At Age Concern Heathfield we like to recognise the huge amount of time that our volunteers willingly give to us and from time to time we hold a social event to express our gratitude to them. October saw just such an event with our Minibus Team being invited to attend a morning of training and fun!

The topics for this event were ‘Everyday First Aid’ and ‘The Roles and Responsibilities of Minibus Drivers and Escorts’.  We were assisted by Melanie Compton, a Heathfield and Waldron First Responder, who helped and supported us in presenting these important topics.

The drivers and escorts were as lively as ever, presenting us with lots of questions and thought provoking scenarios. As usual there was lots of banter and fun together with an array of homemade cakes and sausage rolls – an essential part of any get together!

Our next event is planned for February 2018 where the focus will be on Dementia Awareness.

We are very lucky to have gained two new members to our Medical Car Service Team. This new structure enables us to more efficiently process your requests for transport and ensures cover for when people need time off for holidays or illness etc. Chris Clinch continues in his role, logging all the requests onto our electronic diary system and Sara and Natasha now operate the phones and liaise between clients and drivers to allocate and fulfil each request. We would like to introduce them to you:

Natasha moved from Middlesex to Heathfield with her husband about 15 years ago. They have two children and two rather crazy rescue dogs. Natasha’s family are the main focus in her life and she loves spending as much time as possible with them. However, when time allows she really enjoys going to the gym and generally keeping fit. More recently Natasha worked at a pre-school dealing with the accounts, however with one of her children at school in Ringmer and the other in Burgess Hill her current job title should probably be taxi driver!

Natasha felt she wanted to spend whatever spare time she had left doing something worthwhile within the local community. She met Bill Philps (Age Concern Chairman) a couple of years ago and with his usual charm and persuasion, coupled with the fact that the role could be fitted in around other family commitments, she agreed and was excited to help.

Sara is 24 years old and married.  She has have lived in the area most of her life having moved to live with her grandparents locally when she was 11 years old. In her spare time she enjoys reading as well as baking. She previously volunteered to help to organise the Age Concern minibuses alongside her grandfather, Clarence Pont, who has since retired.

Sara will be a familiar face and voice to many of you as she helped for several years sorting out requests for transport for outings and helping to organise the day to day running of the minibuses.  Once her grandfather decided to retire, Sara also decided to take a break and give herself time to decide what to do next. However Sara didn’t escape for long – she is now back and thoroughly enjoying being involved with the Age Concern Medical Car service.