The Princess of Wales celebrated the 50th anniversary of the West Sussex Minibus by helping volunteers transport elderly passengers to a local lunch club
The Princess of Wales surprised elderly passengers who use a rural minibus service by helping to pick them up and take them to a local lunch club.
Kate travelled to the village of Pulborough today to mark the 50th anniversary of the West Sussex Minibus, which has a team of volunteers that help transport the elderly across the local area in its fleet of vehicles.
Among the passengers the princess helped to pick up to take to a lunch club today was 94-year-old Stella Drewett, with Kate arriving at her home to collect her and helping her on to the bus.
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Mrs Drewett said before the princess arrived that she was not fazed by anything, and joked: “When they said: ‘It will be a celebrity,’ I said: ‘I don’t know any celebrities.'”
Kate had been picked up by the minibus in the village and arrived at the home of Mrs Drewett, a retired school cook. Mrs Drewett is a new user of the service and said she travels on the minibus for her weekly shopping trip and a lunch held every Wednesday at the Pulborough village hall.
Kate was very hands-on, walking to the elderly woman’s front door and saying: “Good morning”, and later put a reassuring hand on her arm as Mrs Drewett manoeuvred her walking frame along the garden path and told her: “Well done.”
She stood behind Mrs Drewett as she climbed on board the minibus, and put her hands up against her back as a precaution.
When Kate asked about her trips out for lunch, the 94-year-old quipped that they meant “one day of not cooking”. While at the lunch club, Kate then sat down at one of the tables along with the club members who enjoyed chatting to the princess, while she nibbled on crisps.
It is hoped Kate’s visit will highlight the role community transport plays in bringing people together, reducing isolation, and enabling the everyday acts of kindness that make volunteers the unsung heroes of many communities. The West Sussex Minibus was established in response to the decline of rural public transport.
The organisation has grown from a single volunteer-led minibus service into a community transport network operating from eight village hubs, supported by 284 volunteers and a fleet of 11 minibuses. Its fleet travels approximately 60,000 miles each year, providing around 13,000 passenger journeys.
Kate’s outing today comes after she and Prince William travelled to Yorkshire yesterday to surprise Sir Kevin Sinfield on the latest stage of his final endurance event to raise money for motor neurone disease charities, telling him what he was doing was “so inspiring”.
The royal couple were joined by hundreds of supporters at the DIY Kitchens Stadium, in Wakefield, where William joked with families living with MND how he had dreaded getting a call from Sir Kevin to ask him to join him on one his runs.
Sir Kevin is completing an ultra marathon every day for seven days in his 7 in 7: The Grand Finale venture, the latest of his challenges inspired by his friend Rob Burrow.
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