Our History

Whitchurch Neighbourcare - established for 37 years

The group was started in 1989 with the first chairman being Len Treglown.  A fixed line telephone together with paper and pen were used to record the client and job details.  Individual driver volunteers were phoned and asked if they could do the job.  There were initially 5 drivers and it soon became apparent, according to the AGM minutes, that more drivers were required as the group was so popular amongst the older residents of Whitchurch.

By 1999 the coordinators report by Sheila Hibberd said that they had completed 551 jobs during the year, 88 of which were non driving and included washing, dog walking and paperwork.  There were 17 drivers listed.

For each year from 1999 to date the number of Whitchurch Neighbourcare volunteers has varied between 12 to 20 and they have dealt with an average of 10 jobs per week.  That is an incredible approximate total of 19,240 jobs completed since it all started 37 years ago. 

Today we have 19 volunteers, 6 of whom share the Coordinators role.  We use a mobile phone to take calls, a computerised system to log client and job details.  WhatsApp and text messaging allows us to pass details onto our drivers quickly.  We have also just launched our brand new website.

Technology now plays a huge role in what we do and we may no longer do washing, dog walking or paperwork but the ethos behind our group remains the same.  We are here to help those less able than ourselves within our community.

Thank you to everyone from 1989 to today who has helped to keep this group of volunteers going - you are all stars.