A CHARITY DEDICATED TO RAILWAY PEOPLE

RMTnews :: november 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 26 Almost 150 years on and the Railway Benefit Fund, remains the only charity devoted entirely to active and retired railway employees and their families and is still fulfilling its original stated purpose: “To provide some form of care and financial aid to needy railway personnel”. There have been, and are now, many thousands of railway families with reason to be thankful for the foresight of those early railway workers who saw the need for such an organisation. Mr C, a Merseyrail ticket inspector with eight years service, would agree. Married, he has recently been diagnosed as having terminal cancer. Further treatment is not an option. His wife has also undergone an operation for breathing difficulties and, on her return home from hospital, will need a long period of convalescence during which her husband will be in decline. Prior to Mr C’s illness the couple had carried out a number of extensive repairs to their home and borrowed to cover the cost. Because of the money owed and the very uncertain future the RBF made a grant of £1,000 to alleviate some of the financial burden and obvious worry. DICKENS Charles Dickens, as one of the organisation’s first presidents in 1867, drew public attention to the debt owed by railway travellers and the railway industry to its staff “in their hazardous and dangerous form of employment”. In the years following and up to the present time the RBF has pursued the same aims and has been supported financially by all grades of staff as well as the trade unions and management. According to RBF chairman David Allen, a former director of finance with British Rail, many are surprised there is still a need for on organisation such as the RBF in the modern rail industry. “I can assure you there is. We get requests for financial assistance beyond that which we can possibly support. “And we know there is a great deal more real hardship out there caused by illness, loss of work, a breakdown of a relationship, or by the effect of rising costs on older pensioners. A lot of people need our help,” he said. GRANTS One of those people was Billy Davies, a signalman from Shrewsbury, whose five- year-old son Edward is severely autistic. The RBF provided a grant of £3,300 to help Edward obtain specialist treatment at the world-leading Boston Autism Treatment Centre in the USA. As a result Edward has gone, in the words of his Dad, “from being a totally non-verbal child unable to make eye contact to a boy who is laughing, has some language to express himself and can light up a room with his beautiful smile”. Another was Mr S, a conductor with First Transpennine Express for six years, who has separated from his partner. Complications with his old home arose as a result of the split. Moving out and into rented accommodation involved a great deal of expense. This resulted in financial hardship A CHARITY DEDICATED Founded in 1858, the Railway Benefit Fund (RBF) has stuck steadfastly to its motto - looking after our own