A GROUP of five British Red Cross volunteers in Somerset have been given awards for long time service.

The volunteers are part of the Transport Support service and give up their free time to drive people to doctor or hospital appointments when it is not easy for them travel by themselves.

They ferry people to and from outpatient appointments at Musgrove Park Hospital's oncology department and the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre.

Robin Williams and David Penny were recognised for 20 years of service, while Gordon Knight celebrated 10 years of service.

Wayland Chan and Pippa Hamilton were awarded for five years of service.

Pippa Hamilton, 67, from Ilminster, said: “The British Red Cross’s volunteers should never underestimate how important they are.

"Giving up your time to be a Transport Support volunteer is not just driving a patient from A to B.

“It is being there to listen to their fears and anxieties, to their life story, their family dynamics and their regrets.

"It all comes tumbling out as you sit side by side.

“After a trip, the patient is always so full of gratitude, and sometimes it is overwhelming gratitude, so I often drive back home carrying huge love for the passenger that I met for the first time only a few hours before.

“The Red Cross are here to help people in crisis, which is not limited to people in conflict zones - it is right down to the passenger in your car and their crisis right now.”

Pippa and the other volunteers were given their awards at the British Red Cross’s office in Taunton earlier this month.

Since October 2021, the Somerset Transport Support volunteer team has taken more than 3,500 trips, travelling a total distance of 152,000 miles.

Volunteers are a crucial part of the British Red Cross’s work, and the charity is currently recruiting more Transport Support volunteers in Somerset.

For more information visit: volunteer.redcross.org.uk/opportunities/37244-transport-support-volunteer-somerset-oncology-2022-09-09.