Wivey Link Report for the twelve month period ending 31st March 2007

The third year of operation for Wivey Link has seen a consolidation of the service, with a steady number of new registrants. A registration fee was introduced for all new registrants in this period. Existing registrants were advised that from April 2007 they would all be required to re-register and pay the £5.00 registration fee. This has allowed us to build a new accurate data base for all our registrants. The introduction of the new Shaunsoft computer software has taken time to transfer to and still has some glitches to sort on the Reports side. All data was processed on the new system from July 2007.

Following consultation and discussion, it was identified that a mini-bus was not the way forward for the time being as we needed to be more places at once rather than carry more people at any one time. This led to the successful acquisition of funding to purchase a small eco-friendly car that will be operational from the end of May 2007 and we are indebted to all those who so kindly contributed to this great acquisition. Two drivers have returned to driving for Wivey Link as they are happier to drive the smaller car for the shorter journeys.

A staff change in January resulted in a re-structuring of the coordinator’s job description and the appointment of one person for five days per week instead of two part time administrators. This has allowed for better continuity and communication.

An on-going publicity and recruitment drive has seen the number of volunteer drivers increase from 15 to 27 which is a measure of our overall success. The smaller car has been effective in recruiting lady drivers and the publicity surrounding the purchase of the car has led to more people being aware of the need for volunteers to drive.

A continued effort is being made to extend publicity for the service, in particular to get across to people that the service is for everybody who does not have access to a car or public transport. The perception that you have to be elderly or have a disability to use the service is a difficult one to eliminate. However a recent number of younger registrants leads us to believe that we are having some success in this area. We also do a daily school run for Milverton’s after school club.

The failure of our Lottery bid will make funding to keep the service sustainable a prime concern and various options are being looked into to secure the future of this essential service to combat isolation in rural areas. In the meantime the accounts for the period under review showed a small surplus.

As always we owe huge debt of gratitude to all those who volunteer their time to keep Wivey Link running and our thanks also to the staff who manage the service so well.