Calls for group to help vulnerable people hit by cuts

An action group is looking for volunteers to help elderly people affected by cuts to public services in Surrey.

A Good Neighbour Scheme serving residents in Old Woking, Kingfield, Westfield and Sutton Green closed after the pandemic, but Surrey Community Action wants to bring it back.

Andrew Bates, outreach team leader at New Life Church, said cuts to local dial-a-ride services mean elderly and vulnerable people need a way to get around.

He said it would be “so sad if people are just left in their homes, not able to get out to a day centre or to a medical appointment”.

There are more than 100 of the schemes, which involve independently run groups of volunteers providing support in their local community, in the county.

Surrey Community Action, which supports many of them, said a Good Neighbour Scheme is “urgently needed" in the Hoe Valley area.

The schemes help people with lifts to medical appointments, collecting prescriptions, shopping and filling in forms.

“It’s anything that a good neighbour would do for their neighbour,” said Mr Bates, who urged anyone interested in managing the Hoe Valley Good Neighbour Scheme to attend one of the upcoming meetings at Old Woking Community Centre.

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