... buses matter most to the quite young and the quite old, but - whatever age -anyone who has broken a leg, had their vehicle damaged, or lost their licence knows how important the bus can become to anyone, overnight!

Just before the COVID-19 lockdown, our Parish Council Clerk asked me to draft a piece for an NM contribution to the national enquiry a combination of MPs and County Councils were running then on "rural bus services".

Since lockdown ended we've had a little local study monitoring use of our bus service, with interesting results ... that show that almost three quarters of  bus journeys appear to be made by 60+ residents, with 60+ women making almost twice as many journeys  as 60+ men. 

Any deterioration in the service would have negative effects on access to NHS at Sutton and, in Newark, to the many services we don’t have here!  Our area is in the 10% most deprived  on the Barriers to Housing & Services Domain of the government's Indices of Deprivation ... !