11 September 2025 •
Local rail operator c2c Railway is delighted to reveal that its Waddle-on-Sea Marbled Penguin (by Claudia Rose), has been voted as the public’s favourite!
The c2c sponsored Havens Hospices Waddle-on-Sea art exhibition trail across Southend – where model penguins were installed for the summer – was a hit, with multitudes of people enjoying the experience and fantastic artwork on show across the trail.
Following the end of the six-week event, the votes have been tallied and the c2c-sponsored penguin – beautifully designed by local artist Claudia Rose – has been named as the favourite, ahead of Home Sweet Home by Jen French (second place) and Scoops by Helen Naylor (third place).
To celebrate the event and allow people to enjoy the art trail, c2c created a special reduced rail fare to help more visitors enjoy the event throughout its tenure.
Vanessa Harvey, Project Manager of Waddle-on-Sea, said:
“We’re incredibly grateful to c2c for their generous support throughout the summer and for being such an important part of the Waddle-on-Sea art trail.
“Their partnership and help with promotion have brought the trail to life for thousands of visitors, raising vital funds for local hospice care. Quite simply, the trail wouldn’t have been possible without all our sponsors and partners – thank you, c2c!”
To further celebrate the team that helped to create the Waddle-on-Sea event, c2c donated 20 tickets to Havens Hospices to watch Southend United beat Halifax 3-0 on Saturday (6 September) afternoon.
c2c Managing Director, Rob Mullen, said:
“We were delighted to donate 20 tickets to the Havens Hospices team and the volunteers that helped make Waddle-on-Sea such a huge success. That our penguin, wonderfully designed by Claudia Rose, was voted as the favourite across the entire art trail is just incredible and I want to thank everybody that brought it to life.
“As a community railway, we are always delighted to see such amazing events take place on our route and we look forward to seeing what Havens come up with next year.”
The Havens entourage – comprised of volunteers from the c2c sponsored Waddle-on-Sea summer art trail – were greeted by c2c colleagues Lee Stanbrook (Customer Delivery Manager) and Scott Walker-Aylward (Assistant Group Station Manager).
The Havens group thoroughly enjoyed the game, with Southend continuing their fine start to the season, and were taken pitch-side before kick-off for some pictures and to meet some of the players as part of a special treat from c2c and Southend United.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
About c2c
- c2c is the award-winning train operator running services between Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness, serving 26 stations in East London and South Essex.
- c2c is one of the UK’s most punctual and popular train operators and nearly 37.3 million journeys are made on its services every year.
- The operation of all c2c services transferred into public ownership on Sunday 20 July 2025 and is managed by DFTO (DfT Operator Ltd).
- For more information email mediaenquiries@c2crail.net
Images:
Featured Image: ‘c2c’s Marble penguin’
Second Image: ‘Waddle-on-Sea volunteers enjoy a day out at Roots Hall to watch Southend United win 3-0, courtesy of c2c’
Third Image: ‘c2c Managing Director, Rob Mullen’