RYEDALE Community Transport (RCT) trustees have a new chairperson.

Hugh Morgan has taken over the chair from Martin Knight.

Martin joined RCT as a volunteer driver in 2005. He drove for eight years until 2013 and then decided he was a bit old to carry on driving.

However, he had been taking the minutes of the trustee’s meetings from 2007 so he continued to be involved.

In 2017 there was a reshuffle of the trustees and Martin took over the chair.

He has now decided to step down but is still involved keeping all the vehicle records up to date. Martin was instrumental in seeing a change to the constitution of the charity from a Limited Company to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

A CIO is a new form of legal entity designed for non-profit organisations in the United Kingdom and as such is regulated by the Charities Commission.

Hugh is a retired RAF officer who in his later career was the Technical Support Director running the civilian element of RAF Fylingdales.

Fylingdales has a motor transport fleet with a variety of vehicles so taking on this new role and the challenges at RCT are not new to him.

Hugh said: “ I am delighted to chair the board of trustees and I must thank Martin for his sterling work over the past two years.

“I have a new board of trustees and we look forward to continuing the great work that has gone on since 2005.

“I am particularly keen to ensure the people of Ryedale who are less able, and have a very real need for specialist transport to get to hospital appointments, and to other events, are able to do so in the future.”

Huge said: “We must not allow community transport to cease because of austerity measures.”

If you would like to be involved in Community transport as a driver, or helper call Ryecat on 01653 699059 or visit our website at https://ryedalect.org/