Can you imagine getting the chance to meet a beautiful French Resistance fighter, imprisoned by the SS during the Second World War? The drivers at the Didcot Volunteer Centre (DVC), which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, have.

Our small band of volunteer drivers helps those unable to drive or readily use public transport to get to a wide range of destinations and keep a whole host of appointments.

We take people to hospital appointments, to the doctor, dentist, physiotherapist – you name it and we can drive people who need us there.

We even help people visit their family in hospital, or go to the hairdresser or help with their shopping.

For some, these trips may be the only time they can get out and about.

Our clients really appreciate our help, but our drivers gain so much too. For some, the drives provide a really rewarding occupation following their retirement; others tell us of the pleasure of meeting interesting people. We are lucky enough to hear first hand so many fascinating memories from our older passengers on our drives. And our help can have unexpected benefits – one driver took two ladies together one day because of a driver shortage; it turned out they knew each other but had had no contact for over 20 years.

They thanked the driver for ‘a wonderful day out’. Driving for DVC can be a convenient way of combining volunteering with other activities.

There is no need to commit in advance to specific days and times, and we clear each request separately with prospective drivers.

Drivers are given a donation based on the mileage from their home to each destination and back; this is given by the clients and covers the cost of fuel, but the drivers’ time is given freely. At present, our fairly small coterie of drivers is stalwart in meeting an ever- rising number of requests for help, but we are always interested in hearing from potential volunteer drivers. If you live in or near Didcot and may be interested or would simply like to know more about us, visit us at www.localgiving.com/DidcotVolunteerCentre or call us on 01235 816709 on weekdays between 10am and noon.