Bure Valley Railway Ltd

Sector:  Other - Leisure
No.of Employees:  1-20
Region: East of England

Summary
Bure Valley Railway utilizes their core services - their staff and train - to make a positive impact on their community.  The company provides complementary train trips for chronically ill children and for charity events.

Background
Bure Valley Railway Ltd operates a nine-mile long narrow gauge heritage railway as an attraction for both locals and tourists.  The railway is based in Aylsham - a small historic market town with a population of approximately 6000.

Bure Valley Railway has achieved the CommunityMark standard.

How they do it

• Day out for disadvantaged groups.  The railway provides several 'day out' rail trips for different charity groups throughout the year.  For example, each winter they run the Christmas-time Samuel's Special for children with chronic illness and their families. 

• Fundraising for local and national charities.  In addition to providing trips for children, they also provide services for charity fundraisers.  From donating tickets to running a train service for walkers at the end of a charity walk, Bure Railway finds many ways to use their core service to help raise money for worthy causes.

• Promotion of the Market Town of Aylsham. The company is actively involved in the Aylsham Market Towns Initiative, attending meetings and manning the office one morning a week.  In addition representatives from the company sit on the board of the Aylsham Traders Association, a group which encourages local residents to shop locally.

Business Benefits

• Increased local profile.  Bure has benefited so much from the positive press generated by their community involvement that some of the company advertising budget to has been redirected to their community programs.
  
• Access to new markets.  Since running the Samual's Special trips for chronically ill children Bure Valley has received many bookings from disabled groups.  Running the annual Samual's Special has prepared both the staff and facility to accommodate disabled groups.
  
• Increased staff morale.  In a staff survey 100% of staff reported that participating Bure Valley's community programs increased their personal job satisfaction.