A new campaign titled “Destination Wellbeing” has been created in partnership between Northern’s ‘Year in Industry’, which is a placement scheme for University students and Leeds-Morecambe Community Rail Partnership.

The campaign was officially launched in Leeds on July the 3rd, with posters now on display in the stations of the Bentham Line and also on social media in a bid to promote wellbeing.

The aim of the campaign is to encourage the railway to build passenger’s well-being in a project which sees five different themes linked to locations on the Bentham Line (Leeds to Morecambe route) including:

• Embracing Culture for Leeds
• Exploring our Heritage for Saltaire
• Getting Active for Clapham
• Reconnecting with Friends for Lancaster
• The Great Outdoors for Morecambe

Students taking part in the Year in Industry scheme have drawn up itineraries for the five locations focusing on attractions on The Bentham Line in a bid to promote leisure travel whilst improving passenger’s wellbeing with a fantastic planned day out.

Loneliness and isolation are very much a focus of the campaign, which has been inspired by the university student’s personal experiences during the lockdown in 2020, which fell at the start of their undergraduate studies.

The campaign has developed to support local communities of the Bentham Line, including Leeds, Lancaster and Bradford, with the overall hope of inspiring people to use train travel as a way to boost their wellbeing.

Claire Weir, Talent Development Manager at Northern Trains Ltd said: “I always feel surprised by the speed of the passage of time, but none more so than this year as already our hard-working Year In Industry students are nearing the end of their time with us. Last September, I welcomed Beth, Adam H, Adam L, Ibrahim, Hamish, Ben, David, Archie, Patrick, Sam and Jasdeep and set them off with their line managers into the world of professional work on the Railway. They’ve worked hard both in their roles and on their project with Gerald and Brian from the Community Rail Partnership, and now we are sending them back off to university to finish their degrees. I know I speak on behalf of all their teams, saying that they’ve been a pleasure to have in the business and they have shown maturity and a work ethic beyond their years. I wish them well in their final year and hope to see some of them return to us on the Graduate programme in a year’s time. Well done to you all. You are a credit to yourselves, your families and your universities!”

Posters for the campaign have been designed by artist Alastair Nicholson of Earthworks, who has worked with the Bentham Line Community Rail Partnership many times before. The students have worked hard to make sure that the poster’s key themes emphasise the improvement of wellbeing. The posters are also available in booklet form, including an itinerary for each location on the Bentham Line Community Rail Partnership website, which can be reached by clicking here.

Gerald Townson, Chairman of the Leeds-Morecambe Community Rail Partnership, said: “It has been a real pleasure to welcome Northern’s latest cohort of Year-in-Industry students from across the country to the Bentham Line and introduce them to the world of Community Rail. Their ‘Destination Wellbeing’ project genuinely reflects their wish to support those whose lives have been changed by the pandemic and encourage them to use the railway to develop a positive outlook on life once again; especially their fellow students who have had challenging and very different experiences of university life in recent times. Everyone here at the Bentham Line wishes the students ‘all the best’ as they return to complete their degrees and begin their chosen careers.”

The eleven third-year students who have taken part in the campaign’s development have worked with Northern Trains Ltd and are studying subjects including Business and Management, Geography and Mathematics.