To make the best use of our minibus in such a rural community we allocate it to a village or a club to use it. This can be for half the day, morning or afternoon or the whole day. We have a 12 seat Ford Transit Minibus which can be seen regularly running around the area.

We operate with a Divisional Organiser and an organiser for each village.

Divisional Organiser    Robin Low   Tel. 01243 542426

Robin coordinates all the activities for the Division. He ensures the calendar works, that there are no clashes and that the minibus is available as often as possible. This means organising vehicle servicing, replacement in the event of breakdown and the myriad of other things that serve to ensure smooth running. He is the main focus between the Division and the Association, ensuring any required replacements or modifications are made and that the Division operates within the strict regulations applying to running a community minibus. Equally important is collecting subscriptions and donations without which we cannot function.
Contact Robin if you have any general questions on becoming a volunteer or want to use the minibus in the 5 Villages area.

Each village has an organiser and for ease of operation the villages of Barnham and Yapton have the same person.
Village organisers have the important tasks of taking bookings from members and then ensuring that the drivers and escorts are available. They also ensure that the on board ‘fare’ is collected and returned to the Divisional Organiser.

How to join the 5 Villages Division as a Member

You can become a member of our Division of the association if you live in one of the 5 villages and you need transport. We don’t offer individual personal trips, such as are provided by a taxi. We operate what are known as group trips to specific places on specific days. For example on every Thursday morning our minibus is allocated to Yapton and Barnham and takes members to Chichester or Bognor so that they can do their shopping, go to the bank or post office or just ‘visit’. If you want to go to Bognor or Chichester, and can go when the minibus is going you only have to ring the village organiser for your village and ask to join the Association. We make a small annual membership charge and once this has been paid you are a member and can use the minibus.

How to join the 5 Villages Division as a Volunteer

We welcome any one living in our area to join us as a volunteer. You don’t have to volunteer just to drive the minibus, we have a constant need for organisers and escorts to help the smooth flow of our organisation.
If you are a driver and would like to help, then read the conditions set out in the Vehicle Manager page. They are not onerous and any competent driver can drive the minibus. You will need to drive the minibus with one of our vehicle organisers on board so that he can judge you ability and give you a bit of training and advice on driving these slightly larger vehicles.
If you want to help our members on and off the minibus and look after them whilst they are with us then you may like to join as an Escort. The driver and escort together are the key lynchpin of the day to day operation. They get to know the members and help them have an enjoyable time with us.

If you are interested in organisation and administration then you could join as a potential organiser. Often new volunteers like to drive or escort, simply to get to understand how the organisation ticks. Some find they can make a greater contribution by helping the Divisional Organiser with his many other jobs.

If you are interested and would like to join us, ring the Divisional Organiser or your local Village Organiser.