November 2022

5 Buckden Roundabout November 2022 From your District Councillor BUCKDEN BRANCH - ROYAL BRITISH LEGION Last year our collectors were out again in force following the Covid hiatus and between you all and HMP Littlehey we collected a massive £5,161 for the Poppy Appeal. If we can improve on that this year Tim and Ceci, who work so hard to organise everything, and all our collectors (and we have some new ones this year) will be delighted, as, of course will the Legion, which does such good work with your money. You may think that demands on the Legion have decreased since the end of the Second World War. That is not so; there are many people who need the Legion ’ s help and requirements are getting more complex as medical science improves. With money raised from the Poppy Appeal the Legion is also able to extend assistance to the families of those who need its help. Remembrance Sunday this year falls on the 13 th November. There will be the usual multi denominational service at St. Mary ’ s Parish Church followed by the ceremony at the War Memorial (we will continue the practise of forming on the churchyard side of the War Memorial for safety reasons) and I hope to see as many of you there as possible. There is no longer any need to mask (but please feel free to do so if you so wish) and the congregation is restricted only by the limits of the St. Mary ’ s church itself. As always, it would be very nice to have more of our British Legion members on parade. We would also welcome any serving or ex members of the armed forces (regular or reserve) to parade with us even if you are not members and, yes, I will try to recruit you! If you are able to parade, it would be very helpful if you can let me know by Friday 11 th November so that I can make sure that enough pews are reserved. As you will have worked out, Armistice Day this year is Friday 11 th November. There will be the usual short ceremony at the War Memorial starting at about 10.45 a.m. so do come along if you can. Peter Mount, Chairman. Friends in Deed Transport Service Appeal for Drivers I have been running the Friends in Deed Transport Service for nearly three years. We have a small group of very dedicated drivers, but we have lost some recently and it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a full service for the village. We currently take people to medical and similar appoint- ments, exercise classes (some being attended on medical advice) and more social appointments. Most of those we transport are elderly, do not drive and frequently would not get out of the house without our service. If we cannot find a few more drivers soon, we will probably have to restrict the service to medical and similar appointments only. That would be a great pity, most of what we do has, at the very least, a therapeutic value. The service is not free. Those we transport pay us at the rate of approximately 30p per mile and Cambs. C.C. top this up by another 15p per mile. I would be the first to agree that this is not enough, but it is the current HMRC limit, so we are stuck with it until they deign to catch up with the real world, and it is a lot better than nothing. We obviously don ’ t recalculate eve- ry time. Current charges are: • Within Buckden £2.00 • Brampton and Little Staughton £2.50 • Huntingdon (including Hinchingbrooke Hospital) £3.00 • St Neots £3.00 • St. Ives £6.00 • Bedford (hospitals and Manton Heights) £11.50 • Papworth and Addenbrookes Hospitals £17.00 These are all return journey figures. Anything else we calculate. Anything involving a longish wait, and depending the distance travelled can be dealt, with either by putting two drivers on (one to take one to fetch) or charging twice. I am including this information for anyone thinking of using the service, as well as to demonstrate to prospective drivers that we do get paid. I am afraid drivers do have to be DBS checked; many of those we transport would qualify as vulnerable, but that is a relatively straightforward process and can be set up to renew automatically. There are also a couple of short online safeguarding courses run by Ely Diocese; these are actually quite interesting and I speak from experience! If we could get two or three more drivers, it would be unusual to call on drivers more than a couple of times a month and most of the journeys are short. Each request for transport is offered to all drivers and I do my best to spread them around so that no one does more than their fair share. That said, there is no expectation as to what each driver does, we gratefully accept what each driver is able to offer. We provide a very worthwhile service that is well received in Buckden and it would be good to be able to maintain it fully. If you have a normal driving licence and some time to give to a good cause, I would love to hear from you either on 01480 810805 or at peter.mount@btconnect.com. Peter Mount Friends in Deed Transport Co - ordinator