Govia Thameslink Railway has announced that a member of the Elstree & Borehamwood platform staff has hit 80 not-out, as he is honoured for his international cricket career and 57 years on the railway.

Thameslink’s oldest member of staff has worked on the railways for 57 years and is still playing cricket for England at the age of 80!

Siggy Cragwell gets up at 4am to do the 6-11am shift as a platform assistant and then goes to the gym to practise Tai Chi and Taekwondo.

He’s played for London University, a Thames TV side and has 14 caps to his name.

Siggy came to Britain from Barbados aged 23 as part of the Windrush generation.

What did the officials say?

Siggy said:

“I remember it was strange because it was very cold. They paid for everything, found us somewhere to live and we paid it back as we worked.”

“They needed someone with experience because the station was getting busier and busier,” he said. He’s been there ever since and is known by hundreds of commuters.

“I used to see them coming through the station when there were seven or eight; now they are big men or women, taller than me, with children of their own.

“What I like is mixing with people and conversing with them, getting to know them. I have hundreds of friends and I don’t even know their names. Even the youngest come looking for me.”

“I retired once when I was 65 but came back to work four weeks later. I was never a pub man, a smoker or a betting shop man so there was nothing for me to do. I play a lot of cricket, sometimes three times a week, and I think if I can do that I can work. I can’t sit at home and do nothing.”

This year his cricket club held a testimonial match for him and named the end of the ground in his honour. “We lost by two runs, but it was fabulous,” he said. “Lots of people from the station came to see me play. That was special.”

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