The Driving Force takes anyone who has cancer and is registered with a GP in Bonnybridge, Denny or Banknock to hospital appointments for FREE.
News and Events
St Modan's success
27 Jun 2025INCREDIBLE work by St Modan's High School pupils
Nina, Riley, Michael, Jotham, and Gaby absolutely smashed their Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) presentation and won £3,000 for The Driving Force! Their research uncovered some shocking statistics that highlight exactly why our charity matters:
Did you know?
• 46% of non-driving over-70s miss GP appointments due to lack of transport
• 96% have missed MORE than one appointment
• 68% have missed THREE or more appointments
This is exactly why The Driving Force exists!
Founded in 2005, we provide FREE transport for cancer patients in Bonnybridge, Banknock & Denny to:
Hospital treatment sessions
Medical appointments
Visitor transport to hospitals & hospices
Plus complimentary therapies & treatments
- but it's COMPLETELY FREE for patients.
The students' presentation ended with this powerful message:
Driving Force, helping people live with cancer, one ride at a time"
Thanks to St Modan's £3,000 total donation, we can now launch our publicity campaign to reach MORE people who desperately need our services.
Do you know someone living with cancer who is struggling to get to treatment appointments?
Call your local GP surgery to request a ride Visit bdthedrivingforce.org.uk
Email - co-ordinators@bdthedrivingforce.org.uk
Thank you St Modan's - your students are true champions! We look forward to continuing working with you in the future. #TheDrivingForce #StModansHighSchool #YPIAward #CancerSupport #FreeTransport #CommunityHeroes #MissedAppointments #LocalCharity
St Modan's students win a big grant for The Driving Force
7 Jun 2025We are absolutely delighted that students from St Modan's High School have secured a £3000 grant for The Driving Force through the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI). Nina, Riley, Michael, Jotham, and Gaby did a fantastic job telling everyone about what we do and their fellow students voted for us. We are going to use the money to spread the word that we provide free volunteer transport to hospital for anyone living with cancer who is registered with a GP in Denny, Banknock and Bonnybridge. We also offer hairdressing, podiatry, manicures and relaxation therapies in peoples’ own homes. All these services are completely free. Please tell you friends and family about The Driving Force; it’s the best way you can help the charity.
20 years today
26 Apr 2025I can't believe it's 20 years today since our very first meeting. Since then we've driven 710,000 miles, provided1,240 therapy sessions and helped over 1670 local people. I'd really like to thank all our volunteers past and present and the many, many local people who have supported us and who are so incredibly generous. We couldn't be more proud of what we have achieved but we can still do more. Please spread the word that we provide free transport to hospital, hairdressing, podiatry, complementary therapies and manicures to anyone who is living with cancer and registered with a Bonnybridge, Denny or Banknock GP. Getting to appointments is incredibly stressful and we're very happy to take people and a family member, or friend, even if they have their own car. There are still lots of local people who don't know about us, so please, please tell everyone you know. We can be contacted by phoning your GP practice and leaving your name and number, or via our website. Thanks again for all your support over the years. Bridget Founder and Secretary of The Driving Force
donation
23 Jan 2025Many thanks to EnQuest Ltd who reward their best performing team with money to donate to their chosen charity. For 2024, the Kraken Asset have chosen to support Driving Force. In 2024 they raised the amazing sum of £5,463. Jim Gardiner one of our fantastic team of volunteer drivers nominated The Driving Force. This is the second time that we have received a very generous donation from EnQuest. All the money will be spent helping local people living with cancer and their families with free transport to hospital and also with therapies in their own homes.
Prize draw
17 Dec 2024Special thanks to our fundraising team, and everyone who donated, sold and purchased tickets for our Christmas Draw, which was drawn this evening, we have raised over £2000 which is amazing. We had 90 prizes and the top 5 winners were as follows 1st prize £150 ASDA voucher Catherine Kerr 2nd prize £100 cash Marie Houston 3rd prize £75 Tesco voucher Jean McCheyne 4th prize £75 Smyths voucher Brian McNulty 5th prize £50 M&S voucher Brian McPhie All winners have been notified tonight and those we haven’t been able to make contact with will be followed up tomorrow. Thanks so much for everyone’s kind generosity.
Driving force on That's TV Scotland
11 Nov 2024Jude Fraser, chair of The Driving Force, was asked to speak about our recent Volunteer Friendly Award. You can follow the link below to see what she said. https://x.com/ThatsTVScotland/status/1853723940428104165
Volunteer Friendly Award
24 Oct 2024The Driving Force is very pleased and proud to have been awarded a Volunteer Friendly Award by Volunteer Scotland. The committee have reviewed all areas of the work we do which involve volunteers and have tried hard to make all our policies and procedures the very best they can be so that our volunteers have a really rewarding and safe experience. Volunteer Scotland praised our ‘great work’ and said ‘It’s clear to see that volunteers are very well integrated within the organisation and that they are thought of and looked after. It’s great to see so much good practice within your volunteering programme.’ Our volunteers told Volunteer Scotland : ‘Working with The Driving Force has met all my expectations. A very good charity, well run with no problems’ ‘I feel privileged to volunteer with this organization. The people I met are so friendly and helpful in every way. I look forward to volunteering for a long time’ If you would like to join our team as a driver, coordinator, fundraiser or helper please contact us via bdthedrivingforce@gmail.com or phone your GP reception in Bonnybridge, Denny or Banknock and leave a message for our coordinator.
Event: Race Night
Many thanks to everyone involved in the amazingly successful race night on 13th September; we raised the fantastic total of 2016.50!!! Particular thanks to Jean who organised it, Tony who was the very enthusiastic compere, Sheena who provided and donated a delicious buffet and Bonnybridge golf club who let us use their wonderful venue free of charge. Thanks also to all the generous people who bought tickets, donated prizes, dug deep on the evening and just as importantly had fun! Our next fundraiser is going to be a grand prize draw in December. Keep your eyes peeled for details later in the year as to where you can buy tickets-we've got some fantastic prizes already.
Thanks to the Maintenance department at Falkirk council
24 Jul 2024Many thanks to Stuart Brown and all his colleagues, past and present, in the maintenance department at Falkirk council who have given us £627.47. For may years they have donated money every week to charitable causes. Their fund has now been wound up and they very kindly chose to give The Driving Force the remaining funds. The picture shows Bridget receiving the donation from Stuart.
Bonnybridge Bowling Club event
3 Jul 2024Many thanks to Mary and Cliff Kinloch and everyone at Bonnybridge Bowling Club. They organised a very successful game on the green which raised £202. The club have been very supportive to us over the years since we started.
Are you living with cancer?
Anybody with cancer who is registered at either Bonnybridge, Banknock, Denny Cross, or Carronbank Health Centre can use our drivers to take them to and from hospital appointments and treatment sessions for cancer
Information for patientsVolunteers
Everyone involved in The Driving Force is a volunteer. Find out how you can get involved.
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