Kay Lindley, a Volunteer Driver, shares their experience of volunteering with Holderness Area Rural Transport (HART), which is a community transport service based in Hornsea.

"In 2016, after the first couple of years of retirement bliss, I was looking for something new to fill my time.

Initially I volunteered at HART Community Transport for, on average, a day a week as we had quite a pool of willing volunteers. Covid changed all that and many of the volunteers were either shielding or caring for someone shielding. Sadly quite a number of them have chosen not to return to the world of volunteering having become accustomed to life in the home.

I was needed more frequently, up to 5 or 6 days a week to ensure people were able to access medical appointments, visit relatives when permitted and receive their Covid vaccinations in remote clinics.

Being able to legitimately get out and about by driving Medibus during the various lockdowns and being able to chat with people was a lifeline to me too during this period, as I live alone.

For the past year or so as people are settling back into more normal routines I have been driving Medibus 3 days per week.

Living in a rural or semi rural area with limited access to transport and medical services and an ageing community means that our services are vital to our passengers and I feel proud to be part of a service which makes their lives viable.

I know that I am as old if not older than some of our passengers but by keeping busy driving and helping them I don't feel the age issue myself. I often say that volunteering helps keep me out of mischief, not sure if that works but it certainly keeps me going!"

If you think you could be an amazing Volunteer Driver like Kay, search for all local Driver opportunities here: Volunteer Driver Opportunities.