Operating at the heart of our communities
A look back on 2022.
Our communities really are at the heart of what we do here at Grand Central. We take pride in supporting the communities we serve. During 2022 we worked with many of our long standing community partners and even developed a few new ones. Here is a snapshot of some of the community engagement activities that took place last year.
Sunderland Pride
Last year we joined up with Sunderland Pride for the first time. A team of Grand Central colleagues turned up to support the event and engage with the local community of Sunderland. The event was such a success that we hope to continue our work with them this year. Huge thanks to all the volunteers who gave up their time to come and support.
Herriot Country Event at Kings Cross and Herriot Flavours Awards
After a long break due to covid restrictions, it was great to see our friends from Herriot Country back in Kings Cross, to promote all things Herriot. Customers were invited to sample local produce, from chocolate to beer and even gin! We were also proud to sponsor their Flavours Awards where we sponsored Customer Service Team of the Year award.
Knaresborough Bed Race
The Great Knaresborough Bed Race is something different: it is part fancy dress pageant and part gruelling time trial over a 2.4 mile course, ending with a swim through the icy waters of the River Nidd.
First staged in 1966, Bed Race has spawned other similar events in the USA, Germany, New Zealand and elsewhere in the UK. It is great fun, an amazing spectacle and, being held in Yorkshire, a truly serious competitive effort, pitting teams against their fiercest rivals, their erstwhile friends or even against themselves.
In 2022 we sponsored a local scout team to take part in the event. The team completed the race with a very respectable time of 19.18 minutes in 40th place
The event has raised over £80,000 for charity since starting out in 1966.
Eaglescliffe Charity Run
The Locomation at Eaglescliffe hosts a charity run commemorating the running of the world’s first passenger railway, which ran from Shildon to Stockton on the 25th September 1825. The event has grown year on year and gains huge support from the local community, such as Paraylympian Baroness Tani Grey-Thompson and Stockton South MP Mat Vickers. Grand Central are proud to be a headline sponsor for the event which sofar has raised over £5k for the Great North Air Ambulance, £2k for Macmillan Cancer Support and £1k for the Butterwick Hospice Trust.
Grand Central ambassadors, Andy and Barbara.
Hepworth Event at Kings Cross
We hosted The Hepworth Gallery at Kings Cross, promoting travel with GC to Wakefield. With a competition giving customers the chance to win free travel and entry to the gallery exhibition. It was great to be out engaging with our customers and promoting GC and our partners.
Aesthetica Film Festival and Film Workshops
Back in November we took our long-standing partnership with Aesthetica Magazine to the next level. Hosting community film workshops, where young people were invited to learn how to make film from start to finish! We received such lovely feedback and look to continue with this project later this year.
“I just wanted to say a massive thank you for the workshop on Saturday, My son absolutely loved it! It is not often he is enthusiastic about anything, but he has not stopped talking about it since and had such an amazing time.”
“Thank you so much for the workshop yesterday - Billy and his friend Cooper loved it! They came home and straight away started making a film with their friends who were at our house. They were very inspired!”
Charity Fundraising for Meghan’s Rose of Hope
In December we auctioned an original nameplate from one of the Class 43’s that we named in Peter Fox’s honor.
We raised £1500 for Megan's Rose of Hope Charity, whose mission is to provide awareness and information while creating a network of support for a young person ages 11-25 diagnosed with cancer in the UK and their families/carers as well as fundraising to assist into research for cancer treatment.
