WILLING volunteers to keep Aireborough's housebound in fish and chips are desperately needed.

A waiting list of people has built up of people desperate to enjoy fish and chips on Fridays - but only one thing stops them - a serious lack of drivers.

Now, Aireborough Voluntary Services to the Elderly with Disabilities (AVSED) has put out an appeal for people to help out.

Tessa Holmes, AVSED project co-ordinator, said: "I recently started up fish and chip runs on Fridays because I had this lady who lived near Murgatroyds in Yeadon and although she could smell the fish and chips every day, she couldn't get to them.

"I've got volunteers to ring up their list of people on Fridays, find out what they want, pick them up from the fish and chip shop and deliver them.

"People absolutely love it. It doesn't cost anything apart from the driver's expenses because the people pay for it themselves. The trouble is I now have people waiting for their fish and chips, like they always used to have, but not enough people to deliver them."

A fish and chip volunteer has recently been taken on from Bardsley, but Ms Holmes said she was sure there must be willing people living close by.

AVSED, which is run by five paid workers and 38 volunteers, is also in dire need of people to befriend older, housebound people and drivers - not only to drive members places, but also to transport volunteers.

"We are in desperate need of befrienders in members own homes. We do this as a last resort because we're about getting people out of their homes, but some just can't go out.

"We need people for a minimum of an hour a week, but its for as long as they want. Its very important for some of these people who never see anyone apart from say a daughter and they'll often tell a volunteer things they wouldn't tell their own family, like if they've been a victim of a distraction burglary and they feel too ashamed or duped to tell anyone."

AVSED currently has around 80 members spread across Yeadon, Rawdon and Guiseley and in addition to day centres, co-ordinates befrienders, and drivers to take people places. Ms Holmes said volunteers were desperately needed in all parts of the organisation's work.

Volunteers are especially needed as pushers - to push someone in a wheelchair the short distance to visit an old friend.

"I have two ladies who live just two doors apart. They're great friends but haven't seen each other for years because they can't physically get out," said Ms Holmes. "They communicate on the phone, but would love to see each other. I just need someone who could wheel one of them to the other's house at the beginning of the day and then bring them back again."

One of the problems the organisation faces is that many of its

volunteers are themselves more than 80 years old.

"I'm increasingly finding that we need drivers to drive the volunteers places. I don't want to lose the volunteers, but they need to be transported themselves."

And for Ms Holmes, her role has increasingly become that of a fundraiser. Increasingly, funding organisations are asking for every grant to be matched -- which means each application has to be matched with another one.

"I spend an awful lot of my time fundraising when I'm supposed to be managing the whole project," she said.

l Anyone who would like to help should contact Tessa on (0113) 2501702.