Bristol Airport supports Blagdon Valley Minibus Association by donating one of its surplus minibuses to benefit the local community

Last month, the Airport’s Motor Transport team donated one of their surplus 17-seater buses to Blagdon Valley Minibus Association (BVMA). The vehicle will allow residents of Blagdon to continue their trips to nearby villages, shops and days out in North Somerset and the South West region. 

The minibus will be used to provide both regular links to local towns and also be available for local groups to use. The number of people carried by the minibuses in a year is considerable and the benefits to the local community with this donation will help support all age groups. For many regular users, these trips represent the only time they leave Blagdon and BVMA operate these excursions with unpaid volunteer drivers and charge low fares designed to cover the costs in providing the service. 

The minibus will help transport community groups and connect residents without access to conventional transport to surrounding areas. BVMA runs regular trips to Wells, Weston-super-Mare, Bath and Clevedon. Also, the organisation runs direct links to Langford to link up with the Firstbus scheduled service to Bristol. BVMA provides over 80 services and the provision of the minibus will enable all ages who use the minibuses to enjoy days out and provide transport for societies and sports teams in the village of Blagdon. These groups include local Scouts, Guides, Youth Week, W.I., Living Well Church Group, Ukrainian refugee support group, Black2Nature group supporting black young people, Blagdon and Ubley schools.

In addition to the residents of Blagdon, Winford Community Transport group will also use the minibus to provide similar trips to local towns and also lay on a number of social outings for the residents on Winford.