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Accessible transport in Norwich
Norwich Door to Door Chairman's Report 2008/9
It gives me great pleasure to report on a another successful year for Norwich Door to Door, to advise some of the highlights of the year and to renew our pledge to offer a pleasurable door to door transport service in safety and comfort to all of our 500 disabled passengers, whether they are three or ninety six years young.
We met and exceeded our £158,000 budget and with a small surplus to help us through what may prove to be a challenging financial year ahead.
We accepted delivery of a new mini bus giving us our sixth vehicle, the new acquisition will enable us to further develop and strengthen the charity and its services. The web site was updated to be more accessible and the simple, clean and effective presentation has already proved to be a valuable tool in validating the work that we do.
We have been steadily extending our service delivery over the last four years and this year accepted bookings for over two thousand trips, fifty percent up from 2004. That we have managed to achieve and sustain such growth is mainly due to the robust support of our company of excellent volunteers and part time staff. An intensive recruitment campaign during 2008/9 brought us nine new members to join the driving team and they have stayed and enhanced our venture, we are still recruiting.
In May I was delighted to welcome the Lord Mayor of Norwich Roy Blower and Lady Mayoress Beryl Blower to our offices. They came to meet members of the team to find out more about our welfare work in the community and meet some of our passengers. As part of the visit we arranged a trip on one of the buses and Roy and Beryl are shown in the picture with passengers Margaret Dye, Margaret Blanch and Marrian Higson.
We have had our challenges and changes; we accepted at different dates over the year the resignation of four committee members Jill Tallowin, Monty Johnson, John Sheppard and Ray Bewry. These stalwart supporters have given of their time and skills over the last four to eight years and we have been grateful for their much valued support. In turn we invited Adrian Cossey and Douglas Munro to join us as they have demonstrated empathy and an understanding of our work and they have the skills and experience to strengthen our organization.
We are members of the Community Transport Association, an Umbrella group that offers advice, training and promotes good practice for the benefit of the hundreds of specialist transport operators and organisations across Great Britain. May brought the first Community Transport Road Show to our region and the promise of a new training package to cascade and long awaited news on a Quality Standard Mark for the industry. There were representatives from The Ministry of Transport to update us on their plans as well as demonstrations on I.T. as new software packages for booking systems are being developed, the latter an item that we plan to incorporate in the 2009/10 plans.
Of paramount importance to us is our obligation to our passengers, the team and our supporters to ensure safety throughout our services. Every aspect of our operation involves us in a level of risk and we have sought guidance and confirmation from the experts to ensure proper procedures and guidelines are followed. For their exceptional contribution we are grateful to : Cathy from the Red Cat Partnership who kindly came to our offices and reviewed our operational Risk Assessment and Health and Safety policy pro bono; Richard and the Holden team who look after our complex maintenance needs and breakdowns so very well giving our buses the extra level of care that keep us moving; The team at M. and K. Lifts who keep us “uplifted” it is good to know you never let us down. Goodwill from local businesses adds value and we are proud to have gathered the support of fine teams in the execution of this project.
In June we were invited by Bishop Graham and his wife Julie to use the beautiful gardens surrounding the Bishop’s residence for a fundraising afternoon. We had a brilliant day, our buses transported fifty of our disabled members and with our friends and supporters we entertained and fed over four hundred guests. Music and entertainment was provided by students from the Music department at the U.E.A. and the Norwich Barber Shop Singers, the event cleared a splendid £2,500. The autumn and winter brought forth a flurry of donations from both individuals and groups where “special” birthdays of family associated with us brought forth some generous gifts, all so appreciated. We succeeded with our local funding campaign and our events programme to meet all of our needs for the year.
In December we were delighted to hear that the balance of our funding needs for a new mini bus would be met from money raised by the Charities Committee team at Marsh Insurance Services. We had been selected as the charity to benefit from their Queens Road Christmas Car Park revenues & they collected a splendid £9,170. The picture shows Elliott, Chandler, Martin and Sam with some of the Marsh team chatting in and around the new bus as they saw just what their efforts had achieved.
We circulated a new Norwich Door to Door “User Questionnaire” in July receiving a 53% return and we have been working on the issues raised. In particular our passengers told us they want more opportunities for social travel especially during the summer months, with an emphasis on special trips to popular venues on the Coast and in the Countryside. It is appreciated that only a very small percentage of our passengers take a holiday or break from the same routine and we have committed to providing new opportunities and excursions.
This year more than any other it has been the local support that made the big difference for us and as the recession bites harder we prepare with some apprehension for the years ahead. However we know it is with the help of the many that we will achieve more, together we can push back perceived boundaries make new friends, deal with fresh challenges and address equalities and change. It seems incredible that it is seventeen years since Roger Hadley and his father first campaigned for a more equal society; where disabled people had an opportunity to take their own place. What they sought was a transport service so they could go and do what they wanted when they wanted, and we still have a journey ahead as more aspiring people have joined us and the demand has increased. We know that Norwich is going to have new geographical boundaries and a larger population and we expect there will be an even greater need us.
Thank you to everyone involved in supporting and providing resources for our services and activities and to our passengers for inspiring us.
