The Railway Family Week will take place from the 24th to the 30th of April and is organised and hosted by the Railway Benefit Fund aims to raise funding and awareness of the good work carried out by the charity.

The first Railway Family Week took place in 2021 in a bid to unite the entire rail industry and raise £50,000 for the Railway Benefit Fund. This year’s event will also offer plenty of opportunities to take part and give your support to the Railway Family. Activities taking part during the week are as follows:

Big Railway Family Week Challenge:

Brand new for this year, the Big Railway Family Week Challenge will see the charity search for teams to help them cover the complete length of the country with activities such as walking, running or swimming – basically any form of physical activity. The teams will take part across a virtual route using the step challenge app which will show them moving across a map of the UK.

The challenge aims to encourage teams to work together across the industry in order to complete the distance and of course, a competitive element will be at play with the team who completes the most miles during the challenge winning a prize! Teams who have already committed to taking part include Freightliner, Amaro and RSSB.

To find out more about the Big Railway Family Week Challenge please visit: https://www.railwaybenefitfund.org.uk/bigchallenge/

Auction of Experiences:

Returning for 2023 is the Railway Benefit Funds’ well-loved Auction of Experiences which is currently active and features lots of money-can’t-buy experiences which can be bid for in order to raise funds. Some of the amazing prizes up for auction include:

• An Elizabeth line cab ride
• Behind-the-scenes station visits
• A tour of the British Transport Police dog school
• A day with Pete Waterman and his award-winning model railway

New experiences will be added each day and bidding will finish on Thursday the 4th of May.

To make a bid or to peruse the fantastic experiences on offer, please visit: https://go.eventgroovefundraising.com/auction2023

Hornby Daily Draw:

Each day of the Railway Family Week will see the Railway Benefit Fund give away an incredible Hornby prize – in order to take part in the draw all you need to do is purchase tickets which start at just £5. Every day one winner will be selected at random and a wonderful Hornby item will be sent to them.

To enter the draw, please visit: https://go.eventgroovefundraising.com/hornbydraw

Getting behind the Railway Family Week will support the rail industry which has seen an extremely difficult year with the Railway Benefit Fund seeing unprecedented numbers requiring its services. 2022 saw the charity support more than 1,000 railway people and their families using financial grants, debt advice and legal aid. Further to this impressive work, the Railway Benefit Fund has also launched a new Energy Fund which aims to support railway people with the cost-of-living crisis and the increasing price of energy costs.

Funds raised during the Railway Family Week will all go directly to support current, former and retired railway people and their families from all over the UK.

To find out more about the Railway Benefit Fund please visit: https://www.railwaybenefitfund.org.uk/news/railway-family-week-2023/

To donate to the Railway Benefit Fund, please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/railwayfamilyweek23