Volunteering
Volunteer with your local Link Scheme or Community Minibus group and join a friendly and dedicated community of over 2,000 volunteers who keep vulnerable people connected to vital services including medical care.
Do you love driving and meeting new people?
Meet new people
Help your community
Your mileage paid
Your local community transport group would love to hear from you! There are currently 45 local Link (volunteer car) Schemes and 21 Community Minibus Groups in Wiltshire and Swindon, with a friendly and dedicated community of over 2,000 volunteers who keep vulnerable, elderly and isolated people connected to vital services including local shops, day centres and medical care.
Approximately 6,800-10,000 rural households have no access to a car in Wiltshire and Swindon. Many of these people also live more than an hour away from a hospital by public transport. Volunteer led community transport services like Link Schemes and Community Minibus Groups support people to access public services easily and more readily.
Research has shown that community transport services help people to stay healthy and active for longer by improving access to medical care and supporting emotional wellbeing for people who are isolated. Link Schemes and Community Minibus Groups help relieve the burden of loneliness by giving people the opportunity to socialise and remain active in their community.
The local community transport service supported by Community First is one of the most successful schemes in the country and demand for local transport services is increasing. Your local Link Scheme or Community Minibus Group is always looking for willing volunteers to support the service as a driver, coordinator or committee member.
Volunteers Voice
“I’ve been volunteering for 8 years now and I do it because I love driving, I love meeting people and it gets me out of the house for a couple of hours. I find it really invigorating.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. It’s obviously doing such a lot of good for a huge amount of people and it’s nice to be involved…You get to meet a lot of local people.”
“I like volunteering with Link because it is a way of helping the community, meeting a lot of new people and having some wonderful stories told to me.”
“I think it’s important to belong to something that’s useful. I like being involved, like helping people and its very satisfying to do so.”
More Information
Interested in finding out more about Community Transport in Wiltshire & Swindon? We’ve created a visual guide to the service in our handy Visual Guide to Wiltshire Link Schemes and Community Minibus Groups infographic with interesting facts and figures about local community transport schemes in Wiltshire and Swindon.
In their own words: You can also watch a short film featuring some of the volunteers from local Link Schemes and Community Minibus Groups in the video below:
