LNER Cooks Up A Storm For Charity With New Cookbook

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) has launched its first charity cookbook, bringing together delicious recipes created by colleagues from across the UK during the pandemic. 

Cooking for CALM is the culmination of efforts by colleagues, many of whom were stood down from their duties in March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic caused the country to go into lockdown. With a lack of key ingredients, such as yeast and flour, the team experimented at home with what they could get their hands on. 

The cookbook contains an eclectic collection of recipes which have been specially collated to provide inspiration in the kitchen, whilst raising vital funds for LNER’s charity partner, Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). Each recipe has been donated by LNER colleagues or from communities along the East Coast route. 

LNER Managing Director David Horne said: “Cooking for CALM is the first LNER cookbook and brings together recipes from right across our route. Many of the recipes have been developed and created over the course of 2020, when many of us found ourselves with more time to experiment in the kitchen and with a shortage of basic ingredients.  

“We are delighted that proceeds from sales of the cookbook will go to support CALM, which undertakes incredibly important work in supporting those who have hit crisis point.” 

CALM is leading a movement against suicide. Every week 125 people in the UK take their own lives. The charity works tirelessly to change this and anyone purchasing Cooking for CALM is joining the campaign and enabling CALM to reach even more people in the need of support, raising vital funds at an already difficult time for all. 

LNER Chefs Gavin Dicks from Newcastle, Jacqueline Harbert from Leeds and Richard Ogden from Doncaster alongside LNER Train Manager Samantha Froude from Leeds have been the driving force behind the project. Gavin commented: “We are overjoyed to see this idea coming to fruition for such a good cause. For many LNER colleagues who were stood down when the pandemic hit, cooking provided a great way of maintaining a level of normality. Creating these recipes challenged us to experiment with ingredients and recipes we would have been unlikely to have tried otherwise.” 

Simon Gunning, CEO, CALM said: “We’re delighted that Cooking for CALM will raise vital funds to help people right across the UK. We know that the pandemic has affected our lives in many ways, and now more than ever people need CALM and our helpline services." 

Anyone who would like to order Cooking for CALM can now do by visiting the new LNER shop, a website which also sells the LNER regionally inspired face coverings and LNER Calendar 2021. The cookbook makes the ideal Christmas gift priced at just £16.99, including VAT and postage.  

Customers can visit https://www.lnermerchandise.co.uk/product/lner-cooking-for-calm-cookbook for more information and to make a purchase.