Last week, I met a passionate group of people at a meeting in New Hedges. They had gathered together to try to save a bus service.

Sounds rather boring you may think, but this bus service provides a lifeline to many.

It takes those who can't drive or who can't afford to run a car to hospital. It takes people to the shops, to see their friends.

It also brings shoppers into Kilgetty and Tenby.

Many of the people who use the Pembroke Dock to Carmarthen bus service (which passes through Tenby) are pensioners and therefore entitled to free trips.

Concessionary passes are a great idea - but this is where the problem arises.

The route operators Silcox are poorly reimbursed for those free trips and can't afford to keep the service running. The bus was due to stop running on November 8, but the company has now agreed to keep it running twice a week on a trial basis.

I am now working with the community to safeguard the route in the long term. I've discussed it with Carmarthenshire County Council's chief executive and have asked transport minister Ieuan Wyn Jones to look into the matter.

I am also trying to find finding from other sources - many businesses and sectors rely and profit from the trade bought in on the bus so maybe there are other pots of money that can be used.

• I was saddened to hear that Pembrokeshire's Hospice at Home charity, The Paul Sartori Foundation, may be forced to close after getting a disappointing funding package.

The charity provides a staggering 16,000 hours of care every year, enabling people to spend their finals days at home.  But they were awarded just eight days' worth of funding.

For many people the word 'hospice' automatically means an actual building and I think that it is the unique type of hospice that we are lucky enough to have in our county that has flummoxed the bean counters.

Yet the large majority of us want to die at home and this wonderful charity, with its support network of carers and nurses, can make this happen.

I shall be working closely with my North Pembrokeshire colleague Paul Davies to lobby for a secure future for the Foundation.

Angela Burns,

AM for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire