© 2020 Buckland Newton Community Website Committee                         Last updated 3rd December 2020 11:35                 Website design and update by Jeremy Collins

Buckland Newton Car Scheme held its AGM on 13th November and was attended by a mixture of drivers and clients and a potential new driver, as well as the committee. It was a light-hearted afternoon, thoroughly helped by the splendid cake that Susan made, washed down with tea & coffee! This has been another busy year for the scheme and although the number of  journeys reduced slightly, 130 were carried out by the car scheme. We also had 21 lifts that were cancelled after we had arranged to cover them and seven lifts which we were unable to cover. As with the proverbial buses, requests for lifts can be very sparse or come in clusters; eight times this year we had requests for three lifts on the same day. We have welcomed two new drivers this year and throughout the year we have had various drivers saying they are temporarily unavailable to drive for us, but all have come back when they have felt able and we very much appreciate this. We also welcomed two new clients onto our books. There were nearly fifty journeys to the surgery in Cerne Abbas, 25 to hospitals, 15 to Day Centres and about a dozen for shopping. It was also good to see that our clients kept up their pampering routine with 23 trips to the hairdressers!  Our busiest driver covered 33 lifts for us, others did over a dozen and some very few. That is one of the joys of the scheme – there is no commitment expected to cover so many lifts or always be available on specific days – drivers can do as little or as much as they like. The car scheme certainly covers a need in the village; some use the service only occasionally but three individuals requested a couple of dozen journeys each. We have also had requests from external agencies to support individuals in Hermitage and Glanvilles Wootton but have said that at the current time we are unable to support these individuals. Another big thank you to all of the drivers for all that you do to support the scheme. Without your prompt responses we wouldn’t be able to support everyone in the way that we do, sometimes even changing your plans to accommodate requests when we are really stuck – I am not sure that our clients realise this. Thanks are due also to others on the committee who support the scheme and for their work behind the scenes. If anyone is interested in supporting the scheme as a driver or wants to use it please either email bncarscheme@gmail.com or phone the car scheme co-ordinator on 07733 849264. Sheila Crouch, Car Scheme Co-ordinator Comments from those using our service include: “It’s the only way I can go anywhere now as I cannot use the bus anymore. It means I can keep my independence” “My family live 20 miles away and they work, so it isn’t always convenient for them to pick me up and take me to doctors’ appointments and I couldn’t get there any other way now.” Our drivers get a lot of  satisfaction from volunteering too: “I think the general thought of all us drivers is the immense satisfaction we get from enabling our more mature and less able neighbours to remain independent! In return we get some lovely company!!” “I am doing something to help other people and it makes me feel valued. Driving is something that I am still able to do! The people who use the service are really appreciative of what we do and they are all really nice!”