On Wednesday 11th March, SWAN Transport’s Community Transport Scheme Manager Sofia Perkins, was welcomed by the residents and staff of Bloomfield Care Centre in Paulton (part of the Barchester Healthcare Group). Sofia was presented with a cheque on behalf of Barchester Charitable Foundation to help fund SWAN’s Cuppa and Chat scheme.
Sofia and the SWAN Transport team are very grateful to Barchester for the grant.
‘This will really help us to provide more engaging trips out for our Cuppa and Chat group, the first of which will take place next month, with a visit to Chew Valley’
Sofia went on to add “the members of our Cuppa and Chat group are growing which shows there is a real need for schemes such as ours, and we are delighted to receive these much-needed funds from Barchester. Their nearest site is Bloomfield Care Centre in Paulton, so they understand our local needs and how important it is for our older residents to still feel they are part of this wonderful community.”
Cuppa & Chat is unique due to:
- the groups’ focus on supporting the most isolated and/or lonely,
- the provision of door-to-door transport to-and-from the group,
- the friendliness of the group: it really does feel like a ray of sunshine upon entering,
- the attendees’ familiarity with the volunteers all the way through the service, from the journey to the session itself.
SWAN is always in need of more volunteer drivers and would welcome enquiries from anyone living within the Bath and North East Somerset area.
Radstock based SWAN Transport is a registered charity providing a range of community-based services for residents of Bath and North East Somerset.
Their main areas of support are:
- a volunteer transport service to adults on a low income in BANES who are elderly, frail, disabled, or have other health issues
- Cuppa and Chat – a regular coffee club to combat social isolation among older people in our community
- Radstock Food Club, providing people on low incomes with access to fresh food
For more information on our Cuppa and Chat scheme please visit:
https://swan-transport.com/cuppa-and-chat
To find out more about SWAN please visit:
