Marathon train-ing: CrossCountry colleagues collect over £5.5k for charity

Train company CrossCountry, which operates rail services between Birmingham and Manchester, have today revealed the results of unique charity collections pioneered by colleagues across the route.

When Lee Broadbent joined CrossCountry, his contract said that his role would be to serve passengers with snacks and refreshment from the onboard trolleys. Since joining the company in 2018, though, he’s made it much more than that.

Over the last two months, Lee has personally collected more than £4,000 for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity through fundraising on board whilst taking the trolley down the train – adding to the thousands of pounds raised for various charities over the last few years. 

Working with CrossCountry HQ in 2020, Lee developed a method to collect charity donations onboard with cash or card – using the same technology as the till on his trolley.

Putting the fabled train tannoy to extra use, Lee follows his usual catering updates with a detailed announcement about the history and purpose of the charity of the day, as well as how donations are collected using the tech from the trolley – donations are registered as a sale through a normal card machine and kept separately from the till takings.

Passengers have been very generous – Lee is typically able to collect more than £400 in a week of up to 20 journeys – with over £4,000 collected by him personally over the last two months. Customers have praised Lee’s thoughtful and authentic approach during his tannoy announcements.

Lee was inspired to investigate how he could do more for charity while at work after his friend and daughter passed away during the pandemic.

Lee Broadbent, a CrossCountry Retail Service Manager based in Manchester, said: “Losing both my daughter and a close friend in the last few years gave me the push I needed to help those less fortunate than me however I could – and it’s such a privilege to be able to do this at the same time as my day job.

“I want to thank my colleagues and managers for their incredible support to help make this possible, as well of course for the enormous generosity of the wonderful passengers on my trains – you make me feel fantastic.”

Lee’s latest cause is supporting Birmingham-based colleague Liz Bradley, who yesterday (Sunday 27 April) ran the London Marathon on behalf of Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, in memory of her friends’ daughter Lottie.

Liz completed the race yesterday with a time of 4 hours 39 minutes, having raised an incredible £5,840 from onboard collections by Lee and other colleagues, including a £500 donation by CrossCountry. This brings her fundraising total to an astounding £8,386 so far.

Liz Bradley, a CrossCountry First Class Host based in Birmingham, said: “I was honoured to have the opportunity to the run the London Marathon for the amazing Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, in memory of my friend’s little girl, Lottie, who sadly passed away to Mitochondria disease.”

“Without the help of Lee and the generosity of our passengers, our donation wouldn’t go nearly as far to help children who need it the very most – I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Based at Manchester, Lee works on CrossCountry routes to Birmingham, Bristol, and even further afield – and with the help of colleagues from the team at Manchester, there’s more chances than ever for passengers to make a donation onboard.

To donate to Liz’s JustGiving page, visit www.justgiving.com/page/lizzie-ganders-1732349074069

To find out more about working at CrossCountry, visit www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/crosscountry-careers