Imagine you are in your 80s and live on your own. Your close family lives far away.

You're not in the best of health and need regular visits to the doctor and to the hospital.

You don't drive, buses are infrequent and never at the times you need them. And for you, hopping on and off buses is simply not an option. Visits to the doctor and shops become impossible. What do you do?

This is Margaret's* situation (here name has been changed so she can't be identified).

Margaret has been widowed for 10 years and she admits that increasingly she feels lonely and isolated.

She has good neighbours but many of her closest friends have died. Without her weekly visits to the lunch club in Alsager, her life would be miserable.

However, she is picked up from home each Thursday by a designated driver. She has a couple of hours of good company whilst enjoying a nourishing meal.

Regular laughter and chat make all the difference to her life now. It is the highlight of her week.

Alsager Community Support (ACS) has been helping vulnerable people like Margaret since its inception and now needs more volunteer drivers.

Shortly before lockdown in 2020, many volunteers came forward to help with shopping, collecting prescriptions and phoning, making sure that the most vulnerable never felt helpless and alone.

Spokesperson. David Black said: "This service continues to the present day. If you live in Alsager, Rode Heath or Church Lawton, there are volunteer drivers who will take you to medical appointments locally and also to Leighton and Stoke hospitals and to the Victoria Infirmary in Northwich.

"They will collect your prescriptions from the pharmacy, pick up any shopping you need and, perhaps most importantly, ensure that you don't feel forgotten and lonely.

"However, the ACS badly needs more volunteer drivers! Could you spare some time to take our older residents to Lunch Club at Alsager Civic or to medical appointments or maybe you could pick up prescriptions and shopping?"

Drivers to the Lunch Club usually do two hours once every two weeks and your expenses are paid.

If you would like to help, please contact David Black on [email protected].