Well first of all let me say what a privilege it is to have taken over from Kevin Done as Chairman of the Downderry and District Community Bus Association. Kevin can look back with immense pride over the last 6 years where his leadership and guidance has been pivotal in maintaining this vital community service. Whilst it’s not a total goodbye, as Kevin will remain in the fold, I’m sure all current committee members, drivers and regular passengers will join me in expressing our heartfelt gratitude for his time at the helm and the dedication and good grace he brought to the task. Thank you Kevin!
Whilst it’s a hard act to follow, the importance of our bus service in enhancing the lives of those in our community is foremost in my mind and I very much look forward to putting my energy into its continued success. One area I can announce up front is the development of our very own website (www.dscombus.com) which is now live. As well as continuously updating you on our timetables, events and excursions, it also contains our ‘Plan’ that explains what it is we are trying to do and how we intend to deliver it. So if you get a moment, take a look, pop it in your favourites, and let us know if there’s anything else you might like to see on the site. We will continue to contribute to the Nut Tree and the DASRA website as usual.
As the summer approaches, we have some very exciting excursions in the offing:
We continue to run weekly scheduled services to Plymouth and Liskeard on Tuesdays and Thursdays respectively, with a 0930 departure time from Broads Yard in Downderry. We also schedule in monthly runs to Totnes (13 June), Truro (25 June), Tavistock, and Looe so please check the monthly timetable/website to see when we have plumbed them in.
Details of the community bus timetable, excursions and fund-raising events can all be found on the website. The timetable is also available in the Nut Tree, on village notice boards, and the DASRA website (www.dasra.co.uk). For all passenger bookings please call Bev Brighton on 01503 250994. For 300 Club and details of the monthly draw, please call Jo Woodley on 01503 250489. For any other questions relating to our bus please feel free to contact me directly on dscombus@gmail.com.
Rob Gascoigne
Chairman
These are busy times for the Downderry & District Community Bus with an exciting early summer schedule of trips as well as some changes in our organisation.
The big excursion in May will be to Dartmouth on Friday 16 amidst the town’s music festival as well as giving a chance to sample its wonderful cafés, shops, restaurants and museum. Please note the later than usual departure time of 11am to allow you time, hopefully, to take in some of the gigs. We will be visiting Looe, ideal for a long lunch, on Friday May 2. Remember the bus for Looe departs at 11.30am, and we return from Looe at 3pm. Book early to avoid disappointment.
This month there will also be services to Tavistock on Friday May 9, to Truro on Wednesday May 21 and again to Looe at the end of the month Friday 30. We are squeezing in Looe right at the end of May, as on the first Friday of the following month June 6 it will be time to head off to the Royal Cornwall Show. We are planning services to the Show on Friday 6 and Saturday 7, both with departure times of 9.15am. Again please book as early as you can.
Every week we visit Plymouth on a Tuesday and Liskeard on a Thursday, and on these two services you can use your bus freedom passes. No issues with parking. We are there for you. The normal bus departure time from Broads Yard, Downderry is 09.30.
Further ahead in June, in addition to the Royal Cornwall Show, we are planning to visit Totnes on Friday 13 and Truro on Wednesday 25. In between those two dates, the June excursion will be a wonderful cruise on the River Dart, a chance to explore the glorious scenery of this south Devon estuary. The Bus will drop you off in Totnes and pick you up again in Dartmouth.
And finally…on a personal note, this is the last Community Bus News from me as Chairman. After more than six years in the role, it’s time to engage a younger generation with renewed energy and vision. Rob Gascoigne, already a driver and duty officer of the Bus, took over in mid-April. The Community Bus is one of the special institutions of our very special villages. I am sure Rob can count on the same great support you have all afforded to me.
Details of the community bus timetable are available in Nut Tree, on the village noticeboards and on the DaSRA (Downderry and Seaton Residents Association) website www.dasra.co.uk. For all passenger bookings please call Bev Brighton on 01503 250944. For 300 Club and details of the monthly draw call Jo Woodley on 01503 250489. For any other questions, including on driver recruitment, please contact Rob Gascoigne, chairman, by email at downderrybus@gmail.com.
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The Downderry & District Community Bus Association is a voluntary organisation - Charity Number 1000967 - formed to serve the welfare and needs of the Downderry, Hessenford, Narkus and Seaton communities. The community bus provides a regular weekly link with both Plymouth and Liskeard and an early morning service between Seaton and Downderry during school terms. Other popular, regular destinations include Truro, Tavistock, Totnes, Exeter and Looe. The timetable and details of monthly excursions, usually on a Friday, are available in the Nut Tree monthly newsletter, on local websites (including this one, see below) and on the village noticeboards.
Concessionary fare cards can be used on the Plymouth and Liskeard routes. Under 15s travel at half price and there is no charge for under 5s. A gentle reminder to all passengers who use discretionary passes on our registered routes, namely the Plymouth and Liskeard services. Can you please try to remember always to have your pass with you, as it is possible that an inspector could choose to come on board during a journey to check up that our claims for reimbursement are being made properly. Many thanks.
To book a seat please ring Bev Brighton on weekdays between 9am and 5pm on 01503 250944. You can also support your bus by joining the 300 Club and buying a monthly draw ticket. It only costs £12 for the year. To join please contact Jo Woodley on 01503 250489, or email here: or come to one of our sociable Tea and Cake afternoons usually held at Downderry & Seaton Village Hall. Check the events diary for dates.There is always a raffle and the ever popular puzzle and book stall. Phone Jane Mather for bus hire bookings by affiliated groups on 01503 250840, For any other matters please contact Kevin Done, Chairman, on 01752 466313 or Jem Hall, Vice Chairman, on 01503 261497. We are always looking to recruit new drivers and helpers.
Chairman’s Report Bus AGM on financial year 2023/24 on 28 October 2024 in Downderry and Seaton Village Hall.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I guess we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief, and we can count our blessings too. During this last financial year to the end of July 2024 we have completed one of the biggest missions that the Downderry & District Community Bus Association ever faces. Namely the purchase of a new bus to replace the old one. On a momentous day in early March this year we drove our new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 15-passenger minibus, registration number WA24UMM, into the car park of Inn on the Shore sparking a very special celebration. It really felt as if our whole village community gathered together in those hours at Inn on the Shore to welcome the new bus into our midst.
And wonderfully the ribbon was cut by John Measures, who was the original chairman of the Community Bus, when it was founded more than 35 years ago.
The welcome event was organised by our magnificent Friends of the Bus fundraisers, led by Sandra Pearce and all her colleagues, along with the indefatigable Jane Hall, who in her day job on the bus committee leads on arranging our excursions programme. Jane put in overtime to help lead in organising the celebration.
The original constitution of the community bus association says it was set up “to serve the educational, recreational and welfare needs of the residents of Downderry, Hessenford, Narkurs and Seaton (both sides of the river).” I love the phrase “both sides of the river.” And that is exactly what we seek to do. We are a registered charity and are administered and operated solely by volunteers, a fantastically hard-working and dedicated bunch of people, of whom I am very proud and to whom I am very grateful for all that they do.
We consider ourselves to be a key part of the infrastructure of the Deviock Parish.
Our population is growing as many new property developments in our villages are added; but all this at a time when public services are under pressure as seldom before, not least in the transport sector, where public subsidies for bus services are being reduced and routes are cut. The threats are real. But as long as we have our Community Bus in robust, good shape, we have our local solution to meeting the challenges.
Our previous bus, which served us well, was almost ten years old. The replacement cycle was longer than had previously been the case, in important part due to the intervention of the Covid pandemic. But it was time to change. While the previous bus was still working well, your committee has always believed, that you have to get ahead of the game to make this key move. You can’t wait till the existing bus is falling apart.
We also believe, that we owe it to our passengers, to our drivers and duty officers, and to all of our volunteers to try to provide the best bus we can afford, in order to deliver the best reliability, predictability, consistency and safety, the best service we can. That is why we bought a NEW bus. We deeply believe this is the right way to go.
We could afford it this time. We had saved funds carefully over the years through our operations, through fundraising, and we had some important help at the end to get us over the line. A grant of £2,000 from Deviock Parish Council - a big thank you to them - and £2,000 from the Community Fund of DaSRA, the Downderry and Seaton Residents Association - a big thank you to them. And a warning, we will be coming back again for more support at the appropriate moment.
I said in my report a year ago, that buying our new bus would wipe out much of our current savings, but that, that was OK, that’s what our accumulated funds are there for. We always face an existential challenge to fill the hole in our finances to prepare for the next new bus. But the good news today is that we are beginning to put in place the foundations to meet the challenge, and as our very hard-working treasurer Lynne Rees can report next, we do now have around £40,000 in the bank. So we are on the way.
Physical assets need replacing every so often. And so too do the human assets of any organisation. Before I came to Downderry more than 15 years ago, I vowed never to join any committees. But what did I know. This is Downderry after all. I started driving the bus 13 years ago and joined the committee nearly 11 years ago. And I will soon have been the chairman of the Downderry and District Community Bus Association for six years.
In the pursuit of good governance, not least, I believe it is time to renew the chairmanship of the association to provide new energy that comes with new leadership. I told the committee earlier this year of my plan, that with the new bus in place, it felt right to bring in a new chairman for the next stage in the evolution of the Community Bus. The committee is fully supporting the planned change.
I hope that in a few minutes this AGM will also back the proposal that Rob Gascoigne should officially join the committee. He has already been co-opted on to the committee. Rob has already been doing great work as both a driver and as a duty officer.
Understandably he wants to kick the tyres of the organisation first and to get to know the committee in more detail. And it will then be up to the committee to elect a new chairman, probably during the coming year. The bus association is blessed by having a wonderful committee. We all have our well-defined jobs and just get on with the task in hand.
Special thanks are due right now to Raj Chotai, Richard Broad, Jem Hall, deputy chairman and ops man, as he styles it, and to Lynne Rees, treasurer, who led the project to find and buy the best bus for our needs. Raj led the negotiations.
I have name-checked some of our wonderful committee, but not yet all. A huge thank you is due also to Jane Mather for managing the bus diary, for rostering our drivers and DOs. A huge thank you to Heather Thomas, our wonderful secretary, for keeping us all on the straight and narrow. And to Lynne Rees for the great job she does in managing our finances. A huge thank you to Bev Brighton, for so many passengers the beautiful face or voice of the bus, who takes all our passenger bookings. A huge thank you to Jane Hall for leading on our excursions programme, a key generator of bus revenues. A huge thank you to Jo Woodley, who tirelessly runs the 300 Club fundraising and keeps on finding new members. A huge thank you to Richard Broad for testing our new drivers and for shouldering a massive part of our driving. A special thank you to Jem Hall, our deputy chairman and operations man, who stays calm, when I am flapping badly.
Huge thanks to all of our drivers and duty officers, and especially to Mal Moss, a DO and driver for more years than he probably wants to remember, who has also indicated it is about time, to call time. Soon. Thank you Mal for all you have done for the Bus.
And a huge thank you to our wonderful fundraising Friends of the Bus. Sandra Pearce had injected new energy into this operation, and we have been saddened by her illness and wish her as speedy a recovery, as she can manage.
Bev Brighton wears so many hats, I have lost count, but she is a stalwart of Friends of the Bus and of the Theatre Group, a vital and very big user of the Bus. Thank you all our Friends.
You will all be key in raising more funds for the next bus. We report on last year’s efforts today, and the work continues tomorrow.
Just finally, we will also be looking in more detail at our charitable organisation and status in coming months. We are an unincorporated charitable organisation, which allows us to have a low-cost, fairly simple way of organising our financial reporting. We have seen how some other organisations in the village, most notably the Village Hall, have evolved in recent months. There may be lessons we can learn.
(ends)
