Connecting Communities Volunteer Drivers

Community360's Connecting Communities Volunteer Drivers are the backbone of one of Essex's most vital community transport services. The team comprises nine volunteer social car drivers and twelve volunteer minibus drivers, collectively contributing over 10,300 hours every year to help older, disabled, and isolated residents across Colchester, Chelmsford, and Maldon access healthcare, essential services, and meaningful social connection.

In 2024/25 alone, volunteer drivers played a central role in delivering over 36,000 passenger trips, including 1,800 hospital discharge journeys and more than 30,000 social club trips, at a time when funding pressures and driver shortages made every hour of volunteer time invaluable.

These are not simply drivers. They are trusted companions, familiar faces, and often the most consistent human contact some passengers have in a given week. In rural Maldon, volunteer social car drivers delivered over 1,000 trips to people with no other means of reaching a GP or a shop. In Colchester, the weekly Thursday excursions, run entirely by volunteers, have become a lifeline for older residents who would otherwise face isolation.

This team has sustained services that no statutory body currently provides, stepping up with resilience and consistency in the face of post-COVID volunteer shortages and rising demand. They do it not for recognition, but because, as volunteer Paul Gibbs puts it, seeing how much difference these trips make makes it all worthwhile. They deserve this award because their contribution, measured in hours, journeys, and lives touched, is extraordinary.