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We are delighted to announce that our Wivey Link Coordinator, Mel North, has stepped into the role of Wivey Link Manager.

Mel is a familiar face to many in Wiveliscombe. As well as coordinating Wivey Link, she volunteers at the Somerset Libraries Wiveliscombe and coordinates the Wiveliscombe Community Centre. Her dedication to our community is matched only by her calm, positive approach, and we know she’ll do a fantastic job leading our team and transport service.

This change also allows our previous Manager, Bec Briar, to focus on the increasingly important task of securing funding for Wivey Link. Bec is now our Fundraising and Development Manager, where she’ll be using her experience in fundraising and strategy to help keep our community transport service affordable and sustainable for everyone.

We’re pleased that Bec remains a valued member of the Wivey Link team and continues to play an active role in the organisation, while Mel takes the lead in managing our day-to-day service.

Please join us in congratulating Mel on her new role and wishing both Mel and Bec every success in their new positions!

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Wivey Link staff and volunteers are thrilled this week to announce that we have been awarded an Awards for All grant from the National Lottery Community Fund.

Our Community Transport service is a lifeline to many of our local residents who live in isolated areas with poor transport links. Thanks to our team of over 40 volunteer drivers, we get our members to their medical, social and other destinations as far as Taunton and Dulverton.

Manager Bec Briar said:
“This grant is a great start towards us reaching our fundraising target for the year. We simply could not run the service without the support of the National Lottery and thank all the players for their support.“

“We work with over 400 individuals, keeping them independent and able to live in their own homes, as well as contributing thousands of volunteer hours to our community every year. But we still need to raise £1 for every £1 we receive in fares to keep the cars on the road.”

Membership is open to all residents of the 10 Parishes and surrounding areas.
For more details on how to support us, visit https://wiveylink.co.uk/donations

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Future of Wiveliscombe Community Library Secured

We are delighted to let you know that the future of the Wiveliscombe Community Library has been secured.

For seven years, Wiveliscombe Area Partnership, the charity behind Wivey Link, has been central to the management of our Community Library. When the Library was at risk of closure all those years ago, the Trustees stepped in to work with Somerset Council and Wiveliscombe Town Council, meaning that it did not face closure as so many rural Libraries did at the time.

We have been honoured to be a part of the ongoing success of our Library, and remain proud of our Community Librarian and all she has accomplished, but sadly our time managing the Library has now come to an end.

We are pleased that another seven years of funding and support from Somerset Council and the Wiveliscombe Town Council means that the Library can plan for a future at the heart of the local community.

As part of the arrangements the Wiveliscombe Town Hall Trust has agreed to take on management of the library from the Wiveliscombe Area Partnership from the 1st April 2026. We thank and wish the Town Hall Trust the very best and we look forward to seeing the Library continue serving our community under their leadership.

The Town Hall Trust would like to thank everyone involved at Wiveliscombe Area Partnership for their support for the Library and the enormous effort they have made to help it thrive. They have been very supportive of us taking on the management and been generous in their time and advice.

BEC BRIAR AND NICKY SAUNTER
WIVELISCOMBE AREA PARTNERSHIP AND THE WIVELISCOMBE TOWN HALL TRUST

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Last week, two new Liberal Democrat MPs visited Wiveliscombe Area Partnership, a charity serving the people of the 10 Parishes, including residents of both MPs’ constituencies.  

Rachel Gilmour, MP for Tiverton and Minehead, and Gideon Amos, MP for Taunton and Wellington, both newly elected Liberal Democrats, joined the West Somerset charity to discover more about its work, and to see its iconic community transport vehicles.  

The charity runs an essential community transport service door to door, connecting rurally isolated residents from across the area, for example taking them to important medical appointments in Taunton and Wellington.  

Founded in 2002, the charity started the Wivey Link service with just one vehicle but now has five vehicles, including 4 with wheelchair access. They are operated entirely by volunteers. Over 600 residents are registered to use the transport service, and many of them have no access to public transport; the service delivered over 12,000 journeys in the last 12 months.  

Volunteer Driver, Phil Gadd, spoke to the MPs passionately about the impact his volunteering has on the passengers he has got to know over the years, calling it a lifeline for many. “I have been volunteering since 2010, and I do it because I know I can be a real help for people who don’t get out the house from week to week”. 

Pauline Homeshaw, Chairman of the charity, said,  

“We are thrilled to meet with our new representatives, not only to show them the important work that we do in their constituencies but to hear about their interests and plans. Charities like ours have been hit hard in recent times and it is heartening to hear that Rachel and Gideon are as passionate as we are about the issues that impact our rural community.” 

Gideon says, “Taunton and Wellington really benefit from the Wivey Link community transport as it plies its way bringing people in and out of town for shopping, medical appointments and for other reasons. 

“The fact that the charity provides this at reasonable cost is vital to many local people who wouldn’t be able to afford to get here otherwise.  

“The Partnership is also saving the health authorities huge amounts of money as they would otherwise have to provide transport”.  

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Further Information  

Wiveliscombe Area Partnership is a registered charity number 4351175, serving Wiveliscombe and surrounding parishes. A volunteer-led organisation, they run the Wiveliscombe Community Office and the community transport service, Wivey Link.  

The charity is currently looking for more volunteer drivers to meet the increasing demand from passengers; all training is provided, and drivers are given support as well as driver social events. 

Website: 

www.wiveylink.co.uk 

Contact: 

Bec Briar, Fundraising and Development Manager, Wiveliscombe Area Partnership. 

becbriar@wiveliscombe.com 

01984 636 590 

Image:

Gideon and Rachel with trustees and volunteer drivers Andy Michie, Liz Hurry and Chairman Pauline Homeshaw. 

Local community group, Wiveliscombe Area Partnership, is celebrating after being awarded almost £20,000 in National Lottery funding to support its work providing transport to rurally isolated individuals and groups in West Somerset.

The charity, based in the heart of the rural town of Wiveliscombe, will use the money to continue their service which provides over 600 members with over 10,500 journeys a year.

The charity is run by volunteers, from the Chair Pauline Homeshaw to the 40+ volunteer drivers and office volunteers.

Recent changes to grant funding from Somerset Council threatened the continuation of Wivey Link as well as the charity’s Community Office, but thanks to The National Lottery and the Wiveliscombe Town Council, Wivey Link will keep its cars on the road.

Last year the charity delivered over 500 medical appointments, 841 hospital appointments and 3,970 journeys for social care – appointments that members would not be able to access without the service. It also runs the Community Office which offers services to local people.

The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will ensure the charity can focus on providing essential journeys for members of their community who are rurally isolated, vulnerable, elderly, disabled or simply have no access to public transport.

Hearing about the threat to the organisation, Wiveliscombe Town Council also stepped up with a donation of £6,000 and encouraged other local parish councils to do the same.

Pauline Homeshaw, Chair, says: “We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to continue our work while we plan for the future. We are equally grateful for the ongoing support of the Wiveliscombe Town Council and many Parish Councils who support our work so that we can continue to deliver for their community who need us. Without the Council’s support, many more people would be isolated and lonely. Community Transport is vital to rural areas like ours and as we are thrown back on our own resources, working more closely together is key to the future.”

Roger Wilson, Chair of Wiveliscombe Town Council, says: “Wivey Link is one of the many volunteer-led groups based in our town and the Council is delighted to support this vital transport charity as it benefits our community as well as providing access to other local towns.”

The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk

Ends

Contact

Bec Briar, Fundraising and Development Manager, becbriar@wiveliscombe.com

Website: www.wiveylink.co.uk

Pictures are available upon request.

Notes to Editors:

About The National Lottery Community Fund

We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name.

We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with government to distribute vital grants and funding from key Government programmes and initiatives.

As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:

1. Come together
2. Be environmentally sustainable
3. Help children and young people thrive
4. Enable people to live healthier lives.

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4 billion of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £47 billion has been raised and more than 670,000 individual grants have been made across the UK – the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district.