Tom Easdown

Said the following about Debbie Morris:

“I have nominated Debbie as she truly embodies being an Unsung Hero. She never will speak up about all the fantastic work she does yet her colleagues and managers know that she will never let anyone down and will always work towards what is best for her people. This includes senior leadership such as Chris Fowler (Network Operations Director) who said “Debbie has always been very forthright, demanding the best from her people while speaking up for them with me and other senior leaders when she thinks that things are not as they should be – qualities I’ve always admired in her.”

For the last 23 years, Debbie has always led by example and still regularly receives customer praise when she is on trains and stations making her passenger journeys even more special. In an area of the railway where the gender demographic was disproportionately male particularly when she joined, Debbie has been a role model and support to women joining the railway as one of her colleagues Della Hart (On Board Supervisor Manager) mentions in her testimonial “When I first joined Barnham in 2007, Debbie was a Conductor Instructor, as a young female joining the railway in a primarily male role, Debbie instantly made me feel welcome and at home.”

Since she became a conductor manager in 2008, Debbie has always prioritised the welfare of her team. She regularly goes above and beyond to ensure that her team know that they can count on her for support despite the fact she has had an extremely tough year outside of work. This includes regular home visits for colleagues who are ill and she has even taken them for appointments if they are stuck. As the testimonials in the additional evidence highlight, her team are beyond grateful to have Debbie as their line manager. This includes when one of her conductors was involved in a fatality, Debbie took the conductor home after doing chain of care when attending the incident. She stayed with him until his wife got home as he understandably was shaken from the incident. Following this, his children wrote Debbie a thank you card saying how much they appreciated Debbie looking after their dad.

This extends to her management colleagues as well, Debbie is always looking after her colleagues when they are having a bad day and putting the kettle on for a chat. She is always the first to get involved in events for the depot including a number of charity fundraisers that have raised thousands of pounds. Barnham Traincrew Depot is a better place to work for having Debbie especially at Christmas where she is the first to get the tree up and volunteer to help on the award-winning Santa Train.

Debbie also plays a key role in being a driver for accessibility within the local communities. This includes helping to organise “Try a Train” events, the latest being with the Aldingbourne Trust which supports people with learning disabilities. On this event, Debbie organised taking the group into the station and a train to help familiarise them with travelling on the railway in the future. The Aldingbourne Trust wrote to extend their gratitude for Debbie and others involved for organising the day and for being such wonderful hosts.

Debbie’s fantastic work within the local community doesn’t end with accessibility as she has helped out with a number of incidents. This includes a road traffic accident where a school child was hit by a car in unfortunate circumstances, fortunately Debbie helped make sure everyone involved was ok whilst waiting for emergency services. The driver of the car wrote into Southern to thank Debbie for her assistance. There was also an incident where there was a collision on a level crossing. Debbie again provided chain of care to those involved, helped call emergency services and even directed traffic before the police arrived. Again, Debbie was commended for her involvement.

This nomination barely covers all of what Debbie has done for Southern over the last 23 years and the gratitude that all of her colleagues have for her. She has never asked for a thank you but continues to give the railway everything which makes her our Unsung Hero.“