Year 6 students from Bradford‘s Woodside Academy’s school trip was rescued as Northern travel adviser Lianna Bartle stepped in to help.

58 students and staff members from Woodside Academy were disappointed as their end-of-term trip to London was cancelled due to the heatwave. Lianna whose daughter attends the school was saddened on hearing the news and decided to see if Northern could help.

The rail operator who had also supported schools in Ilkley taking part in a planter competition, jumped at the chance to help the children and provided them with a free trip to York where they took a walking tour of the city’s historical sights, enjoyed a river cruise and of course visited the National Railway Museum.

Lianna said: “It made me feel so happy. The kids had gone through so much in lockdown and missed so much, I was so pleased I could help and get them a day out. They were so happy and so were the staff at the school and the parents.

“My daughter is only in Year 3, so she wasn’t involved, I just wanted to make all these sad children happy.”

Due to the trip being saved, staff and students were able to create some fantastic memories together ahead of the children moving up to secondary school this September.

Tony Baxter, regional director at Northern said: “I would like to say a huge well done to Lianna and the team for pulling together to save the day for these pupils to create lasting memories before they attend secondary school next year.

“At Northern, we are proud to be a part of the communities we serve and aim to make a positive impact for the North.”

As the country’s second-largest rail operator, Northern runs approximately 2,000 services each day to over 500 stations throughout the North of England.