A COPY of a letter sent to MP Neil Carmichael: It was with great shock and concern for everyone affected when I heard the Ring and Ride service would no longer be available due to lack of funding.

The kind Ring and Ride gentlemen gave me this very sad news when he collected my husband from the door to take him to the Uplands Day Centre.

The Ring and Ride service is invaluable to us as they transport my husband to and from the local day centre three times a week and so provides a varied and structured day for him and some much-needed respite for myself.

My husband has a rare form of dementia that the Ring and Ride drivers and attendants are fully aware of and understand his needs and ways.

I am completely confident in their abilities when he is in their care.

This could not be met by a normal taxi service, even if I could afford it.

I also have wonderful support from the office staff who are always at the end of the line for me and often reassure me that he has been safety collected.

It is such a caring organisation.

We rely on day centres to keep him occupied and safe, as otherwise he would be prone to wonder off as restlessness is part of his condition.

I cannot express how important this service is to our family, as I expect it is to countless other families and individuals within the Stroud community.

I would urge you and anyone out there who may have wield some powers to step in and keep this essential service going.

We desperately await your response.

Christine Ellis

Stroud

Editor’s note: The Stroud Ring and Ride and voluntary car service was forced to close when the Cotswold Council for Voluntary Services, which ran the scheme, went into administration.

But, as reported by the SNJ, a newly formed community interest company called Stroud District Ring & Ride is now running the service.