The Railway Children

This is a very special account for a very special charity that has been working internationally on behalf of street children over the last five years. The Railway Children’s special purpose is to make early contact with homeless children who are running away from abusive family situations, being sent into cities to earn money for desperate families or who have been abandoned or orphaned, many as a result of civil conflict or AIDS.

The Railway Children work with local partners on railway or bus stations worldwide where many of these children first arrive and then fall victim to criminals who wickedly exploit them. It currently has eighteen partner projects in Great Britain, India, Romania, Mexico and Kenya. Social workers and street educators (often themselves former street children) are funded to contact and befriend the street children at the station and seek to reunite them with their families. If this is impossible or undesirable, the project will attempt to place them with a caring organisation that will provide shelter, food, health care, education, vocational training and love.

The Railway Children works through dedicated individuals like the Irish Catholic nurse, Edith Wilkins, who has devoted her life in service to such children in Calcutta for nearly twenty years. Edith’s latest venture, funded by the Railway Children, care for over thirty abandoned young girls of 5 – 15 years of age found sleeping rough on Calcutta’s Howrah station. They were at grave risk of sexual molestation, rape and forced prostitution; these girls earned a few rupees as domestic drudges for slum families during the day. This is typical of the estimated 200,000 such children in Calcutta alone and an estimated 100 million worldwide (UNICEF 1993).

The cry for help goes beyond anything the Railway Children can resource but for each child reached, it makes a total difference.

You can help to make a difference. For every £100 you invest the Society will pay £1 to the Railway Children

Railway Children Affinity Account

No Penalty for Quick Access

Invest from £1

Save what you like when you like. Ideal for regular or lump sum savings – you choose, it is so simple. You can start with a minimum investment of £1 and as your savings reach £2,500, £10,000 or £30,000 we will pay you an increasing rate of interest on the entire balance. The more you have, the higher the interest rate. Maximum investment is £150,000.

Interest

Interest is paid yearly on 31st December.

Check the current interest rates.

You can choose to have this income sent to you or to your bank account or you can leave it to accumulate in your Affinity Account where it will become part of the capital and thus earn interest. You select whichever method suits you best and you can switch in the future, if your needs change.

Quick Access No Penalties

You can access your money immediately by calling at the Society’s office or by return of post during normal business hours. There is no minimum withdrawal amount, but any requests for cash will be subject to the encashment limit prevailing at the time. Just forward your passbook to the Society with your withdrawal request.

If your investment balance moves into another level, we will adjust the interest rate automatically.

Opening your Railway Children Affinity Account

Inland Revenue form R85 is available on request for personal investors who have no tax liability. From the date of registration the Society can pay gross interest. Personal Investors who become non taxpayers after opening their account may also request and register form R85 in order to earn gross interest.

There are three easy methods available:-

1. You can add to or withdraw from your account by calling at our Westminster office.
2. By post. Just use the FREEPOST envelope and let us have your written instructions together with your passbook.
3. If you wish to save regularly we can let you have a standing order mandate to give instructions to your bank. You select the amount and the date; your bank will make tranfsers regularly once it has your instructions.