The train operator asked its 7,000 employees to nominate charitable causes in their local communities to receive a slice of the £10,000 that was up for grabs.

£500 grants to support on-going activity have been awarded to:

• Activity Den in Tanfield Lea and Stanley, County Durham
• Asylum Link in Liverpool, Merseyside
• Children’s Book Project in Leeds, West Yorkshire
• Dad Social North East in Durham, County Durham
• Deysbrook Village Centre in Liverpool, Merseyside
• Encephalitis International in Manchester, Greater Manchester and Newcastle, Tyne & Wear
• Friends of Millhouse School in Sheffield, South Yorkshire
• Greenbank Giants Boccia Club in Liverpool, Merseyside
• Hygiene Bank in York, North Yorkshire
• Lancaster Civic Society in Lancaster, Lancashire
• Maverick Lab in Rochdale, Greater Manchester
• Pelton Youth Project in Chester-Le-Street, County Durham
• Positility in Harrogate, North Yorkshire
• Street Treats in Manchester, Greater Manchester
• Thrivin’ Together in Leeds, West Yorkshire
• Walbottle Village Primary School in Newcastle, Tyne & Wear
• Youth Practitioner Service across County Durham

Individual project grants were also awarded to:

• New Horizons in Marple, Greater Manchester (£150) – to support maintenance of an accessible canal barge used by disabled groups to enjoy the countryside
• Space4Autism in Macclesfield, Cheshire (£408) – to enable a group of 25 young people to visit an art gallery as part of an art project they have been working towards
• Snape Men’s Shed in Snape, North Yorkshire (£492) – to purchase tools for woodwork craft lessons designed to combat social isolation
• Yorkshire Coast Sight Support in Scarborough, North Yorkshire (£450) – to purchase plants and gardening equipment for a new sensory ‘yarden’ (a garden without grass)

Carolyn Watson, director of stakeholder and community engagement at Northern, said:

“These grants were all about supporting local causes across the North of England– and who better to advise us on the groups and projects that can really make a difference than our own employees, who live and work right across the length and breadth of our network.

“Worth a combined £10,000, these grants will help small, local groups deliver work in their communities that will have a real impact.”

In September (2024), Northern awarded £100,000 from its Customer & Community Improvement Fund to eleven community projects working to improve social mobility across its network.

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.