Community

Taking Our Communities Places

We serve communities across South London, Sussex, Kent, Surrey and Hampshire and we are committed to supporting local communities across our network.

Art in the Community

FotoDocument, in partnership with Southern Railway, launched its inaugural series of photo essays at Brighton railway station, which highlight positive solutions to environmental issues. The yearlong exhibition is displayed on 40 large panels along the 70 meter east wall inside the station and is free to view.

FotoDocument is a unique Brighton-based arts education social enterprise, founded by photographers Nina Emett and Howard Davies, to showcase world-class documentary photography, which they believe has the power to inspire, to provoke thought and ultimately to initiate change.

The current exhibition includes work by Murray Ballard, a Brighton-based photographer who documents a mix of renewable technologies currently being developed in the UK including wind, tidal, hydro and solar.

Markel Redondo, a Spanish photographer, is also featured. Spain is a world leader in solar power technology and accounts for 40% of the world’s solar installations. Redondo’s photo essay maps the solar industry in Spain, including large-scale desert solar plants, the manufacturing processes of photovoltaic components as well as small-scale solar initiatives.

Community Sponsorship

Sussex County Cricket Community Programme

For the third year running, Southern is proud to be a sponsor of the Sussex County Cricket Community Programme, which helps young people get off the streets and play cricket, learning good behaviour, teamwork and healthy living through the sport. The partnership between Southern and the community programme is in its second year running and has been a great success with over 8000 young people being given the opportunity part in the sport every season.

To learn more about the programme and how you can benefit visit sussexcricket.co.uk/community.

VIYC Urban Dance Xplosion

Southern is sponsoring VIYC’s Urban Dance Xplosion at the Hawth Theatre in Crawley. Vision in Youth Collective is a group of young people aged 14 to 25 who were brought together by the Crawley Community Arts Team to enable them to have direct involvement in the arts activities provided for them. The Urban Dance Xplosion will give young people to showcase their talent and it will bring together young people from different backgrounds helping to promote community cohesion. For more information click here.

Community Fundraising

One way in which we can support the communities around our network is to support local fundraising events. We do this in several ways but one popular act of support is the donation of a raffle prize:

"Thank you for your support which is most appreciated."

“We've now totted up all the monies received from the raffle and we're thrilled to advise that, overall, it raised the fantastic sum of £1,350! This money will go towards the cost of permanent practice nets for the club which will particularly benefit our 200 strong junior section.”

“Thank you so much for your recent response to our plea for help – your generous donation means a very great deal to us in our attempt to raise £10,000."

If you would like to seek sponsorship from Southern, please contact us via our online sponsorship form. We only have a limited budget but we welcome applications from across our network.

Station Partnership Scheme

Established in 2009, our station partnership scheme has been a huge success. A station partnership is a commitment between Southern and a local group, individual or company to undertake projects at a station for the benefit of the local community, passengers and Southern stations. More information and find out how to apply.