A VERY big thanks for volunteering Mr Chris
When St Martin’s resident, Kenny Godard died, nearly 20 years ago his wife Lyn generously donated his electric mobility scooter to the Island. What started as a simple, thoughtful gesture grew into a very appreciated service. The scooter was hired out for a donation and the bookings and maintenance were carried out voluntarily by Chris Savill. Any surplus cash generated went straight back into island projects.
Fast forward and the scooter hire grew to the point where Mr Chris found himself managing a fleet of five scooters. After giving many, many hours of his time to managing bookings, maintenance and scooter delivery and collection Mr Chris is relinquishing his, ‘Scooter King’, title and passing the baton on. A quick ‘back of an envelope’ estimation, is that Chris has raised over £30,000 for island funds, while also making it possible for many people to enjoy a St Martin’s holiday who might otherwise have stuggled. To thank him for all his hard work an island coffee morning was held and a slightly bashful Mr Chris was presented with a gardening trug full of island goodies.
The new scooter team
Like a lot of communities our island functions well when people, ‘do their bit’. That ‘bit’ might be anything from volunteering as first-responder to noticing that the tea towels at the Island Hall could do with a wash and quietly getting on with it. When feelers were put out to see if someone would take on the mobility scooter hire there was optimism that someone would step forward. In fact three people put their hands up so the scooter tasks will be shared with the back up of Chris if he is needed to cover occasionally!
If you are staying on St Martin’s and you or someone in your group finds the the walk from one end of the island a bit challenging you can organise a weeks hire but following the details on the St Martin’s community website.
(p.s. Bear with us for a week or two the contact details still need up dating, it still say Chris Savill!)