The Bus is Back

Today – Halloween 2022 saw the return of the bus service for St John’s Honeypot Day Centre thanks to the Link Volunteers.

Virtually since the beginnings of the day centre in the early 1980s elderly and socially isolated people were delivered to us via a bus operated by the Trowbridge town guild. We have always been grateful for this service provided by the Trowbridge Town Guild and were deeply saddened when that service terminated in late July 2022.

Many of the people that most need the company and hot meal that St John’s Honeypot provides have no way of getting themselves to us. We have always had a core of volunteers willing to transport people using their own cars but this is a task that is difficult to manage and relies on a high degree of good will. From July St John’s Honeypot Day Centre driving volunteers were asked to go well beyond ordinary goodwill to ensure that all members who were coming to us by bus could still come.

It is a testament to the tenacity of our volunteers and careful planning of our organiser Kerry that everyone who used to come by bus could still be transported. A Triumph though this was it was clearly going to be very hard to sustain long term. So we were happy to hear that the Link was set to take on one of the Trowbridge Town Guild buses.

This in itself is no small task, requiring planning and organisation and no small measure of preparation. However everything culminated today on the first service by Link delivering Honeypot members to us on Halloween 2022. A scary day indeed for Nicola the link organiser and Tony the Link volunteer driver. Despite all the preparation the bus initially refused to start. A stressful beginning but everything eventually went well and a bus full of our members were delivered safely in good time for a great day of activity and good food.

Honeypot members are able to the link bus for free as long as they can display a valid bus pass, which is a welcome saving in these times. People without a bus pass are charged £4.00 a head, which is still good value for money. The return of the bus service gives St John’s Honeypot Day Centre greater flexibility with it’s transport although we could always use more help. If you think you would like to help please contact us.

To put the cherry firmly on the cake, despite no longer operating the Community Bus the Trowbridge Town Guild still supports St John’s Day Centre and recently gave us a generous donation towards our work. We very much this kindness which will help us to keep doing what we do well.

Many thanks to the Trowbridge Town Guild for all that it has done for us and still does. Many thanks to the Link for stepping in to continue a bus service. Lastly many thanks to all our volunteer drivers whose kindness bridged a difficult gap and kept things going as normal for people that otherwise would miss out on life.