Nottingham Express Transit’s 20th anniversary acts of kindness campaign launched last year saw the organisation raise more than £15,000 for a range of local charities and community initiatives.
Their 2024 Charity of the Year was Nottingham Central Women’s Aid. They raised almost £2,000 during a “walk the network” initiative in May, which saw 30 members of the team walking along the tram network for over 13 miles from Hucknall to Clifton South. Funds were also raised at a Family Fun Day in August, and at Christmas a tram was transformed into Santa’s grotto which welcomed 14 children and their mothers (who are supported by the charity) for an afternoon of festive fun.
But it wasn’t just about the official charity of the year as NET team members were also encouraged to nominate their own chosen charities and take part in individual fundraising efforts. This including supporting a fundraiser by 13 year old Lillie for the Brain Tumour Charity, a cause nominated by network controller Lee Wood. Experience Agent John-Paul Redman also raised £950 for When You Wish Upon a Star by walking 1,185 miles in 127 days.
Other fundraising completed included:
- £2,000 for Our Dementia Choir thanks to external fundraising efforts by Jacob Gadd, son of tram driver Alun Gadd. This will be NET’s 2025 Charity of the Year.
- £700 towards Step Out Stay Out
- £1,200 to Aspley Food Bank
- £1,000 to Strelley Fun Day
- £1,000 to Operational Polarised, an initiative in partnership with Nottinghamshire Police to support Nottingham’s youths aged seven to 17
Rebecca Horne, Business Engagement Manager at NET, said: “2024 has been a really strong year for us in terms of fundraising and we’re incredibly proud of the amount raised for so many worthy local causes. Central Women’s Aid, our charity of the year for 2024, was chosen by our colleagues and it’s been fantastic to see how much of a collaborative effort the team has put in to support them. Last year we also saw many of our colleagues undertake their own charitable work in support of a range of causes, and we will continue to champion this in years to come.”
As well as raising funds for charity, 2024 also saw NET retain its Disability Confident Accreditation and also strengthen their ties with local charities to improve accessibility across its network. Alongside work with visual communication experts Widgit, which saw the implementation of explanatory images and symbols on NET trams, the team has also worked closely with the Nottingham Sight Loss Council (NSLC) to improve accessibility through the development of audio guides and app accessibility.
This saw the NSLC visit the depot at Wilkinson Street. Other groups also visited the depot during 2024, including Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue who held a training session and females were invited to learn more about the industry at NET’s Women in Engineering Open Day.
NET also saw a dedicated team engage with over 2,500 students across Nottinghamshire. This included presentations from staff about life as a tram driver, attending careers fairs and highlighting the importance of safety on the network. Three new safety films were launched in 2024.
Rebecca concluded: “As a core part of Nottingham’s infrastructure, our teams have the pleasure of being embedded into the city’s communities every day, and being able to give back to these communities is something that’s really important to us. Through our charity and community work, we’re able to see first-hand the positive effect that support can have on the causes that need it the most, and we look forward to building on this further in 2025.”