Yorkshire business Heck! to provide free bus rides to tackle loneliness in rural areas and is hailed a ‘lifeline’ by The Yorkshire Vet’s Peter Wright who travelled on first trip to Masham

The Yorkshire Vet’s Peter Wright has hailed a new free bus service which aims to combat loneliness and isolation in rural areas as a ‘lifeline’.

The sausage firm, Heck!, has bought and donated a nine-seater bus after residents said they felt cut off and lonely.

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The new bus will be freely available for local residents to book to go to the markets, days out, appointments or just for a social outing.

The initiative aims to help stamp out loneliness and boost business support in surrounding areas. This was inspired after the Covid pandemic left many feeling alone and vulnerable in rural communities.

Peter Wright standing outside the community bus. (Pic credit: Glen Minikin)Peter Wright standing outside the community bus. (Pic credit: Glen Minikin)
Peter Wright standing outside the community bus. (Pic credit: Glen Minikin)

Heck! is based in Bedale and began making door to door grocery deliveries during the pandemic to help isolated residents who were unable to go out shopping.

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Debbie Keeble, founder of Heck!, and Becky Keeble, marketing assistant, have been communicating regularly with the residents about what else they could do to help.

“I asked the visitors what else could we do and they gave me a number of things, the main thing that was highlighted was the isolation and the lack of [transport services],” Becky said.

“The bus service was very poor. We’re in quite a rural area so to actually get anywhere, you would need to [drive].

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Heck! Bus Launch. (Pic credit: Glen Minikin)Heck! Bus Launch. (Pic credit: Glen Minikin)
Heck! Bus Launch. (Pic credit: Glen Minikin)

“There are elderly [residents] who don’t have a driving licence anymore, so we decided to set the bus up to help combat that.

“The official launch is next week, but we’ve already had lots of people enquire about borrowing [the bus]. People want to go on factory visits, there are some Christmas events coming up that people look forward to and it’s really nice to go as a group rather than just individually.”

The first trip travelled to the market town of Masham on Tuesday, October 8 and The Yorkshire Vet’s own Peter Wright joined residents on the bus.

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“I’m very pleased to be part of this exciting community project that they are involved with,” Peter said.

Inside the community bus. (Pic credit: Glen Minikin)Inside the community bus. (Pic credit: Glen Minikin)
Inside the community bus. (Pic credit: Glen Minikin)

“During Covid we found that people were isolated, they were frustrated, they were in despair, they just didn’t know which way to turn.

“Without exaggeration, if the postman wasn’t calling, sometimes these people wouldn’t see anybody from one month to the next, it was that bad.

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“What this does is give them a lifeline to meet people and [visit] local towns, do a bit of shopping and socialising.

“They can go to the butchers, they can go to the bakers, pop in somewhere to have a cup of coffee and that makes all the difference. It’s a brilliant idea.”

The bus won’t just be driven by the team at Heck! as residents have volunteered to transport others too.

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“Anyone with a clean driving licence, with our permission, can drive [the bus],” Becky said.

“We have a few members of staff here who will help take people from place to place, but there are members of the community who are happy to drive the bus as well.

“If they’d like to take it and go to the seaside for the day and our team is busy, then they are more than welcome to do that. We’ve already set up a shared calendar and I’ve got a WhatsApp group.

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“We thought it’s really nice for them to be able to get to the local towns. [They can] do the jobs that they need to, whether it be their food shopping or they might have a dentist appointment and that’s a really nice way for us to support local businesses as well.”

With the opportunity for residents to drive the bus, there are no restrictions on where residents can go.

“There’s no limit to how far the bus can go, if people want to go to London, we can go to London,” Debbie said.

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“We’re going to purchase extra seats and you can pop them in and take them out whenever you want, it’s also got disabled access at the back with a wheelchair ramp.

“We’ve also had interest from the local primary school who are restricted on outings away from school because they don’t have the funding for transport.

“We were at a wedding the other day and there was a lady who lives in the parish. She came up and said that she was moved by it and thought it was a brilliant thing to do.”

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Peter said he identifies with the locals and their feeling of isolation.

“What we tend to forget is that the bus routes [in rural communities] are non-existent,” Peter said.

“They are becoming more and more isolated and Heck! has identified this as an issue.

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“I live in a remote area, I only have sheep and wildlife as neighbours and we did have a bus service but that’s been cut back by the local authority, so I see first hand exactly the problems that people have.

“I can just go into my car and drive to Thirsk but a lot of these people can’t do that, they’ve got to rely on other people; a neighbour giving them a lift, or a neighbour doing some shopping for them.

“It isn’t just for the elderly people, it’s also for the younger people who might have a disability, who might struggle to get into town, who might be living on their own and are isolated. So it isn’t just for the elderly, it’s for everyone who needs a service.”

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