Joanne's train trip for charity (From Gazette Series)

Joanne's train trip for charity

A CAM woman who was struck down with meningitis last year is organising a charity train trip to raise awareness of the disease.

Heartland Rail, which is run by Joanne Parcell and her husband Adrian, have organised the trip from Wolverhampton to Minehead on Saturday, September 24 as the grand finale of Meningitis Awareness Week to raise vital funds for the Meningitis Research Foundation.

"I had bacterial meningitis in July last year and I was quite poorly," said Mrs Parcell, of Brooklands.

"My brother was desperate to find out more information about the disease and he found that the Meningitis Research Foundation were wonderful. They told him what would happen and what was going on.

"When I came out of hospital I suffered from side effects and I found that the foundation helpline was reassuring.

"The charity don't get any money and are self funding and rely on donations. That is why we decided to do something. We have already raised £3,000 from onboard raffles from previous trips we have organised. The idea behind this trip is that it will not only raise a substantial amount of money but perhaps more importantly raise awareness of the illness and its symptoms. The charity is delighted that we are going to do this for them."

She continued: "If we have a full train and it goes to plan we should be looking at getting near to the £20,000, which would be perfect.

"We are getting a really good response to the trip so far - the train can take around 500 people, and people are coming from a wide area. The train starts at Wolverhampton and stops at Cam and Dursley and Yate stations. People will get four hours in Minehead to do what they want. The idea is that it is a real family day out. The atmosphere will be great."

Mrs Parcell added: "We hope that it all goes well because the charity really is a good cause."

For more information on the trip call 0845 607 6395 or visit www.heartlandrail.com.