A Potted History

A public meeting in 1988 agreed that there was a need for a community minibus, as the area had the highest concentration of elderly in the city.

After 2 years of fundraising the first minibus was purchased for £15,428 and a team of volunteer drivers and escorts came together with a committee to oversee the organisation. The minibus had no full or part-time paid workers and this is still the situation today.

The first trips brought people to Gosforth Library and these have continued to flourish. Wyndley House was one of the first groups to hire the bus and to this day still use the bus on a regular basis.

In 1998 a replacement bus was purchased, the money being raised by the committee, with the support of Counsellor Diane Packham, through donations from various charitable trusts.

In 2004 Trevor Harris took over as Chairman from Colin Moore who became the secretary and Ron French became the treasurer. At this time there were 15 or 16 volunteer drivers.

As well as the library trips, the bus is hired by care homes, nursing homes and community groups to take people out for the morning or afternoon and on occasions the whole day.

A third bus was purchased in 2006 for £26,000 using £10,000 saved by the organisation over the years together with donations from various charitable trusts.

Recently the organisation has operated 2 library trips, 2 shopping trips and 6 trips for community groups each month. From March to October the bus is also booked by other groups for trips to the coast and places of interest.

For the past 30 years the minibus has allowed people to get out of their homes who otherwise might not be able to, and to meet like-minded people socially. We pride ourselves in being independent of regular funding. We cover our running costs from hire charges, saving some money each year towards a replacement vehicle.

We took delivery of our 4th 12-seater minibus on 1st August 2015, which was again purchased with the help of donations from various charitable trusts. This enables us to continue to provide trips for the communities of Gosforth and Jesmond and beyond

Our constitution is available here.