Harry and Oliver at the signal box
Harry and Oliver raised thousands to help repair the arson hit signal box
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00:00 So, Autumn Inks Signal Box, which is originally at a crossing, not an Evening Railway,
00:04 had an incident from an arson attack which was not very good
00:10 and it also involved some vans and bins after the signal box.
00:14 It happened on a late night, just after the 12th of March, around then.
00:21 And then, when I found out about this, I immediately contacted Oliver
00:26 and we set out to have a look at it and explore the damage.
00:32 How did you feel when you saw what had happened to the box?
00:36 I felt very sad about it when I heard the news from Harry
00:41 because I thought it was just joking at first.
00:44 But then when I went to see the next day, I was so distraught about it.
00:51 And what did you decide to do? You decided to raise some money?
00:55 We thought we could raise some money for it, but we thought we wouldn't get over £100.
01:01 We thought every little helps.
01:04 And then I asked my mother to set up an account or a fundraising page.
01:08 She set it up. First day, about £300.
01:12 And then, so we set our target to £1,500.
01:15 Second day, £1,600.
01:17 So then we forgot to change the target again and the money kept rising
01:22 until eventually we had around £15,000.
01:28 That's incredible. So how did you raise the money? What did you do?
01:33 So we did a walk from Peterborough to Wantsford, which is about 7 miles.
01:38 Actually, 6.6 miles.
01:40 6.6. Better memory.
01:44 And we did it with a lot of courage.
01:47 It was absolutely chucking it down with rain, from what I remember.
01:50 Well, it was nice because it was very hot the past couple of days
01:54 and the nice rain can't stop us because, you know, good always wins.
01:59 Fantastic. Fantastic.
02:00 And the box is now almost complete, I understand, the repairs have been.
02:05 And what's it like to see it back in its proper condition?
02:09 It's very beautiful because it's like, let's say, like, when I'm older
02:13 or when me and him are older and we're going out, like, train spotting here,
02:16 like childhood memories, and we walk past that, we'll think,
02:19 "We did this. We should be very proud of ourselves."
02:23 100%. And I see you've got some badges on you, some Blue Peter badges and things.
02:27 What's happened with those?
02:30 I sent in a message to Blue Peter and then we sent in Oliver's address and my address
02:36 and then we told them what we did.
02:39 And then each of us played different parts in the fundraising.
02:43 And then we just, we got a Blue Peter badge and now we get free rides on the East Valley Railway.
02:49 Yep.
02:50 And we get into free places and other, but that's not the point.
02:54 The point is Blue Peter badges to show that someone has done a good deed.
02:59 And this is a message for everyone.
03:01 Just do something good.