Funding from Tube Lines sends gymnasts dancing for joy

The Tower Hamlets School’s gym and dance display team received a £300 donation from the Tube Lines Community Support Fund. The donation helped to boost its fundraising efforts and fund a trip to China to perform in the Macau International Youth Dance Festival – a dream come true for the team.

 

As athletes and gymnasts from across the globe head to China for the Olympic Games, young dancers and gymnasts are just returning from the dance festival. The festival brings together groups from around the world and gives them a chance to showcase their talents on an international stage. The TowerHamletsSchool’s gym and dance display team, a registered charity, gives children the opportunity to take part in general gymnastics, dance and small apparatus work.

 

Sheree Ali, the daughter of a Tube Lines Escalator Services driver, Mehmet Ali, has been a long-standing member of the team which has represented Great Britain on a number of occasions at the World Gymnaestradas and the Eurogym Cultural Festivals hosted across Europe. The team has also performed in the Millennium Dome for Remembrance Day, the Royal Albert Hall, Lord Mayor’s Shows and Trafalgar Square for the Queen’s Commonwealth Relay Baton.

 

Mehmet regularly helps out with the team’s fundraising and transports dancers to events. He applied to the Community Support Fund to help the team fund its trip to China. The aim of Tube Lines’ Community Support Fund is to support its employees who help out with good causes through fundraising, volunteering or personal donations. The fund channels money raised through recycling the newspapers left on the Tube to the various charities and community groups its own employees support. Since the fund started in early 2007, Tube Lines has donated over £29,000.

 

Mehmet Ali said:

“I think its great Tube Lines has a scheme in place to support employees who help good causes. My daughter and her team are so thrilled to have been to China – such an opportunity doesn’t come along every day, and with the help of the Community Support Fund this trip was possible. Who knows, maybe one day the team will compete at the Olympic Games!”

 

Louise Brooker-Carey, Director of Communications at Tube Lines, who chairs the Community Support Fund, said:

“The Community Support Fund is part of Tube Lines’ commitment to giving back to the community. We are delighted to be able to support our employees like Mehmet who give their free time to support such good causes and will continue to do so in the future.”

ENDS

For further information, please contact:
Press office, Tube Lines: 020 7088 4848 / 07843 551 589

Notes to Editors

1. Tube Lines is responsible for the maintenance and upgrade of the infrastructure on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. London Underground is responsible for operating the Underground, for employing drivers and station staff, for ticketing and fares, and for the Tube’s safety regime.
2. The Tube Lines consortium consists of two shareholders – Amey and Bechtel. They bring together some of the most experienced providers of business services with specialist skills in the rail industry, including track and signal renewals, plus project and operational management. They are providing some of the best project and operational managers from around the world to work on the modernisation of the Tube system. Amey owns two-thirds of Tube Lines’ business and Bechtel one third.

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