IF YOU are getting on and the garden gets a bit much at times, if you are just out of hospital with no-one to help and you are not fit to walk the dog or clean the windows, if you are disabled and could do with some help to put up some shelves, paint the ceiling or do some odd job about the house… then there is a voluntary scheme that could help you.

Handyperson is a free service that brings together the elderly and vulnerable all over the Inverness district with those that like to be of help in the everyday tasks that we all take for granted. So successful was the pilot scheme that Handyperson, which is funded jointly by the Highland Council and Voluntary Action – has received cash to keep going for the next three years. Says David Wordsworth who runs the scheme, “We were required to do a minimum of 37 hours a week but in fact it is going so well that we did 170 hours in the first couple of weeks in August. The scheme does not operate at weekends.

“Seventy per cent of our work is gardening at this time of year – cutting grass, weeding, clearing up etc. If the client does not have the tools for the job, we bring our own. Volunteers are all vetted and have identity cards, and they receive training in First Aid, Health & Safety and lifting.”

The scheme is currently seeking both volunteers and clients. Mr Wordsworth stressed that the age of volunteers was immaterial. “Usually they are people between jobs, the retired or semi-retired. If they use their own transport they get mileage costs, and if the job takes them away for four hours or more they get subsistence,” he said. Clients are usually referred by social services or doctors or other authorities, but they can also be self-referred.

If you think you know someone that could do with the help of Handyperson, or if you want to help, contact David Wordsworth on Inverness 711393.