DRIVING its way through Suffolk today will be a convoy of vans on a mission.A group of drivers who volunteer for community services in the county will be out on the roads trying to recruit helpers.

DRIVING its way through Suffolk today will be a convoy of vans on a mission.

A group of drivers who volunteer for community services in the county will be out on the roads trying to recruit helpers.

Drive Your Community in Suffolk is a campaign to tackle the shortage of volunteer drivers which is currently threatening services.

Volunteer charity Mid Suffolk Action in Partnership have teamed up with disability charity Optua, community charity Suffolk Acre and the Suffolk Volunteering Federation to try to bolster driver numbers.

Yesterday a convoy of community transport vehicles travelled from Stowmarket to Hadleigh, via places including Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury, and today they will be travelling in Diss, Leiston, Felixstowe and Ipswich.

Chris Dashper, from Suffolk Acre, said: “There are thousands of people in Suffolk who rely on community transport schemes.

“The types of schemes we run, like Dial-a-Ride and community trips have to have a volunteer driver, it's part of the legalities of it.

“It's never been easy to get drivers. We are looking mainly at the older generation who have more spare time, and as they get older we lose volunteers.

“We want the convoy to raise the profile of the schemes, and give potential drivers the chance to see the vehicles and how they work.”

N Is your charity struggling for volunteers? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk