Birthday Bus Fundraiser
One of the pupils at Arbour Vale School had an unexpected birthday surprise. Harrison, who avidly follows the community transport buses that bring him to school, was honoured by having a bus named after him when he fundraised £1550 for Slough Community Transport.
Harrison, who turned 15 at the beginning of November, asked friends and family to make a donation to Slough Community Transport instead of sending him a birthday card.
Mum Denise said, “Harrison loves the buses but doesn’t like celebrating his birthday and so we decided to ask our friends and family to make a small donation rather than send a card or present. Harrison has been checking the Go Fund Me page every day and we have been overwhelmed by the response.”
Harrison wrote to the BBC Children’s TV programme Blue Peter about his fundraising campaign and was sent a Blue Peter badge to mark his achievement, which he wore proudly when he presented a cheque for the money raised to the Mayor of Slough, Councillor Mohammed Nazir and Steph Simonetti, Operations Manager for Slough Community Transport.
Steph said, “We are very reliant on donations to keep the fleet running and we have a vehicle that was funded by the Department for Transport that was not yet named. So when we heard about Harrison’s birthday fundraiser, we thought he deserved to have his name on the bus.”
Neil Sykes, Principal of Arbour Vale School, said: “Harrison is a real credit to his family and the school. It is fantastic that he has been able to raise so much money that will go towards such a good cause.”
The buses are not just used to take pupils like Harrison to and from school, but they also provide the elderly with a safe, reliable means of transport and by other community groups.
When school is finished for the day Harrison likes to keep a check on the buses via the Slough Council web cams and even likes to visit the depot on a Sunday. He says his favourite bus is ‘Olympian’ which brings him to school every day but he will now be able to keep track of his namesake ‘Harrison’ as it travels around the community.
