New Buses Boost for Cambridge Dial-a-Ride

Cambridge Dial-a-Ride has received a welcome boost in the form of a legacy from a former volunteer. The ‘Not for Profit’ organisation has operated a door-to-door minibus service for the elderly and those with mobility issues who are residents of Cambridge and surrounding villages since 1996. But this time last year, the future seemed uncertain, according to the all-volunteer Board of Trustees Chairman, William Hughes, as aging buses and other cost pressures were taking their toll despite support from Cambridge City Council and Cambridge & Peterborough Combined Authority.

However, a timely legacy from a former volunteer driver with lifelong Cambridge connections has come to the rescue. Lou Parmée, who died in 2024 aged 69, remembered Cambridge Dial-a-Ride in her will, having seen at first hand as a Christmas relief driver, the valuable role it performs in the community.

Lou’s legacy has enabled Cambridge Dial-a-Ride to purchase three new buses and to establish a ‘cushion’ for future years. At an event to launch the new vehicles, her brother Nick Parmée said: ‘Lou was Cambridge through and through. She was actually born in the house which was the ultimate source of the funds; she attended Newnham Croft primary school, the Perse Girls junior school and the County High School for Girls, now Long Road Sixth Form College. A keen supporter of Cambridge United, Lou could often be found at the Abbey Stadium, as the club progressed from non-League status to the brink of the Premiership in 1992.

Her innate wish to help others was reinforced by her devotion as a member of the congregation of St Mark’s, Newnham, where she was a regular worshipper and in whose burial ground she now lies.

I am certain she would have been delighted to see the excellent use to which her benefaction is being put by William and his dedicated team’.

Adds William Hughes, ‘We were saddened to hear of Lou’s departure but amazed that she had left us such a wonderful legacy in her Will which has been put to very good use.  We had a number of buses that were aging and starting to become costly, which is not ideal for any charity where every penny counts.  We’d like to thank Nick for coming to visit us and to view at first hand our new buses and the impact we make to Cambridge residents by enabling them to not only get out to appointments, shopping trips or visiting friends and relatives, but to gain independence and the chance to meet and chat with others in a similar situation’.