Abellio Greater Anglia has shown its support for the local community in Essex by helping to make a jazz evening a success.

The Mayor of Southend-on-Sea, Cllr Andrew Moring, hosted Jazz by the Sea, on Friday 7 August at the Thames Estuary Yacht Club.

The train operator donated £250, which covered the cost of the Bryan Williamson five-piece jazz band, which played to a packed crowd on the night.

The event was held in aid of the Mayor’s chosen charities – the Samaritans and The Southend Community Fund.

Sir David commented: “I was delighted that Abellio Greater Anglia agreed to sponsor this event here in Southend, in aid of the Mayor’s Charity event.”

He continued, “It is wonderful to see that Abellio are making greater efforts to support local initiatives within the communities which they serve by rail. The Jazz band was an absolute hit and we would not have been able to do it without the support from Abellio Greater Anglia.”

Paul Oxley, Partnerships Manager at Abellio Greater Anglia, said: "We were delighted to be given the opportunity to support the mayor's Jazz by the Sea charity event. Both the Southend Samaritans and the Southend Community Fund are fantastic causes and we were pleased to hear that the event was a complete success."

Ends

Notes to Editors

For further information about this press release, please ring the Abellio Greater Anglia Press Office on +44 (0)1206 363955. For urgent or out-of-office hours calls, please leave a message by ringing +44 (0)7798 857385. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can. All recent press releases can be found on the Abellio Greater Anglia website at: www.abelliogreateranglia.co.uk

About Abellio Greater Anglia

The Abellio Greater Anglia franchise began operating on 5 February 2012. It provides intercity, commuter and rural services throughout the region including the Stansted Express service.

Abellio Greater Anglia is responsible for almost 3,000 employees and operates 1,900 train services per day. It services 167 stations and carries two million passengers a week.

About Abellio

Abellio is an international public transport company which delivers rail and bus services to over one million passengers every day across the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic. In the UK Abellio operates the rail companies Merseyrail*, Northern Rail*, ScotRail, Abellio Greater Anglia and the bus companies Abellio London & Surrey. In mainland Europe, Abellio operates bus and rail contracts in several federal states in Germany through Abellio Deutschland and bus contracts in the Czech Republic through Probo Bus.

*In a 50:50 joint venture with Serco

For more information on Abellio, please visit www.abellio.com