LONDON, 24 November: Sleigh hello to Southeastern’s very own Santa’s helper, Estelle Waters, who recycled 3,000 train tickets to deck the ticket halls of Ashford International and welcome passengers back to the railway this winter.
Thanks to three months of preparation Estelle created paper chains and tree decorations with a station centrepiece of a 4ft-high Wallace and Gromit, out of thousands of used tickets.
Having worked at the station as platform staff for nineteen years, Estelle wanted to bring Christmas cheer to its teams and passengers – while also inspiring them to get creative with recycling day-to-day items into their own decorations.
She said: “I thought, what can I make for nothing?”
“I’ve repurposed used tickets into trees, turned them into decorations to hang around the station entrance. It’s a bit of fun for passengers. I’ve tried to be creative, to make the station bright and cheerful and have been saving them since the beginning of the year instead of simply throwing them away.”
If you want to get into the sustainable spirit of Christmas like Estelle, why not check out The Key from Southeastern. With the contactless smartcard you can buy and download tickets at home for a paper-free fast-track through the Southeastern stations. Or even pick up the challenge yourself at home by turning used and recyclable items into Christmas decorations this festive season.
Estelle is not the first of Southeastern’s staff to bring joy to its passengers by recycling train tickets. This year, to mark London Pride and inspire onlookers, Guillermo Lamas Fripp, Station Team Leader for Southeastern at Charing Cross, created a dress of tickets to be worn around the central London station as part of a drag performance for Pride London raising money for the Terence Higgins Trust.
