yelabus 2024

/ K R Whitbread

yelabus has had a busy 2024 and we now have the statistics for the year as a whole.

Our vehicles covered a total of 13909 miles of which 985 were on Friday only yelabus Connect service, 1878 on the Monday only Yateley Town Council shopper service with an astounding 4900 miles for Young Carers. The remaining mileage was spread between numerous hirers and we are grateful to all who hired our vehicles during the year.

Across all of the operations there 8332 passenger journeys – and we had a total of 840 distinct operations – so we were close to an average of 10 passengers on each operation – so most of the time there is room for more as we operate 15/16 seat minibuses.

Over the year we have availability for over 1600 hiring slots (a slot is a morning or an afternoon or an evening) – which means that we also have plenty of capacity for more hires (only about half were used in 2024) and with recent addition to our volunteer drivers we have more resources available.

If you would like to hire either of our minibuses for a local trip or further afield (one trip during 2024 went to Bournemouth and I know that in 2025 we will be visiting Buriton as well as Aldershot and Camberley amongst many other local locations) please contact our Operations Manager who will be happy to explain how we work; how we can assist those with mobility difficulties as both vehicles are equipped to carry wheelchairs and have tail lifts to aid access; plus the relatively modest charges.

Chair
yelabus

Muriel Brent-Breschinsky

/ K R Whitbread

The family of Muriel have been undertaking fundraising for yelabus following her passing on 16 August 2024 at the age of 97.  She has been travelling with us for many years and made many journeys with the buses and her friends and they have raised an amazing total of £1,051 for which we are very grateful.

Fuller details are available at the Just Giving page.

To Muriel’s family we offer our thanks for the efforts in this fund raising and no doubt when we next need a new vehicle these funds will be put to good use.

Chair yelabus
6 January 2025

Operations Manager – Lorraine Davies

/ K R Whitbread

yelabus are pleased to announce that we have appointed Lorraine Davies as our Operations Manager with effect from 15 April and that she has now completed her training and has taken over from Sarah.

Lorraine has a wide experience of customer service roles and has extensive knowledge of transport, although minibuses are a first.

Lorraine lives locally in Darby Green with her partner, one of her two children and a dog.

If you would be interested in hiring our vehicles or knowing more about our services she will be pleased to assist.

Tythings Coffee Club says Thank You.

/ K R Whitbread

One of our regular hirers, the Tythings Coffee Club, has recently received sponsorship from Robert Collard to meet the costs of hiring our vehicle for transport to their weekly meeting at Monteagle Community Centre every Thursday.

Both the Tythings coffee club and yelabus are grateful to Mr Collard  for stepping when the previous arrangements reached a conclusion at the end of March as this will mean that meeting numbers can be maintained for the benefit of the participants as it is a reason to be out and about and meeting friends.

Collard is a well known local business turning over £70m per year, now operating nationwide and we are pleased that a local business is able to provide this support.

yelabus runs by using volunteer drivers to provide transport for the people of Yateley using accessible minibuses.  If you would like to know more about out services please contact our Operations Manager.

Thank you.

K R Whitbread
Chair yelabus

Dolls’ House Raffle

/ K R Whitbread

Dolls House

Dolls House

yelabus has received a donation of a 50 year old dolls’ house which has been lovingly restored to a very high standard.

yelabus will be raffling this at the Yateley Lions May Day Fayre on 6 May 2024.  Tickets will be £5 given the effort expended in restoration with the proceeds going towards the continuation of our yelabus services in Yateley and surrounding districts.

The raffle has now ended and we can report that the raffle for this item raised £150 and we are very grateful to all those who participated.

New Volunteers

/ K R Whitbread

As  a small Charity our activities are controlled by the Trustees and we meet once a month to review activities and discuss matters which have arisen.

Whilst we have seven Trustees at present the team feel that we we are in need of additional assistance in certain areas – particularly with social media, marketing in general, maintaining the website and making our presence better known in Yateley and beyond.  And new voices are bound to bring new ideas and thoughts which can only better our performance and visibility.

There is no automatic need for such volunteers to take on the responsibilities of being a Trustee and indeed we ask all potential new Trustees to attend a few meetings before they are confirmed.  Regrettably we are not in a position to offer any remuneration – but we all know that our services are hugely valued by the community.

If you are interested in assisting us then please contact chair@yelabus.org.uk who will be happy to meet for a coffee and informal discussion.

Our new bonnet

/ K R Whitbread

Our new bonnet

We work closely with Hampshire County Council and they have introduced a new County wide brand “Connect” for all Community Transport operators and we have now added this logo to the front of our two vehicles.

“Connect” applies primarily to the service we provide to Hampshire taking residents from Yateley, Blackwater & Hawley and Eversley to The Meadows and Camberley on every other Friday.

There is a need to pre-register with our Operations Manager (07719 799263 or operationsmanager@yelabus.org.uk) and also to book for the particular dates on which you wish to travel.

Sarah Currie

/ K R Whitbread

It is with regret that the Trustees have accepted Sarah’s resignation as Operations Manager.  Since she joined us two years ago she has been unstinting in her efforts to ensure that our operations run smoothly and safely, recruiting additional volunteer drivers to strengthen the team and also chasing opportunities for additional hirers to ensure that yelabus delivered on the promise of Transport for Our Community.  She has grown the number of hirers and participants and also launched new initiatives, particularly our own excursions.

We are grateful for her efforts and sad that she has decided to take a new opportunity but we also understand the world does not stand still – the wheels have to keep turning.

Thank you Sarah.