Taxi Driver Online

Bradford on Avon church hails taxi to boost numbers

Monday 8th November 2010

A church has hailed a taxi service in the hope it will be the answer to its prayers – and its falling attendances.

The Zion Baptist Church, on Conigre Hill, Bradford on Avon, has seen fewer worshippers in recent years because many of the elderly members of its congregation are put off by the idea of walking or even driving up the steep hill for the weekly service.

The church is offering to pay for a cab to pick up people from their homes for Sunday morning service, and then drop them off afterwards.

Deacon treasurer John Willett said: “The church is in the middle of a very steep hill, and there are quite a lot of empty seats on Sunday morning.

“We are hoping the taxi will solve both problems. There is a small car park opposite, but a lot of people don’t want to drive up there because it is too steep.

“Many of our congregation are elderly and only one or two of them would be able to walk up the hill.

“It is a big deterrent and puts people off coming.”

The service will use local taxis and will be funded from the church’s reserves. Invitations were distributed around the town yesterday in 2,000 leaflets.

Mr Willett said the problem had led the church to consider moving premises in the past, but the old building has proved too popular with the current members.

He said: “We have a lovely church building with room for about 50 people, and it has a beautiful organ.

“Many of our congregation have been coming to the church for a long time and they wouldn’t want to move. If anyone wants to come along we could start the taxi service this Sunday.

“We have about £2,000 and if we start to run out I would be delighted.

“If several people are interested we can pick them all up together, we might even need more than one taxi, which would be wonderful.”

The church’s Sunday service starts at 11am and runs until midday, when light refreshments are served. There are 14 lay preachers who take services on different weeks.

Source; http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/8 ... t_numbers/

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Been doing that for over 10 years for the local Catholic church mind you its the passengers who pay the fare and theres only one going at the moment it can make a lot of difference for people who find it too difficult to attend otherwise