WE NEED MORE TRUSTEES TO MAINTAIN AND DEVELOP OUR DIAL-A-RIDE SERVICES

The Dial-A-Ride Service is provided by 

Brecon and District Dial-A-Ride Club, which is a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation, (CIO No.519457), and they have been in operation for over 40 years

Our Mission:

The primary mission of the club is 'to promote the Health, Wellbeing and Independence of people with a disability of all ages (including older people) to enable them to lead normal lives'.

We provide a door-to-door accessible transport service    (Dial-A-Ride). This enables disabled and frail people to get to facilities such as shops, GPs, dentists, day centres, attend church, attend U3A, visit friends and family, etc.

This service helps to mitigate the risk of loneliness and isolation and directly contributes to the health and wellbeing of people. It also supports health and social care services by facilitating access to them.

Even with free bus travel for older people in Wales, the service is still required by those individuals who cannot get to a bus stop and /or find it difficult to get on a bus.

The value of the service to our members is best illustrated from the following comments taken from a survey conducted in 2017:

“My only means of transport”

"The only way I can leave the house”

“I would be desperate if I couldn’t get out occasionally”

“Allows me to get out and about without having to rely on others”

The last comment also identifies the contribution of the service towards helping families and carers.

Our Catchment Area includes Brecon, Crickhowell, Talgarth, Sennybridge and their surrounding communities; one of the most rural areas in the UK.

How are we funded?

The club is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. It enjoys a small grant from the local authority but is largely funded by membership fees, fares, donations from charities/ trusts, Town & Community Councils, and from income derived from providing transport to schools. We have also successfully established a charity shop.

We employ a manager and several part-time staff but the club also relies upon volunteers.

Role of Board of Trustees

The role of the trustees is to ensure that the charity continues to comply with its mission in providing a safe, effective and efficient service that can respond to demand.

We need to do more to ensure that we can offer the service to as many people as possible who would benefit from using it.

In addition to attending meetings, trustee board members are required to take particular interest in sustaining essential activities such as fundraising, health and safety, supporting the charity shop, etc.

The club has enjoyed a stable board of trustees. Whilst the continuity of its membership is a strength, it recognises the need to recruit additional trustees to introduce new ideas to enable the club to continue to innovate and sustain its activities.

At present we only have five trustees, nearly all of whom live in Brecon, so whilst not excluding individuals from Brecon we would particularly welcome new trustees from the Crickhowell, Talgarth and Sennybridge communities.

Time Commitment

The board of trustees meets bi-monthly at the office in Brecon. We are hoping to operate hybrid meetings where those who may find difficult to attend in person can join the meeting remotely.

New Trustees can also support the club through other activities depending upon their knowledge, skills and interest.

This is a voluntary role.

Key Skills and Interests

- Time, commitment and enthusiasm

- Promoting the independence of disabled people of all ages

- Online / Social Media

- Legal / HR

- Health and Safety

- Accounting / Bookkeeping

- Admin / Secretarial

- Fundraising

- Transport

We are in immediate need at present of someone with secretarial skills.

If you are interested in a role or would like further information please contact in the first instance:

Lisa Marsh, Manager

Email Address : office@brecondialaride.org

Tel No. 01874 624060

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Brecon Dial-A-Ride Opens It's First Charity

Shop In Brecon

In November 2019 we became a permanent fixture in

The Struet in Brecon town centre, when we opened the first

Dial-A-Ride charity shop!              

This has been a tremendous success to date, but more importantly it provides a special opportunity to further raise the profile of Dial-A-Ride by offering a face to face opportunity to inform visitors of our services.

During the Covid19 pandemic we have continued to operate a limited service to our local community by offering a collection and delivery service of prescriptions.

We shop for some disabled people who are not able to get out to the shops themselves, and we have supported

Brecon Foodbank by delivering the essential food deliveries needed by local residents and families each week. 

Unfortunately, ALL of our planed fundraising efforts are now on hold for the foreseeable future, and this will undoubtedly have an enormous effect on our future service.

We are hopeful that the service will start again when things return to normal but for our Charity, the impact could be long term!

Our service has not been restricted to just members of our Club, but other residents in Brecon and surrounding villages - just doing our bit to help others in need of assistance!