Oh they will like to be beside the seaside: Free trip for key workers
Coach companies in the West Midlands have launched a fundraising campaign to give key workers a free seaside day trip – once it is safe to do so.
Clarkes Travel, Kings Norton Coaches, Nash’s Coaches and Greenline Coaches have started a crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs of a trip to Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset.
They hope to provide free places for more than 100 NHS staff and other key workers to thank them for their efforts during the coronavirus crisis.
The trip will take place either this year or next year – either when the lockdown ends but passengers are still required to sit apart from each other, or if and when social distancing is lifted completely.
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James Clarke, 42, co-owner of Northfield-based Clarkes Travel, said the two-year old business regularly made trips to destinations like Weston-super-Mare, Blackpool and Barmouth.
But he said the company stopped getting bookings from March 13, as the Covid-19 crisis took hold.
He estimates the company has so far lost around £25,000 of business and he and co-owner Sarah Clarke, 44, his wife, are living on money they have saved.
Mr Clarke has since been using his 15-seater minibus to help the South Birmingham Community Food Hub pick up food donations from supermarket chains for vulnerable people in the community.
Fuel
His and other coach companies in the region put together the plan for the NHS and Key Workers Day Out following a talk in March.
They have set up a page on GoFundMe and are aiming to raise £1,000 to cover the companies’ costs, such as fuel.
Mr Clarke said the coaches would pick up passengers from various points in Birmingham and drop them off near Weston’s Grand Pier.
The key workers would then be able to spend the day in the seaside destination.
Mr Clarke, a father-of-two, said: “It’s something for key workers to look forward to. They will have been working all through the lockdown. We want to give something else back to the community.
“It came from a conversation we had back in March. We said ‘When we come out of this, can we do something?’.
“If people want to help us with the costs, it would be a massive help. We hope to have a fleet of coaches going down the M5 to Weston, which is a firm favourite with Brummies.
“It will hopefully be some time this year. The number of people we can take would depend on where we are with social distancing at that point.
“Each coach may only be able to take 20 to 25 people on.
“We would hope to take at least 100 key workers, but we would like to take a lot more.”
See the fundraiser at https://ca.gofundme.com/f/nhs-amp-key-workers-day-out
