.

Last year we wrapped two trains in the space of a few months, led on our industrial action communications, dramatically improved our stakeholder and media relations, increased our activity and engagement across most of our social channels including gaining over 3,000 new followers on Twitter and published over 700 articles on our colleague intranet as well as launching and delivering several community projects.

Further examples include:

Launching our new 720 trains, which recently entered passenger service, with a special event to reveal a nameplate honouring our ex-MD Julian Drury.

Commemorating the 75th anniversary of HMT Windrush with a special plaque unveiling at Tilbury Town station, which was attended by a host of special guests including members of the local community and local dignitaries.

A school reassurance film to support students travelling by train to school unaccompanied for the first time. The film guided young people through a typical journey to school including details on how to buy a ticket, obtain a child Smartcard and how to check train times and travel safely.

Marking the King’s Coronation by surprising and delighting c2c customers with a specially designed crown shaped biscuit at stations along our route.

Partnering with the Essex Wildlife Trust to create a mural at Thorpe Bay station to inspire the local community to visit one of the trust’s many sites on the train line.

A poster competition with local primary schools to design a Remembrance Day poster with the winning design displayed across the c2c network. The winner also worked with us to design a special planter for their local station.

A number of internal health and wellbeing initiatives including health checks for all c2c colleagues to monitor blood pressure as well as vitamin D and body composition testing. We also ran a menopause webinar for colleagues and ran a number of mental health awareness campaigns throughout the year.

Working with a number of charitable organisations, including charity Gold Geese. WE proudly turned one of our trains gold to raise awareness of children’s cancer.

We also announced a new partnership between c2c and Missing People, a UK charity dedicated to reconnecting missing people and their loved ones. This new partnership saw c2c join Missing People’s Safeguarding Briefing Network (SBN), a network of organisations that Missing People can send missing person briefings to when there is intelligence suggesting that staff there may come into contact with the person.

Finally, we celebrated Valentine’s Day with the help of our customers across the route by asking them to submit messages to their loved ones, which were displayed on our ticket machines. This was hugely popular with our customers, and we even had one marriage proposal!“