GIFTS for clients at Christmas is an established part of the corporate culture - but one rail consultancy has decided to spread the seasonal goodwill beyond the office.
Atkins Rail, the largest rail engineering specialist in the UK, chose to donate £2,000 earmarked for festive perks to Railway Children.
The idea came from regional director Lindsay Vamplew, a long-standing supporter of the scheme to help homeless youngsters around the world.
Like many people, Mr Vamplew was shocked by statistics which show 100,000 children run away from home every year in the UK.
Many end up congregating around rail and bus depots but there are currently only two hostels, both backed by Railway Children in Glasgow and in Gloucester, allocated specifically for under-16s.
As well as working at home, the Crewe-based charity is also involved in projects abroad in countries like India and Russia, where juvenile homelessness is a massive problem.
Tom McCreery, manager at Atkins' Crewe office, has seen first-hand some of the appalling conditions Delhi's street children live in and strongly backs his firm's support of the charity.
He said: 'I have worked with India's rail authorities quite a bit on projects backed by Atkins and, when you travel from station to station, you really are confronted by some shocking scenes.
'In Delhi, it is normal to see very young children drinking and washing themselves in gutters. It is very hard to accept how basics we take for granted, like fresh water, can be so scarce.
'The difficulty is, however much it tugs at your heart strings, you know putting your hand in your pocket will not do anything to solve the problem.
'That is why we fully support projects like Railway Children, which put money and resources to their best use.
'As a lifelong railway man, I obviously have a lot of reason to focus on issues concerning railways.'
The charity's fundraising manager, Julia Worthington, said she could guarantee the money would go a long way towards helping thousands of children.
She said: 'We are thrilled to bits with Atkins' contribution - it came as a bolt from the blue and is such a worthy thing for them to do.
'Unfortunately, railway stations are where many young homeless people end up and we back projects all over which provide them with food, shelter and protection.
'We are helping pay teachers in India on £250 a year, or a child can be fed three times a day for a month on just £11 - this money can do a lot of good.'
She also said money was desperately needed to help the group identify and fund more projects in the UK where its expertise could be useful.
She said: 'In the past six months, we have rolled out a strategy to vastly extend our work in the UK. We need all the help we can get so we can get involved in existing schemes and really make a difference to more children's lives than ever before.'
December was a bumper month for the charity. As well as the donation from Atkins, it raised £17,000 from Christmas card sales and has been chosen by the Independent on Sunday as beneficiary of its Christmas appeal.
