Austin Mitchell and Ann Syrett present this series of programmes promoting voluntary and community service, focusing on people in the community who give up their own time to help others. The programme aims to provide a clear understanding of the nature and the extent of voluntary work that's done or needs to be done in many areas of social need throughout the Yorkshire region. This episode addresses transport. Photographs of urban street scenes ad candid shots of individuals make up...

Austin Mitchell and Ann Syrett present this series of programmes promoting voluntary and community service, focusing on people in the community who give up their own time to help others. The programme aims to provide a clear understanding of the nature and the extent of voluntary work that's done or needs to be done in many areas of social need throughout the Yorkshire region. This episode addresses transport. Photographs of urban street scenes ad candid shots of individuals make up the opening for the programme. Title: A Matter of Concern Austin Mitchell introduces the programme. Title: Austin Mitchell He outlines the work of the volunteer in the community, which forms the basis for this series of programmes. He hopes that the programmes might persuade viewers to enter much valued volunteer work. This programme looks at the work at volunteer drivers in the community. Speaking to the camera Ann Syrett explains how volunteer drivers can help parents of young children with disabilities. She explains that local authorities make no transport provision for pre-school handicapped children. The film goes on location to a house where a camper van is parked in a driveway. The woman driving it wave goodbye to her husband who stand holding a small boy near to the front door. Mrs Pauline Giles son has a disability and is aware of transport problems. She and an escort Joan Finlay collects five children with disabilities in the Otley area and takes them twice a week to pre-school playgroup in Ilkley. Pauline parks the vehicle and a mother and child greet her at the garden gate. Pauline supports the child as they walk to the camper van, and Pauline secures the child in a safety seat. The mother watches and waves as they move off. Pauline knocks at the door of another house and collects another child. She hands the child over to her helper in the back of the van. A notice in the window reads ‘Spina Bifida Campaign’, presumably a reference to the disability which Pauline’s own son has. She collects a young girl from the next house, and the film shows her driving as she talks about her own background. Title: Pauline Giles She talks of the difficulties other volunteers she knew of getting children to this playgroup and how she then utilised the family vehicle to help with transport. The film goes back to Ann Syrett in the studio, who then looks at the problems for those who need to get to friends or family who maybe in hospital for treatment and have no access to or find difficulties with public transport. The film moves to a street where volunteer driver Donald Stone opens the car door of his Volkswagen Beetle for his elderly passenger, Mr Robinson. Each week Donald drives the 12 miles so that Mr Robinson can visit his wife who is in hospital. This would be a two hour round trip by public transport. The car pulls away from the kerb. Ann Syrett outlines Donald’s background, who finds time, when he is not working as an airport security officer, to provide his service voluntarily. He also has time to patients on outings in ethe hospital minibus. The car arrives at the hospital. Donald opens the car door for his passenger. The programme goes back to the studio, where Ann Syrett looks voluntary work in community transport, particularly for elderly groups on a daily basis. The film shows an urban area of terraced housing, and high-rise flats. On camera Tony Adie outlines the reasons why providing community transport in Leeds is so difficult. He outlines fragmentation of communities with houses being demolished to make for new roads as an example, and people being relocated to unfamiliar areas. He then talks about the needs of those people who rely on community transport. A minibus pulls up at a kerbside as Ann Syrett outlines that the driver, Betty Harvey is a volunteer who twice a week takes elderly people to a day centre. Tony Adie speaks to Betty about a route that she needs to take to pick up a particular passenger. Betty parks her minibus and calls on the passenger. Off camera Tony Adie talks about the development of the service known as South Leeds Community Transport. Betty escorts the passenger onto the bus, she then collects other passengers from their homes. Off camera Tony talks of other member of the community who require transport, the young with disabilities, pre-school children with disabilities or other youngsters who need to go away on weekend trips Tony says they be able to help youth clubs in this way. More passengers are collected by Betty and her minibus. Title: Betty Harvey Betty outlines a conversation with Tony Adie and how she got her job. At their destination Betty helps passengers off the minibus. On camera Tony Adie talks of the help they receive from the community. The film returns to the studio where Ann Syrett introduces an item about a voluntary transport scheme called Contact. Denys Brierley a volunteer organiser outlines how the scheme operates. Title: Denys Brierley Voluntary Organiser – Contact Denys outlines how Contact helps to bring back people into the community, often isolated elderly people. Two women walk together along a street arm in arm Ann Syrette describes one of them, Mrs Ireland as one of the people Contact will help break their routine. Two Contact volunteers, Mr and Mrs Coles are picking Mrs Ireland up by car to give her some time away from her 4th floor flat. On camera Denys Brierley describes how Contact is organised. A group of elderly people sit down to a meal as off camera Denys outlines how often the volunteers are called upon to help and what is expected of them. Around the table Mrs Ireland is helped into a chair. The film shows this group enjoying their meal and conversation, while the volunteers help around the table. Denys on camera talks of the potential widespread need for the sort of work Contact does, but there are difficulties recruiting drivers for the numbers of people who would benefit from the service. The programme goes back to Austin Mitchell in the studio, where three guest speakers discuss the issues raised by the four items just broadcast. The guests are Lesley Archer who runs a volunteer centre in York. Title: Lesley Archer – York Volunteer Centre She outlines the centre’s use of volunteer drivers. Title: Malcolm May – National Representative - Gateway Clubs Malcolm outlines the use of voluntary drivers for transporting young people with mental disabilities, with seven voluntary drivers in Leeds and 300 nationwide. Title: Catherine Clarke – Voluntary Help Organiser – Leeds Infirmary She states that the hospital needs an unending supply of voluntary drivers, particularly for long stay hospitals. General discussion touches on the requirements of voluntary drivers and how that is managed. Austin Mitchell gives an address for those people who might want to be involved in voluntary work after watching the programme. Title: ‘Concern’ Yorkshire Television, Television Centre, Leeds, LS3 1JS Austin Mitchell, as the current programme ends. outlines the content of the next programme. Credits: Presenters - Ann Syrett, Austin Mitchell Cameraman - Brian Wilson Sound Recordist - Terry Ricketts Editor – David Aspinall Graphics – Brian Beardmore Researcher – Irene Cockroft Producer – Jim McCann Yorkshire Television Colour Production End title: © Trident Television Ltd 1975