Former speaker of the House of Assembly F. John Barritt has decided it is time for action.

In a presentation at the Botanical Gardens on Monday, Project Action founders announced that Mr. Barritt was to replace one of the founding directors, the late Sir John Plowman.

The organisation transports seniors in residential homes around the Island for outings. However the group recently decided to extend the service to include transportation for homebound elderly people.

At the presentation on Monday it was announced that Bermuda's own philanthropist David Barber donated the money for two vans with hydraulic lifts, saying that making seniors happy made him happy. The vans are smaller, allowing access to Bermuda's sometimes narrow residential roads.

Organisation founder Cindy Swan explained that the vans were to be used for transporting homebound seniors to medical appointments and grocery shopping. "They would otherwise have to use a taxi which most cannot afford," she said.

Ms Swan and co-founder Judith Stewart also stated at the Botanical Gardens on Monday that the new vehicles would also have a secondary use for members of the community who have to use wheelchairs who found it difficult to make it to their appointments and could not afford paid transportation.

David Lang from the Bank of Bermuda was also at the presentation on behalf of the Centennial Trust, which has pledged $25,000 to Project Action for the purpose of hiring drivers for the new vehicles.

Mr. Barritt said he was honoured to be asked to be part of the organisation, and that as a senior himself he was looking forward to become part of providing a much-needed service for the entire community. He joins Ms Swan and Ms Stewart as honorary director.

Project Action first began running out of Swizzle Inn, said Ms Swan. She explained at a recent Hamilton Lions Club meeting why the service was so important: "We were driving into St. George's and we decided to turn into the airport. The senior that was on the bus said, `Oh, this is it - I had only seen the new airport on the news'."