sham & District Link 29th"Annual General Meetln 4V LINK SCHEMES have existed in Wiltshire since 1979 and can be found in most rural and urban communities. The Schemes are set up in response to local people recognising a need for the service. They provide a safety net for those unable to access services in other ways, such as public transport. *************************** ## Services offered by MELKSHAM & DISTRICT LINK Include: ## TRANSPORT For appointments to Hospitals, Surgeries, Dentists and other Medical appointments. **************************** ## TO BOOK TRANSPORT PHONE 07979 129 052 Between 9am and 4pm Monday to Friday Charity Registration No. 1044337 2 ## MELKSHAM & DISTRICT LINK COMMITTEE 2022/2023 OFFICERS Chairman Liz Rowley Treasurer Richard Clark Secretary Katherine Mills Volunteer Recruitment Pat Cook and Support Welfare and Safeguarding Ruth King Webmaster Ian Argyle TRANSPORT CO-ORDINATORS Ron Walby Jackie Hislop Ruth King Gillean MacDonald Helen Romaine John Rowley WELFARE OFFICER HEALTH & SAFETY SUPPORT ASSISTANT ASSISTANT TREASURER Ruth King Pete Colegate Peter Simmonds Phil Davis 3 ## CHAIRMAN’S REPORT A very busy year for Melksham Link. In the first 6 months of 2023 we completed 1227 trips, driving over 32,820 miles; a 30% increase on the first 6 months of 2022. We have certainly returned to pre covid levels and, surprisingly, have not been significantly affected by the NHS strikes. Having been voted in as Vice Chair at the last AGM I fairly quickly had to take on the role of Chairman due to Richard Bell’s health issues. Unfortunately, in early January 2023 Richard felt it was necessary to resign completely from all his roles with Link, a great loss as he had been so dedicated to this Charity. Richard was instrumental in putting in place many of the good practices and policies which are so vital to running a charity these days. His partner, Dee Phesse, also decided to resign from all her roles which was a great shame because she had been a stalwart of Melksham Link for a considerable number of years. Both Richard and Dee had put a lot of time and effort into Link and made many good friends. I am sure we all wish them well. Welfare Officer Ruth King presented them with a card and gifts from Link earlier this year to thank them for their enormous contribution to the organisation. Pat Cook is stepping down from her role as recruitment and support officer on the Committee. She has worked hard over the last three years in this role, interviewing new volunteers and dealing with all the paperwork. However we are grateful she is remaining as a driver and has offered her continued support to the new recruitment officer once appointed. My aim has been to maintain the excellent good service we provide for our clients, and I hope that this continuity has been achieved. Demand for our services is increasing, 4 especially to the RUH. One big change appears to be an increase in the demand for short notice appointments being given out by hospitals and clinics. Despite the added pressure of these short notice requests, I am constantly amazed at the flexibility, generosity and spirit of all our drivers. I am also very respectful of the tasks our coordinators carry out. Believe me the phone often never stops ringing from 9.00am to 4.00pm some days!! Amongst the many genuine requests we do get some very odd requests such as ‘Could you take me to the Honda garage in Bath to test drive a new car?’ Unfortunately, we had to say no, as we only do medical appointments – the person was not happy! It is uncommon for us to turn clients away but occasionally we just cannot match, even genuine client requests with an available driver. Recruitment of new volunteers is a constant trial but we are not alone in this dilemma. Our recent stall at the River and Food Festival attracted several potential volunteers and we hope they all follow up. We also attracted two excellent new Coordinators from our advertising campaign at Melksham Campus earlier in the year. We continue to place regular articles in the Melksham News to try to attract new volunteers and maintain a high profile in our local community. Another of my aims is to keep all volunteers up to date with all the work Link does. Melksham Link has over 40 drivers and 6 coordinators and comes under the umbrella of Community First who oversee and advise the 41 active Link schemes in Wiltshire. The revamped quarterly newsletter has been well received and contains news and important advice for drivers. The website is kept up to date by our webmaster, Ian Argyle, and the secure Volunteers’ section is full of detailed information for drivers, including downloadable expense 5 sheets. It would be good to see more volunteers signing up so that they can log on to the volunteers’ section and make use of this facility. More recently a new Facebook page has been launched. All drivers should now have the 2023 revised Drivers’ Handbook. It was sent out by email in February with the offer of a hard copy for those who required it. There is a copy in the Volunteer section of the website that can be downloaded and printed. We also brought together all the materials available to Coordinators in a Coordinator’s Handbook during the year. Thanks to Ron Walby and John Rowley who put together existing materials and advice in a format that could be used to train new Coordinators. You may have noticed that we have sharpened our public image, using the new version of our logo consistently and tried to give a more modern and professional look to all our publicity and paperwork. Ron Walby has organised the allocation and distribution of our three blue badges in a more coherent way. Drivers have reported that this makes life on Bristol jobs in particular much easier. A Risk Assessment for volunteer drivers has recently been completed and added to the website which looks at potential worst-case scenarios whilst on a job. I am very confident that the procedures we have in place minimise the risk to all our clients and drivers and we all do our best to keep our clients and ourselves safe. This is the reason why we have compiled a list of emergency contacts for all our drivers (known as an ICE list) which is held by the Duty Coordinator and myself. My overriding aim as Chairman is to maintain the excellent level of support we give to our local community. Our strap 6 line on our publicity - _‘Making a Difference in Melksham’ -_ is not a hollow claim. We certainly do. We are a lifeline for many of our clients. It can be a challenge at times but I must express my very grateful thanks to everyone who has supported me this year, particularly the Committee and Officers of Link. Above all I am very proud to be Chairman of such a great group of volunteers. Thank you all. ## TREASURER’S REPORT This is my first complete year since taking over the role of Treasurer from Pat Graham. I continue to find this role very interesting and rewarding as it’s always nice to know the finances of the organisation and to be responsible for paying all the drivers the money owed to them at the end of the month. As per last year, it took a few times to balance the end of year accounts. It is always the small differences that take the time to find. I have created a spreadsheet which quickly adds up both the monthly figures, which in turn adds up all the necessary information for the end of year figures and the various returns that Link have to submit. I have retained the manual books still which I complete each month. This is because it is easier to find faults and discrepancies when comparing two independent sets of figures than just leaving all to year end. It also helps the auditor at the end of the year. During the past year ending 31 March, Link has gradually returned to normal as the pandemic eased. The income and expenditure has increased as the number of journeys 7 M•lk8ham & Dl•trlct Llnk Sch•m• In¢(kn• •nd ExpMdllur• Yur Endlnll 31 Alw¢h 2023 t￿.013. £297.77 EnYdtyAS onakn A•c• Don&Oon Dnyqrd hii•r¢8tR¢wwd £70.70 tJ2158 ÉO.LXJ £o.(x) (194 B4 t333.02 £o.crfJ £0 WeJiR¢cw• &AAhJ ¢>•M lknni ÉJlJOJJS E23.748.15 ots*r¥J 127.eo594 £702 48 £11365 £443 e3 t914 27 £78891 £00) 2.46S.11 £457.40 £82.C e141 X £S59.11 £29852 P$thirwJ P•*Jfi9 qvlpmqnl hon• Rthi InfufBnrx link DoTr4br Pnnbsd Stslon WebD Ètpj*￿ £254 )) ILI £001 Llnk Dthi•*uni ￿rtn￿ Swfjonary W•b D•w £o.fyJ £831 £4(￿ Tr) soLb) £124 £478 97 ÉSDO) £0 C•) £2808 £32 Cwi C(*7tr7WJnlty Flr¥t Rl¥wwd• H¥•.M••lwi 81 T•i•l Exp•nwi Ul.Th4.14 Ew41knv•lhFkn¢om• 42.11SJI fZg.18J t31.303.D5 £31.794 14 £25.972.89 £0 £322Q In¢om• Exponws - Balarrf• SanlbnO•r . Balan TOTAL la1￿77 TOTAL t2•.1•&7F 1712023 W*lby submitted has also increased. Although the overall amount of cash held in both Lloyds Bank and Santander remained very similar to the previous year, the amount held in the Coventry Building Society was reduced. On average the numbers of drivers submitting an expense claim form was approximately 25 each month. During the year we changed our mobile contract with O2. This caused a few problems for a while. We therefore ended our contract with O2 and joined EE. As the O2 contract was paid from a Lloyds Bank account, we choose to close this account and we are now paying our mobile account through Santander. I would like to thank all the drivers who collected and delivered donations each month and for people who either donated money to Link or placed more than expected into the envelopes. I would also like to thank Phil Davis (Assistant Treasurer) who assists me in emptying the envelopes at the beginning of each month, preparing the money to be banked especially when, at first, the totals don’t balance, and helping me pay all the drivers promptly. Finally, I would like to thank Ian and Ron who independently audited the end of year accounts. It would help us if drivers submit their envelopes and expenses sheet on time, each and every month so that the amount of money held in the bank is available to pay the drivers on time. When several months expenses are submitted in one month, it increases the amount that is needed to be paid out. It also creates an issue with handling a larger amount of cash. 9 As the balance sheet shows, we remain in a healthy financial position. ## AUDITOR’S REPORT As both auditors were new this year and both unfamiliar with the accounts, a very thorough examination took place. Driver’s trips, expenses and payments were checked, together with all the invoiced expenses. The audited current and deposit accounts were 100% accurate, and the banking records were found to be ‘spot on’. In general, the accounts were presented in good order and are a credit to the Treasurer. The auditors, Ian Argyle and Ron Walby, have no hesitation in recommending the acceptance of these accounts at the Annual General Meeting. RON WALBY & IAN ARGYLE ## VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT & SUPPORT As many of you know it is my intention to step down from my committee position at the AGM. Obviously I hope someone will step up to the recruitment position as it’s important to keep recruiting throughout the year as circumstances change and drivers and Coordinators come and go; we are 30% busier than a year ago and we continue to gain clients as the NHS tries to get through the long waiting lists. 10 I intend to continue as a driver as I enjoy giving back to the community and anyone who takes on my role I will, of course, support and help in any way I can. As we have for the past few years we again had a stall at the recent Food and River festival, and between us all on the day managed to get 6 potential drivers and a couple of Coordinators. Initial contact has been made with the drivers and at the time of writing this report I have two interviews planned for this week, and others later in this month as they asked not to be contacted until then. One person has decided they are better placed to help Bradford on Avon due to their location. Sadly, due to change in work patterns we lost two drivers in the last few weeks but remain in the mid forties in number of drivers. We recently took on Rachel Whiteman. She was our first new driver for several months, despite advertising in our usual ways of Melksham News, Social media, posters, a Carers Fayre, and a display in the campus. Like many charities we have struggled to get any volunteers from these means and would welcome our existing drivers and coordinators spreading the word among family and friends. Also, with Coopers closing at Christmas and many people retiring, if you know of anyone with time on their hands please ask them to get in touch. Finally if you think you could take on the recruitment role ask me for more details at the AGM; it isn’t a challenging role and for many weeks you won’t need to do a thing. PAT COOK 11 ## WELFARE AND SAFEGUARDING REPORT In the past year 12 drivers have been sent cards thanking them for their support and one get well card was sent out. Additionally, concern was raised about a client with Adult Social Care in Wiltshire Council and happily the matter was resolved. Just a reminder that if you have any concerns regarding a client please don’t hesitate to let the Duty Coordinator or myself know. RUTH KING ## WEBMASTER’S REPORT In the last twelve months we have consolidated the contractual situation regarding the ongoing presence of our website on the internet thus ensuring ongoing public visibility and Volunteer support. The software components used to build and control our website have been reviewed and updated to the latest available levels. Our goal has been to create an easy to access source of reference information and useful administrative documents. During the year we have concentrated on improving the availability of Link documents alongside other information useful to our volunteers as well as enabling better display of the Chair’s Seasonal Newsletters. We have also added facilities for volunteers to share their personal experiences of their Link Activities. At the time of the last AGM we had 11 registered users, most of whom were administrators or Committee Members. Following an active campaign by the Chair and others we 12 now have 30 active volunteers (including committee members). We have enough capacity to support all our wonderful volunteers and it is easy to join. Simply visit melkshamlink.com on a smartphone, tablet or other computer then click on the “Head and Shoulder” shape. Fill in your email address, make up a password and click on REGISTER. IAN ARGYLE ## MISSION STATEMENT WILTSHIRE LINK SCHEMES believe that local communities and volunteers can have a positive impact in maintaining the unique quality of life in rural areas. Declining services and an increase in the population of older people and others, who need support, leave many people vulnerable and unable to access essential services and social activities that enable them to maintain an independent and enjoyable life style. LINK SCHEMES draw on goodwill in communities to provide a voluntary good neighbour service, assisting to fill this gap. Volunteering has many benefits for individuals and communities and vulnerable residents receive a muchvalued service. LINK SCHEMES provide a friendly, confidential service welcoming donations from their users. All donations are used in the provision of the service which is run entirely by volunteers. Charity Registration No. 1044337 13 Link- 'Makinga difference in Melksham, Reglstered Char￿Y No. 1044337 14 sham & District Link 29th"Annual General Meetln 4V LINK SCHEMES have existed in Wiltshire since 1979 and can be found in most rural and urban communities. The Schemes are set up in response to local people recognising a need for the service. They provide a safety net for those unable to access services in other ways, such as public transport. *************************** ## Services offered by MELKSHAM & DISTRICT LINK Include: ## TRANSPORT For appointments to Hospitals, Surgeries, Dentists and other Medical appointments. **************************** ## TO BOOK TRANSPORT PHONE 07979 129 052 Between 9am and 4pm Monday to Friday Charity Registration No. 1044337 2 ## MELKSHAM & DISTRICT LINK COMMITTEE 2022/2023 OFFICERS Chairman Liz Rowley Treasurer Richard Clark Secretary Katherine Mills Volunteer Recruitment Pat Cook and Support Welfare and Safeguarding Ruth King Webmaster Ian Argyle TRANSPORT CO-ORDINATORS Ron Walby Jackie Hislop Ruth King Gillean MacDonald Helen Romaine John Rowley WELFARE OFFICER HEALTH & SAFETY SUPPORT ASSISTANT ASSISTANT TREASURER Ruth King Pete Colegate Peter Simmonds Phil Davis 3 ## CHAIRMAN’S REPORT A very busy year for Melksham Link. In the first 6 months of 2023 we completed 1227 trips, driving over 32,820 miles; a 30% increase on the first 6 months of 2022. We have certainly returned to pre covid levels and, surprisingly, have not been significantly affected by the NHS strikes. Having been voted in as Vice Chair at the last AGM I fairly quickly had to take on the role of Chairman due to Richard Bell’s health issues. Unfortunately, in early January 2023 Richard felt it was necessary to resign completely from all his roles with Link, a great loss as he had been so dedicated to this Charity. Richard was instrumental in putting in place many of the good practices and policies which are so vital to running a charity these days. His partner, Dee Phesse, also decided to resign from all her roles which was a great shame because she had been a stalwart of Melksham Link for a considerable number of years. Both Richard and Dee had put a lot of time and effort into Link and made many good friends. I am sure we all wish them well. Welfare Officer Ruth King presented them with a card and gifts from Link earlier this year to thank them for their enormous contribution to the organisation. Pat Cook is stepping down from her role as recruitment and support officer on the Committee. She has worked hard over the last three years in this role, interviewing new volunteers and dealing with all the paperwork. However we are grateful she is remaining as a driver and has offered her continued support to the new recruitment officer once appointed. My aim has been to maintain the excellent good service we provide for our clients, and I hope that this continuity has been achieved. Demand for our services is increasing, 4 especially to the RUH. One big change appears to be an increase in the demand for short notice appointments being given out by hospitals and clinics. Despite the added pressure of these short notice requests, I am constantly amazed at the flexibility, generosity and spirit of all our drivers. I am also very respectful of the tasks our coordinators carry out. Believe me the phone often never stops ringing from 9.00am to 4.00pm some days!! Amongst the many genuine requests we do get some very odd requests such as ‘Could you take me to the Honda garage in Bath to test drive a new car?’ Unfortunately, we had to say no, as we only do medical appointments – the person was not happy! It is uncommon for us to turn clients away but occasionally we just cannot match, even genuine client requests with an available driver. Recruitment of new volunteers is a constant trial but we are not alone in this dilemma. Our recent stall at the River and Food Festival attracted several potential volunteers and we hope they all follow up. We also attracted two excellent new Coordinators from our advertising campaign at Melksham Campus earlier in the year. We continue to place regular articles in the Melksham News to try to attract new volunteers and maintain a high profile in our local community. Another of my aims is to keep all volunteers up to date with all the work Link does. Melksham Link has over 40 drivers and 6 coordinators and comes under the umbrella of Community First who oversee and advise the 41 active Link schemes in Wiltshire. The revamped quarterly newsletter has been well received and contains news and important advice for drivers. The website is kept up to date by our webmaster, Ian Argyle, and the secure Volunteers’ section is full of detailed information for drivers, including downloadable expense 5 sheets. It would be good to see more volunteers signing up so that they can log on to the volunteers’ section and make use of this facility. More recently a new Facebook page has been launched. All drivers should now have the 2023 revised Drivers’ Handbook. It was sent out by email in February with the offer of a hard copy for those who required it. There is a copy in the Volunteer section of the website that can be downloaded and printed. We also brought together all the materials available to Coordinators in a Coordinator’s Handbook during the year. Thanks to Ron Walby and John Rowley who put together existing materials and advice in a format that could be used to train new Coordinators. You may have noticed that we have sharpened our public image, using the new version of our logo consistently and tried to give a more modern and professional look to all our publicity and paperwork. Ron Walby has organised the allocation and distribution of our three blue badges in a more coherent way. Drivers have reported that this makes life on Bristol jobs in particular much easier. A Risk Assessment for volunteer drivers has recently been completed and added to the website which looks at potential worst-case scenarios whilst on a job. I am very confident that the procedures we have in place minimise the risk to all our clients and drivers and we all do our best to keep our clients and ourselves safe. This is the reason why we have compiled a list of emergency contacts for all our drivers (known as an ICE list) which is held by the Duty Coordinator and myself. My overriding aim as Chairman is to maintain the excellent level of support we give to our local community. Our strap 6 line on our publicity - _‘Making a Difference in Melksham’ -_ is not a hollow claim. We certainly do. We are a lifeline for many of our clients. It can be a challenge at times but I must express my very grateful thanks to everyone who has supported me this year, particularly the Committee and Officers of Link. Above all I am very proud to be Chairman of such a great group of volunteers. Thank you all. ## TREASURER’S REPORT This is my first complete year since taking over the role of Treasurer from Pat Graham. I continue to find this role very interesting and rewarding as it’s always nice to know the finances of the organisation and to be responsible for paying all the drivers the money owed to them at the end of the month. As per last year, it took a few times to balance the end of year accounts. It is always the small differences that take the time to find. I have created a spreadsheet which quickly adds up both the monthly figures, which in turn adds up all the necessary information for the end of year figures and the various returns that Link have to submit. I have retained the manual books still which I complete each month. This is because it is easier to find faults and discrepancies when comparing two independent sets of figures than just leaving all to year end. It also helps the auditor at the end of the year. During the past year ending 31 March, Link has gradually returned to normal as the pandemic eased. The income and expenditure has increased as the number of journeys 7 M•lk8ham & Dl•trlct Llnk Sch•m• In¢(kn• •nd ExpMdllur• Yur Endlnll 31 Alw¢h 2023 t￿.013. £297.77 EnYdtyAS onakn A•c• Don&Oon Dnyqrd hii•r¢8tR¢wwd £70.70 tJ2158 ÉO.LXJ £o.(x) (194 B4 t333.02 £o.crfJ £0 WeJiR¢cw• &AAhJ ¢>•M lknni ÉJlJOJJS E23.748.15 ots*r¥J 127.eo594 £702 48 £11365 £443 e3 t914 27 £78891 £00) 2.46S.11 £457.40 £82.C e141 X £S59.11 £29852 P$thirwJ P•*Jfi9 qvlpmqnl hon• Rthi InfufBnrx link DoTr4br Pnnbsd Stslon WebD Ètpj*￿ £254 )) ILI £001 Llnk Dthi•*uni ￿rtn￿ Swfjonary W•b D•w £o.fyJ £831 £4(￿ Tr) soLb) £124 £478 97 ÉSDO) £0 C•) £2808 £32 Cwi C(*7tr7WJnlty Flr¥t Rl¥wwd• H¥•.M••lwi 81 T•i•l Exp•nwi Ul.Th4.14 Ew41knv•lhFkn¢om• 42.11SJI fZg.18J t31.303.D5 £31.794 14 £25.972.89 £0 £322Q In¢om• Exponws - Balarrf• SanlbnO•r . Balan TOTAL la1￿77 TOTAL t2•.1•&7F 1712023 W*lby submitted has also increased. Although the overall amount of cash held in both Lloyds Bank and Santander remained very similar to the previous year, the amount held in the Coventry Building Society was reduced. On average the numbers of drivers submitting an expense claim form was approximately 25 each month. During the year we changed our mobile contract with O2. This caused a few problems for a while. We therefore ended our contract with O2 and joined EE. As the O2 contract was paid from a Lloyds Bank account, we choose to close this account and we are now paying our mobile account through Santander. I would like to thank all the drivers who collected and delivered donations each month and for people who either donated money to Link or placed more than expected into the envelopes. I would also like to thank Phil Davis (Assistant Treasurer) who assists me in emptying the envelopes at the beginning of each month, preparing the money to be banked especially when, at first, the totals don’t balance, and helping me pay all the drivers promptly. Finally, I would like to thank Ian and Ron who independently audited the end of year accounts. It would help us if drivers submit their envelopes and expenses sheet on time, each and every month so that the amount of money held in the bank is available to pay the drivers on time. When several months expenses are submitted in one month, it increases the amount that is needed to be paid out. It also creates an issue with handling a larger amount of cash. 9 As the balance sheet shows, we remain in a healthy financial position. ## AUDITOR’S REPORT As both auditors were new this year and both unfamiliar with the accounts, a very thorough examination took place. Driver’s trips, expenses and payments were checked, together with all the invoiced expenses. The audited current and deposit accounts were 100% accurate, and the banking records were found to be ‘spot on’. In general, the accounts were presented in good order and are a credit to the Treasurer. The auditors, Ian Argyle and Ron Walby, have no hesitation in recommending the acceptance of these accounts at the Annual General Meeting. RON WALBY & IAN ARGYLE ## VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT & SUPPORT As many of you know it is my intention to step down from my committee position at the AGM. Obviously I hope someone will step up to the recruitment position as it’s important to keep recruiting throughout the year as circumstances change and drivers and Coordinators come and go; we are 30% busier than a year ago and we continue to gain clients as the NHS tries to get through the long waiting lists. 10 I intend to continue as a driver as I enjoy giving back to the community and anyone who takes on my role I will, of course, support and help in any way I can. As we have for the past few years we again had a stall at the recent Food and River festival, and between us all on the day managed to get 6 potential drivers and a couple of Coordinators. Initial contact has been made with the drivers and at the time of writing this report I have two interviews planned for this week, and others later in this month as they asked not to be contacted until then. One person has decided they are better placed to help Bradford on Avon due to their location. Sadly, due to change in work patterns we lost two drivers in the last few weeks but remain in the mid forties in number of drivers. We recently took on Rachel Whiteman. She was our first new driver for several months, despite advertising in our usual ways of Melksham News, Social media, posters, a Carers Fayre, and a display in the campus. Like many charities we have struggled to get any volunteers from these means and would welcome our existing drivers and coordinators spreading the word among family and friends. Also, with Coopers closing at Christmas and many people retiring, if you know of anyone with time on their hands please ask them to get in touch. Finally if you think you could take on the recruitment role ask me for more details at the AGM; it isn’t a challenging role and for many weeks you won’t need to do a thing. PAT COOK 11 ## WELFARE AND SAFEGUARDING REPORT In the past year 12 drivers have been sent cards thanking them for their support and one get well card was sent out. Additionally, concern was raised about a client with Adult Social Care in Wiltshire Council and happily the matter was resolved. Just a reminder that if you have any concerns regarding a client please don’t hesitate to let the Duty Coordinator or myself know. RUTH KING ## WEBMASTER’S REPORT In the last twelve months we have consolidated the contractual situation regarding the ongoing presence of our website on the internet thus ensuring ongoing public visibility and Volunteer support. The software components used to build and control our website have been reviewed and updated to the latest available levels. Our goal has been to create an easy to access source of reference information and useful administrative documents. During the year we have concentrated on improving the availability of Link documents alongside other information useful to our volunteers as well as enabling better display of the Chair’s Seasonal Newsletters. We have also added facilities for volunteers to share their personal experiences of their Link Activities. At the time of the last AGM we had 11 registered users, most of whom were administrators or Committee Members. Following an active campaign by the Chair and others we 12 now have 30 active volunteers (including committee members). We have enough capacity to support all our wonderful volunteers and it is easy to join. Simply visit melkshamlink.com on a smartphone, tablet or other computer then click on the “Head and Shoulder” shape. Fill in your email address, make up a password and click on REGISTER. IAN ARGYLE ## MISSION STATEMENT WILTSHIRE LINK SCHEMES believe that local communities and volunteers can have a positive impact in maintaining the unique quality of life in rural areas. Declining services and an increase in the population of older people and others, who need support, leave many people vulnerable and unable to access essential services and social activities that enable them to maintain an independent and enjoyable life style. LINK SCHEMES draw on goodwill in communities to provide a voluntary good neighbour service, assisting to fill this gap. Volunteering has many benefits for individuals and communities and vulnerable residents receive a muchvalued service. LINK SCHEMES provide a friendly, confidential service welcoming donations from their users. All donations are used in the provision of the service which is run entirely by volunteers. Charity Registration No. 1044337 13 Link- 'Makinga difference in Melksham, Reglstered Char￿Y No. 1044337 14 ## MELKSHAM AND DISTRICT LINK SCHEME ## AUDITORS REPORT YEAR ENDING MARCH 31[st] 2023 As both auditors were new this year and both unfamiliar with the accounts, a very thorough examination took place. Driver’s trips, expenses and payments were checked, together with all the invoiced expenses. The audited current and deposit accounts were 100% accurate, and the banking records were found to be ‘spot on’. In general, the accounts were presented in good order and are a credit to the Treasurer. The auditors, Ian Argyle and Ron Walby, have no hesitation in recommending the acceptance of these accounts at the Annual General Meeting