Brief History
Formed in 1977, FCCC is an outreach initiative of the Christian churches in Frinton. As the name suggests, it was originally conceived to meet practical needs within the local community, especially where sickness and hardship existed.
FCCC became a registered charity in 1996, with trustees representing a broad cross-section of the participating churches: Frinton Free, Homelands Free Church, Frinton Methodist Church, St Mary’s Parish Church, Frinton Gospel Chapel, Sacred Heart Catholic Church and St Michael’s Parish Church, Kirby le Soken. A working committee, comprising several of the trustees and church representatives, meets at regular intervals to review financial and operational results and agree any changes needed. This committee is normally chaired by a Minister of one of the participating churches. (St Michael`s Kirby le Soken withdrew from the scheme at a later date.)
Purpose
In practice, FCCC has become a transport service co-ordinated from an office within Homelands Free Church. The main thrust of this service is to meet needs of a medical nature, e.g. visits to hospitals, surgeries, clinics, dentists, physios, chiropodists, opticians, care homes, etc., particularly where a client’s age and/or 
mobility are a challenge. Having said that health needs are our primary concern, we will undertake other journeys where a) drivers are available and b) public transport is not convenient.
We are blessed with a team of volunteer drivers who give of their time freely, whilst in return we compensate them with the HMRC approved mileage rate. The office is manned each weekday morning and a member of staff is available to discuss clients’ transport requirements and make arrangements with our drivers. Out of hours calls are logged on an answerphone.
Funding
The major source of our finance is by donation from the client. We do not charge a fixed tariff for journeys, but the driver will ask the client for a donation to cover our costs. In practice, income from 
client donations tends to exceed the expenditure on mileage allowances and the surplus helps to underwrite some of the office costs. We raise funds from coffee mornings and church groups support our work with small gifts. We are recipients of a small annual grant from Tendring Community Transport and we sometimes receive one off gifts from supporters / clients who donate the proceeds of collections at funeral services. When rates permit we earn interest from the Charities Aid Foundation (bank) on any surplus funds.