A DONATION of £1,000 will help keep a vital charity bus service on the road for another year.

Skipton Building Society’s Charitable Foundation has given the donation to Ilkley Community Transport, so it can continue its vital service helping vulnerable people get out and about for their essential groceries.

The service operates a minibus, which provides transport for older Addingham residents who, due to disability or age, find it difficult or impossible to use public bus services.

The charity collects people from home, takes them to a supermarket in Ilkley and then, on return, carries their shopping into the house for them. The funding will enable the service to be sustained for 12 months.

Ilkley Community Transport chairman, John Jewitt, said: “We are a registered charity that exists to provide safe, reliable transport for residents in Ilkley, Addingham, Burley and Menston.

"We are extremely grateful for the donation from Skipton Building Society’s Charitable Foundation, which will go towards the service that allows elderly people in Addingham to get out and do their shopping.”

This is just one aspect of the charity’s work, with other services including day trips to the Yorkshire and Lancashire coasts, the Lake District and neighbouring counties, holiday transport for people with disabilities and regular services for three luncheon clubs for the elderly.

The organisation has 126 group members, with passenger ages ranging from three months to 90-plus years. Organisers hired out minibuses more than 600 times in 2014, completed more than 14,500 individual passenger journeys and used the services of in excess of 50 volunteers.

Running a minibus and volunteer car scheme for the benefit of residents was an ongoing project of Ilkley Good Neighbours and Ilkley Council for Voluntary Service for many years.

With the arrival of a transport co-ordinator and the subsequent increase in activity, the decision was taken in November 2004 to establish the project as an independent organisation. The project now has charitable status and its own management committee, free to concentrate on transport issues and the daily running of the organisation.