Below is the press release that we have submitted for the September 2015 edition of Kesgrave News:
***
It is with considerable sadness that we regret to announce the winding up of the Kesgrave Good Neighbour Scheme. As a group of twenty or so founding volunteers, we came together in 2012 under the guidance of Suffolk Acre and Suffolk County Council, after a substantial amount of research and a series of meetings with prominent local individuals and groups. Our aim was to fill what we perceived to be a community gap, providing occasional help to neighbours with a variety of tasks, excluding lifts which were to be referred to the Kesgrave and District Help Centre. Shortly after our launch we were asked to deal with all requests for lifts ourselves. Whilst there is clearly a considerable demand for lifts, for example to medical appointments, and although we have subsequently recruited more driver volunteers as we have evolved, we have not been able to reconcile the increasing demand for lifts with our original aims, the demand for help in other areas and with the whole range of skills and time available from our volunteer team.
We have met some lovely neighbours along the way and would like to thank all of those who have used the scheme for trusting us to help them and for brightening up our days. We are also very lucky to have made some good friends amongst our fellow volunteers and neighbours and to have gained a much greater insight into how our community works. Many thanks to all our volunteers for giving their support and time so freely and generously.
We hope that perhaps a “purpose built” and “open to all” community transport scheme for Kesgrave residents may be a possibility in the future, albeit outside the scope of our scheme. We also hope that perhaps Kesgrave and District Help Centre may take this opportunity publicly to clarify what transport/lift service they are currently able to offer Kesgrave residents.
