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Community Rail Network announces partnership with Advance Consultancy

Community Rail Network is excited to announce its latest corporate partnership with the Advance Consultancy.

The Advance Consultancy is a small to medium-sized management consultancy that focuses on adding value through collaboration, leadership and culture.

The organisation exists to challenge and support teams operating in complex environments to perform more efficiently and effectively, placing the ethos and ethics of sustainable and inclusive business at the very heart of what they do.

During the year-long partnership, the Advance Consultancy will support Community Rail Network and its members – community-based organisations working to connect communities with their railways – by offering pro-bono services and reduced rates for team development and support.

The Advance Consultancy offers a core set of skills, including strategy direction; collaborative team development; designing and managing transitions; winning and awarding work, and Learn2Develop, a bespoke learning and development capability.

Sarah Chilton, director of communications and policy at Community Rail Network, said: “Our community rail partnership and station group members work at a grassroots level, leading on innovative projects that bring people together, widen access to rail and put stations at the heart of community life.

“We’re so pleased to welcome the Advance Consultancy on board as corporate partners. The skill sets and expertise their organisation offers will help foster collaborative and supportive environments for our members to operate in and further support the growth of – and positive impact delivered by – the community rail movement across Britain.”  

Al Simmonite, managing director of the Advance Consultancy, said: “We are delighted to support Community Rail Network this year. Having recently become a B Corp Certified company in 2024, this partnership further expands our community commitment and our focus on purposeful business. As a business who have been anchored in the rail sector for most of our 30+ years, we see supporting Community Rail Network as a real opportunity to give back.

“We first became aware of the work of Community Rail Network through friends and colleagues who also support the Network, and as soon as we reached out to the team, we recognised a shared set of values where we believe and hope we can add some real value over the course of the partnership.”

Find out more about Community Rail Network’s partners and supporters, and the ways in which they support our members, here.

Community rail partnerships and station groups interested in finding out more about this offer should contact their regional support and development lead in the first instance.