News
Silverlink County has given its backing to Driver Manager Guy Santos, 42, in his bid to raise money for the Hospice by turning his Volkswagen Camper Van into a train!!
The 1970 VW Type 2 Bay Window Camper Van has been painted in Silverlink County livery by volunteers from Silverlink’s top performing maintenance depot at First Avenue in Bletchley, with materials provided by Silverlink’s Fleet Manager.
The “facelift” was completed on Friday 29 September, when the new-look VW was put on display outside Bletchley station. Later that evening Guy started the drive down to Brighton to join the Brighton Breeze – the annual UK Vintage Volkswagen Rally. Thousands of proud owners showed off their vintage vehicles on Madeira Drive on the sea front. It is there that Guy, with his vehicle, resplendent in its eye-catching Silverlink livery and the Hospice’s Jubilee logo drew the crowd’s attention to its owner’s appeal for funds.
Guy, still a qualified train driver who has been based at Bletchley for 19 years and who now manages other train drivers, came up with the idea following the care provided to a conductor-guard colleague from Silverlink who recently passed away at Willen Hospice.
“All of us at Silverlink were terribly affected by our colleague’s illness and death, but extremely impressed by the fantastic way in which he was looked after at Willen. Many of us wanted to do something to help the hospice and I thought that, as I was having my VW stripped down anyway for a re-paint, I could, before the final strip-down, “disguise” it in Silverlink colours and use the novelty factor to raise funds for the hospice from colleagues, VW rally-goers and the general public. The senior Managers at Silverlink have been very supportive and I am really grateful to my colleagues at Bletchley Maintenance depot for giving up their spare time to help complete the re-paint and – most difficult of all – get the Silverlink logo correct. But everyone knows this is in a good cause and the proceeds of what I hope will be a successful fund-raising activity will all be down to team effort. And yes – we are having some fun while we are at it which is just what our late colleague Jo would have wanted.”
Guy was given a rousing send off by his colleagues outside Bletchley station on the afternoon of Friday 29 September, while Route Director Mark Steward started the fundraising by presenting a cheque for £300 on behalf of Silverlink to Christopher Eyes, Chief Executive of Willen Hospice.
To make a donation to Guy please visit http://www.justgiving.com/silverlinkcamper
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