THE dedicated, caring and public-spirited members of Alton Community Care held their annual New Year party at the beginning of February – and took the opportunity to present a number of long-service awards.

The group was founded more than 40 years ago to provide practical help to needy citizens of Alton. Over the years, the organisation has evolved into one which provides transport to get people to and from medical appointments. Most journeys are to surgeries in Alton or to the community hospital or further afield to hospitals in Basingstoke, Frimley, Winchester and Guildford. Occasional journeys are taken to Southampton, and even London.

The service is run by a group of coordinators who take incoming requests for transport and then allocate the tasks to the bank of drivers. Coordinators work for three to five days with duties every few weeks. Currently, the group has five coordinators and some 55 drivers. The service undertakes approximately 75 journeys each week, covering an incredible 70,000 miles each year.

Alton Community Care acts under the umbrella of the Good Neighbour Support Service but receives no external funding. There is no fixed cost for the journeys but donations are received to help pay for the service.

The picture shows some of this year’s award winners and demonstrates the loyalty and long-standing association so many of the coordinators and drivers have had with Alton Community Care.

Altogether, there were 28 recipients of the bronze award for five to 15 years of service, six of the silver award for 15 to 25 years, and three of the gold award for more than 25 years. Astonishingly, the longest-serving driver, Bob Wright, has done the job for 42 years, since the inception of Alton Community Care.

Awarded gold alongside Bob Wright were Sylvia Haines, who has achieved more than 35 years, and Gill Smith, for more than 34 years of service.

Silver awards went to Christine Tilley, Nancy Buck and Viv Legg, for more than 19 years; Roy Ford, Ian Robertson and Eleanor Robertson, for more than 16 years; and Mary Tricker, for just under 16 years.

Bronze award recipients went to Eric Smith and Helen Smith (14 years), Howard Short (just under 14 years), Brian Pond, Colin Gibbard, and Dave Kember (12 years), Ian Smith, Hugh Bethell, Sandra Adderson and Michael Riddle (10 years), Vanessa Smith (nine years), Margaret Conner, Tony Green, John Cresswell and John Harrington (eight years), Anne Cleaver, Penny Lakin, Peter Farrin, Dave Mackenzie and Sally Leech (seven years), Hilary Fowler, Juliet Scott, Vivien Rix, Ling Barett, and Madeleine Dowding (six years), and Bill Griffin, Pauline Folkes and Richard Woodman (five years).

Despite the loyalty of its members, Alton Community Care is always short of drivers and particularly coordinators and as a result is not always able to provide transport when it is requested. New volunteers are always needed.

For more details, call Peter Bacon on 01420 85910 or Hugh Bethell on 01420 563932.