“We will be good neighbours, using skills and resources to improve the quality of life for the communities we serve.”
Along with being a good employer and transport provider, South West Trains wants to be a good neighbour and make a positive contribution to the communities it serves. To this end we proactively support wherever possible local initiatives and community projects, providing not only financial support, but also on many occasions staff support.
The relationships we build with the communities we serve are a vital component in achieving our business plan objective of improving our corporate reputation.
Many of the initiatives we support are youth related, offering youngsters opportunities to develop themselves and an alternative to hanging around street corners or railway stations. We aim to address some of the key issues which adversely affect our stations and our passengers, such as homelessness, anti-social behaviour, unemployment and social exclusion.
We believe that many of the initiatives we support contribute to making our stations and trains safer, and as such contribute to other key business plan objectives, such as reducing crime and staff assaults.
To read more about the different initiatives we support please use the links below:
Give as you earn – South West Trains runs an ongoing scheme, as well as co-ordinating one-off contributions for specific appeals.
In tax year 2006/07, 588 employees made a total of £44,747.33 contributions to various charities of their choice. We ran an appeal for the Asia earthquake fund and 256 employees donated a total of £7,114.40, an appeal for the tsunami saw 697 employees donating a total of £22,008. South West Trains matched contributions for both the earthquake and tsunami appeals. In 1999/2000 345 employees donated £4,920.62 to the Children’s Promise appeal.
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Homelessness – begging is an increasing problem at railway stations and on trains, particularly in the London area. Being approached by a beggar, particularly on a moving train can be very intimidating for our passengers and so we have run poster campaigns appealing to passengers not to give to them and so discourage them.
However we also have to accept that railway stations do attract homeless people and as such we want to act responsibly towards them. To this end we have contributed to several homeless shelters on our network, providing funds for everything from an industrial toaster to the creation of a new female dormitory. We are also regular supporters of the Railway Children – a charity which specifically helps runaway youngsters who gravitate to railway stations all over the world.
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Managing Anti-social Behaviour and Trespass – Together with infrastructure provider Network Rail, South West Trains is a key participant in the Wessex Area Crime Group which works to reduce incidents of trespass and vandalism on our railway. We also have our own Youth Education Manager, who, together with a similar person at Network Rail, visits schools and junior citizen events throughout our network bringing the railway safety message to around 50,000 children per year in higher risk areas. South West Trains also employs 46 TravelSafe officers to patrol the network making our stations, and as such the communities they serve, safer places.
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Second Chance – South West Trains has previously supported the Comeback scheme which helped the rehabilitation of ex-offenders. We worked with Winchester Prison to educate ex-offenders about what to expect in the workplace and help prepare them for the recruitment process.
As an organisation we wanted to help reduce the incidence of re-offending through the provision of employment opportunities and to be able to contribute towards eliminating the stigma associated with offending. We are associated with Second Chance, which it is hoped will become a nationally recognised charter, endorsed by both employers and government. A kite mark adopted by employers will help identify sympathetic organisations.
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Partnerships – we often work with local authorities and other interested parties to help maximise the investment available for improvements to our network. Such partnerships have led to successful refurbishments of stations such as Southampton, Winchester, Basingstoke and Brentford and even resulted in the reopening of one station (Chandler’s Ford). Other partnership schemes have led to improved cycle storage facilities, additional CCTV and lighting and the creation of better-designed forecourts with integrated transport links.
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Dunk the Junk Guildford Heat – South West Trains has joined with the prestigious Guildford Heat basketball team to deliver a healthy lifestyle schools programme aimed at youngsters aged from 11-16.
The programme, run through secondary schools in Surrey, covers topics such as nutrition, fitness, substance abuse and basketball. A roadshow at each school, followed by four follow-up coaching sessions and then a central venue tournament.
As well as encouraging youngsters to get healthy and participate in sport, the programme will help tackle some of the issues which cause much of the anti-social behaviour by young people seen on our network.
Paul James, head coach and general manager of Guildford Heat Basketball Club, said: “The aim is to deliver a fun-packed programme that these young people will not have experienced before. It aims to be a programme that they will enjoy and want to continue, but at the same time get some important messages across to them without them feeling that they are being preached at.”
“I would like these boys and girls to think about the consequences of their actions good or bad and have an outlet to be able to channel their energies in a positive way through having good role models to look up to.”
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Eastleigh Street Sport sponsorship – this community-based project gives young people the opportunity to take part in a variety of sports, all within walking distance of their home. The project’s aims are to:
- Provide a positive supporting alternative to anti-social behaviour
- Engage young people aged 8–16 from the borough’s most deprived areas
- To provide opportunities for local people to improve their quality of life and learn new skills
- To increase the participation rates of young women in sport and recreation
- To positively impact on each area and create a sense of community identity
- Ensure local green spaces are fully utilised through providing high-quality coaching sessions run by qualified staff
Activities are delivered in areas where the two main local Housing Associations have the majority of their housing stock. Other areas of high instances of youth-related crime are also targeted.
Another objective of Street Sport is to improve the quality of life of people living in the Borough of Eastleigh. Sport is an ideal way to achieve this because it inspires teamwork and helps improve individual levels of skill. The events are publicised in South West Trains’ internal magazine, Online, to give young relatives and friends of employees the opportunity to attend. Extensive evaluation was carried out alongside the sports sessions, including participation questionnaires, interviews with coaches, organisers, parents and carers. As a result:
- 86% said they would recommend Street Sport to one of their friends;
- 82% rated Street Sport as excellent;
- 36% had not been involved in organised sport before.
South West Trains is sponsoring the scheme again this summer, when it will be called Park Sport and based in parks and public open spaces.
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Carroll Youth Centre – this voluntary organisation runs a youth centre for young people four evenings per week. The centre opened in 1993 after a fund-raising effort by the local community of Stanmore, which is a council estate on the south side of Winchester. The estate houses approximately 5,500 people and housing benefit is received by 57% of council tenants. The estate also runs directly next to the mainline at Waterloo.
The centre offers a café facility and also has an internet café which offers internet access to the local community during the day and to the youth club in the evenings.
We have supported the Carroll Youth Centre for the last seven years and our donation in 2006 was £4,775 which will fund four youth workers. But it is not just about cash donations, as our frontline employees play a part, visiting the centre to talk about the dangers of playing near railway lines.
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Junior Schools Football Challenge – the JSFC was set up in 2004 to offer school children, aged 5-10 years-old and living in the areas of Battersea and Wandsworth in South London, the opportunity to take part in organised football sessions and inter-school tournaments at no cost.
The scheme came to fruition thanks to a donation from South West Trains and the dedication and commitment of Waterloo Guards Manager Mick Phillips and Guard Bill Evans.
Operating every Saturday morning out of Battersea Youth Centre, JSFC has already won praise from Danny Matthews, Chelsea FC youth coach, who visited the scheme.
JSFC has already achieved a good reputation as a successful, local, children’s football scheme, which offers high standards of coaching and care. With jointly branded literature and the coaches in South West Trains’ t-shirts there has been a solid connection made between JFSC and South West Trains in the minds of parents, carers, teachers and others who have come in contact with the scheme.
The scheme, which is now in its third year, has allowed us to not only support a valuable community initiative, but has also allowed us to encourage staff participation.
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Children’s play areas – as an industry we spend a lot of time telling youngsters not to play on the railway, so where should they play? Recently South West Trains decided to tackle this question head on by supporting two community initiatives to create safe play areas.
The first scheme was at Ockford Ridge, which lies to the west of Godalming Station and is one of the most disadvantaged areas in Surrey. The project, to which we contributed £5,000, will involve creating a new play ground for 1-14 year-olds and a multi-purpose games area for youngsters up to the age of 19.
The second scheme involved a relatively deprived housing estate in Farnham called “The Chantrys”. Again we donated £5,000 towards a partnership between the residents’ association and Waverley Borough Council to create a multi use games area for the children on the estate to play sports such as hockey, basketball and football.
With not only a station, but also a traincare depot at Farnham it seemed only right that we should offer a helping hand to our neighbours.
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Fairbridge Project – for a number of years South West Trains has supported this vital project which helps youngsters in 14 of the most disadvantaged areas of the UK. The centre helps the youngsters to develop the confidence, motivation and skills they need to get more out of life and get back on track.
This year South West Trains’ £12,000 sponsorship will fund 10 young people through the programme, five at the charity’s Southampton base and five at the Lambeth centre. Both of these areas at the core of South West Trains’ network, sadly Lambeth also has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the UK and is one of the most deprived areas in England, while Southampton has 1 in 5 young people leaving school without further education, employment, training or any form of structured learning.
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Hampshire Local Area Agreement – South West Trains has always been involved in the Hampshire Community Strategy in partnership with Hampshire County Council and other local bodies. The Hampshire Local Area Agreement turns strategy into reality – with eight key priorities to make life in the county better – with direct help (both funding and enabling support) from central government. South West Trains’ areas of interest include accessibility, safety and health.
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Supporting staff in the community – South West Trains is keen to encourage its employees to help in the community. Often this takes the form of making financial contributions towards charity fund-raising initiatives, but some schemes are more long term. One such project is production manager Martin Watling’s involvement with Gillingham Youth Centre.
Martin, who works at Salisbury depot, became involved with youngsters at the centre through his wife, who also regularly helps there. He decided to start a motor project involving getting hold of old cars, stripping them down, restoring them and then racing them.
Martin said: “The scheme costs around £2,000 a year to run so it was great to receive the cash boost from South West Trains. A scheme like this is vital in helping give young adults in the community a real focus.”
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Graffiti removal – South West Trains takes the removal of graffiti very seriously. It not only looks unsightly, it also makes people feel less safe. We immediately remove offensive wording or images and endeavour to remove others as soon as possible. We have teams which clear graffiti from stations and trains, and Network Rail gets rid of it from bridges and tracksides. We work closely with the British Transport Police to bring prosecutions against graffiti vandals. The courts are starting to give stricter sentences, recognising that it has a bigger impact on the railway – as it takes trains out of service and is extremely dangerous as often the perpetrators run across live rails to get to their target. We use anti-graffiti paint where possible as a further deterrent.
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