The 16th AGM of the Trowbridge Area Community Link Scheme was held in the Usher Room at the Civic Centre.

Opening the meeting chairman, Doug Ross, welcomed everyone and introduced the evening’s guest presenter, Michael Gamble. Michael is a keen photographer and had created a film showing stunning images of Wiltshire covering a wide range of subjects including churches, formal and informal gardens, historical buildings, local towns and villages, and our famous White Horses.

After this very pleasant and interesting presentation, the official business of the AGM took place starting with the chairman’s report. This report described the work done by the volunteers and co-ordinators during the past year and showed that, in the year ending March 31, 2015, Trowbridge Link volunteer drivers had completed over 5,000 trips, covered 67,833 miles and given 6,410 hours of their time to help the vulnerable, elderly, infirm and disadvantaged members of our community. By combining this with the hours spent by the co-ordinators who are the first point of contact for people who use the Link service, and the general administrative tasks of managing the finances, secretarial duties, attending external meetings, etc, the total showed that Link volunteers had contributed over 10,300 hours to helping local people.

The chairman also drew attention to the proposed withdrawal of funding by Wiltshire Council for the Hopper/Connect 2 bus service which takes people from their homes to the Royal United Hospital in Bath. To lose this vital service would have a very serious impact on many people who do not have friends or family with cars or who are unable to use public transport to get to the Hospital. Link is able to assist some clients who have mobility problems, but simply does not have sufficient volunteer drivers or capacity to become a substitute for the Hopper bus, which in 2014 provided around 15,000 passenger journeys to and from the hospital. A petition has been organised requesting Wiltshire Council to review their decision to stop funding the Hopper service and the chairman is to present this to the Wiltshire Health and Wellbeing Board later this month.

Concluding his report, the chairman thanked all the volunteer drivers, carers, and co-ordinators, the members of the committee, the Link Project team at Community First, and Trowbridge Town Council for their continuing help and support.

The treasurer’s report and the report from the recruitment officer, Sue Marshall, followed. Sue stressed that Trowbridge Link’s need for more volunteer drivers is an ever present situation and, despite having attracted a number of new people during 2014/15, we always need more. The work is not difficult and can be fitted around other commitments. Apart from having their own vehicle for which a mileage allowance is paid towards the petrol and the running costs, drivers simply need a sympathetic attitude and a willingness to help other people. Our current volunteers are kept very busy, but with a larger number of drivers we could help even more members of our local community.

After the election of officers, a presentation was made to Paula Astle, who is retiring at the end of May. Paula was one of the original drivers when Trowbridge Link was formed in 1999. The chairman thanked her for her dedication and her enthusiasm and said how much she will be missed, not only by her colleagues in Link, but also by the many clients she has helped over the past 16 years.