Help for Heroes founders Bryn and Emma Parry joined East Midlands Managing Director, Tim Shoveller and guests to celebrate a significant milestone for the charity with a train naming event held today (Thursday 13 May) at St. Pancras International station.

The East Midlands Trains’ High Speed Train, today named ‘Help for Heroes’, has now become the first train in passenger service to be named after the charity and in addition to recognising the important work of Help for Heroes, will also help to raise the charity’s profile.

At the naming event, Tim Shoveller, Managing Director for East Midlands Trains, said: “We believe that this is a fitting tribute to a very worthy charity and we are delighted to have made it extra-special by naming one of our newly refurbished trains, in one of our most famous stations.

“Amongst the East Midlands Trains team, we have many ex-servicemen and women who have been fortunate to come through their experiences uninjured, but we know just how devastating the effects of war can be and we are very proud to be playing our part by naming this train.”

Bryn Parry, Co-founder of Help for Heroes, added: “I’m delighted to be here to see Emma officially unveil the plaque on the Help for Heroes train. We’re extremely grateful to Tim and to all at East Midlands Trains for this wonderful initiative. 

“I hope that the Help for Heroes train will carry the message across the country that we must care for and support our servicemen.”

Power car 43076 has been named ‘Help for Heroes’.  Following its naming, this power car will regularly run on the East Midlands Trains mainline route, covering key cities such as Leeds, Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham and Leicester.