Bus operator at Romford bus garage raises £100,000 for cancer charity

‘Martyn’s bus’ has been serving east London since 2018 (Credit: Macmillan Cancer Support)

A major bus operator, based at Romford bus garage, are celebrating hitting a fundraising milestone of £100,000 for a cancer support charity.

Stagecoach London have been raising money several ways since 2018 including quizes, football tournaments, marathons and coffee mornings – with all funds going to Macmillan Cancer Support. In August, they hit their fundraising target and have now surpassed that.

The chosen charity is in memory of a colleague Martyn Henderson, who died of the disease in 2017. Martyn was a passionate supporter of Macmillan, as a result of the support and care he received from them.

A working double decker memorial bus was dedicated to him and is branded in Macmillan’s famous green. It’s been serving east London since 2018, and operates route 86 between Stratford and Romford, where Martyn was based.

To mark their fundraising milestone, Stagecoach London has upgraded Martyn’s bus to showcase the support available from Macmillan, in multiple languages. On-board dual-language adverts now promote Macmillan’s support resources in Bengali, Mandarin, Ukrainian and many more besides.

Macmillan Relationship Fundraising Manager, Paul Lyons said: “Stagecoach London employees know no bounds when getting stuck into fundraising and giving back to Macmillan. From football and golf tournaments to marathons and Macmillan Coffee Mornings, Stagecoach London has raised a massive £102,000.

“£100,000 means that we could have funded a Macmillan nurse for 3,000 hours. Now, 3,000 hours isn’t easy to calculate so that’s 19 months – that’s a fantastic achievement! It could also mean that we could fund 340 grants for Macmillan and that means 340 people who phone in and need support at the vital time of diagnosis or going through their diagnosis, we could donate £300 to them.”

“And it’s not just vital funds that Stagecoach has delivered! They transformed one of their classic London red buses into a ‘Macmillan’ bus; wrapped in our charity’s iconic green branding and displaying information on how to access cancer support from Macmillan.
Inside the bus, there are now dual language adverts so that all the communities Stagecoach serves know that Macmillan is here for everyone with cancer!

“Thank-you Stagecoach for doing whatever it takes to support people living with cancer.”

Stagecoach London Managing Director, Paul Lynch said: “I’m extremely proud of our people and the efforts they’ve all put into fundraising for Macmillan over the last five years. To reach our £100,000 target five months early was a fantastic achievement – it’s a reflection of how hard everyone has worked and how generous our people have been. As we have events planned for next year too, I’m pleased to announce that we will be extending our partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support until the end of 2024.”