A COMMUNITY transport scheme serving villages around Pershore will soon be on the road after receiving help from the Journal's US parent company Gannett.

The Gannett Foundation has made an award of £11,000 to the Pershore and District Voluntary Help Centre for a new dial-a-ride minibus service that will link four clusters of villages around the town.

Help centre manager Kate Walton said she was delighted at the award, which means the project could be launched by January. "It is absolutely essential that people who do not have their own means of transport can continue to live independently in villages without becoming isolated. It is also important for village communities to maintain a cross-section of the population, including those with no transport of their own."

The project, which will initially be run as a 12-month pilot, will serve the villages of Fladbury, Cropthorne, Lower Moor, Elmley Castle, the Combertons, Eckington, Defford, Birlingham, Wadborough, Pirton and Besford. A similar scheme that is already run by the help centre provides a link between Pershore and Drakes Broughton.

The board of the Gannett Foundation considered the scheme to be so important that more than double the usual maximum grant of £5,000 was awarded to it.

Pershore and District Voluntary Help Centre, which was founded in 1984, provides transport, day care and other services to local residents, particularly the elderly and disabled. It also works to recruit and place volunteers and link people's needs to existing services.

Mrs Walton said new volunteers were always needed. "The new transport service is going to be run by volunteers, so we would be glad to hear from anyone who can help."

For more information about the help centre or to find out about volunteering opportunities, call Mrs Walton on 01386 556080.

Earlier this year two Evesham charities received awards totalling £7,000 from the Gannett Foundation.

Roundabout, a charity that distributes second-hand furniture to the needy, was given £5,000. Evesham Riverside Shopmobility, which helps improve access for disabled shoppers, also benefited with a cheque for £2,000.