Oxford Bus Company has launched its latest bus backing good causes, with a double decker emblazoned in branding for bereavement charity SeeSaw.
A vehicle has been wrapped in the colours of the Headington-based charity, after it won the latest “Brand the Bus!” competition.
SeeSaw provides grief support for children, young people and their families in Oxfordshire.
It won the first prize worth £50,000, which includes £20,000 worth of radio advertising on JACKfm.
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The SeeSaw bus now out on the streets will be used across various Oxford Bus Company services, to help spread its message as widely as possible.
The bus company has previously backed Oxford Pride, Oxfordshire Prostate Cancer Support Group, GirlGuiding Oxfordshire, Blue Skye Thinking, Restore and Home-Start Oxfordshire with new liveries for buses.
SeeSaw was selected by a judging panel from a top 10 group of good causes which had earned the most public votes from 79 original entries.
SeeSaw worked with Oxford Bus Company to design the bus wrap.
Bus company managing director Luke Marion said: “It’s fantastic to introduce another brilliant, branded bus into our fleet backing another excellent local charity. We’re proud to support such an important good cause and we hope the bus will help raise awareness of its services.”
SeeSaw director Judith Mulligan said: “We’re thrilled to have won the Oxford Bus Company and JACKfm Brand the Bus! competition. Working together to finalise our bus has been a real privilege, giving us the opportunity to involve young people in both the design and the messages portrayed.
"Our intention when we entered the competition was to raise awareness of SeeSaw's services, so that any bereaved child or young person would know there is support available for them.
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"Having the SeeSaw branded bus on Oxfordshire's roads will bring us a step closer to this. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible.”
More than 11,000 votes were cast online for the entries made by charities and good causes.
Steve Simms, JACKfm Programme Controller, said: “We’re really pleased to see the winning bus design and are looking forward to getting the radio commercials on air too."
Oxford City Angels and Sobell House were runners-up and are benefiting from on-bus digital advertising support worth £2,000 each. Oxford City Angels is a voluntary run female-focused support team for women at night in the city.
Sobell House Hospice specialises in palliative care to those facing life threatening illness, death and bereavement in Oxfordshire.
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Mr Marion added: “We adjusted the competition to make it more accessible to good causes and then partnered with JACKfm to make the prize bigger than ever.
"Collectively, it made a real difference and resulted in a record number of entries and further highlighted the wide variety of good causes helping people in our community. We’re now looking forward to launching this year’s competition soon."
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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF
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