Anoraks Corner ..ON THE BUZZES as my granddad used to call them! .. Today, as we enter the 7th month of the year, Im reminded of the wonderful card game I used to play with my parents and grandparents as a nipper at Southam Cottage in Prestbury. . 7s was a game in which the entire deck was dealt out to the players and whoever found they were holding the seven of diamonds, got to go first! . .7+7 is one of my favourite drinks and 7 Up is one of Snow Whites favourites! ..One freezing cold winters day in the early seventies, I was a 6am spare driver at the Bristol Omnibus Depot, St Marks Garage, down the lane from the Midland Hotel. .It was seldom we were not called out, but on this particular morning, I was dismissed by duty inspector, John Kirby and made my way to the employees club at Royal Well for breakfast. . The internal phone link between the Cheltenham District Traction Companys control office in Clarence Street and our club rang and I was summoned to the Promenade where a bus on the number 597 route had no driver. . Even with my fairly good knowledge of the town bus routes, this was one I knew nothing about! ..As I approached the red double decker, one of the old Bristol KSW6Gs, a conductress standing on the pavement was anxiously looking at her watch and about herself in hopes of a miracle ... instead she was stuck with me! ..I explained I didnt have a clue about the route so she told me where to go (Im used to that!) . The conductress with whom I spent the next three and a half hours with, (three and a half round trips) was a lovely lady called, Felicity Huggins who I can remember working on the CDTC buses when I was knee high to a grasshopper! . The 597 service, formally the #7, ran along a rather strange, intermediate, higgaldy-piggaldy route, around the houses from Sandy Lane at Charlton Kings to Prestbury, Burgage/Royal Oak! .. I drove off up the Prom and through the window behind me, Fil Huggins waved her arms and gestured directions to me like an airline hostess going through a safety drill. . Fil was a lovely lady and I made sure on our second trip up to Prestbury, wed have time to pop into the Clarence Street canteen for a hot drink! .. Ive found a fare table for the 597 service or 7s as they were still called by the crews, which was printed in August 1968 which helps to illustrate the route of this rather odd, once an hour bus service. . Ive posted it below. ..Felicity Huggins was one of many conductresses I remember working with when I occasionally drove the town buses (usually when I was grabbing overtime) and most of them were wonderful characters in their own way .. Bette Jones (her husband, Jack was a driver) Sue Ford, Rita Hart, Ann Currans, Joan Loud (her husband, John was also a driver) Joan Parrott (again hubby, Dave was a driver) American girl, Cathy Rosa, Sandra Beadnell, (sound familiar, folks?) .. there was a couple of Irish ladies I didnt know very well, because I never worked with them ...I think one was, Tessa O Shea??? ... On the country side of the BOC clippies in Cheltenham were my dear friends, Margaret Drumm (born close to me here, in the south side of the border, town of Swanlinbar ... and the lovely Sue Grieve, both are sadly gone from us,. Crew ladies on the country buses I also recall with great affection were, Mother (Lee) Stevens, Rose Kearsey and yer actual, Maureen O Hara .. well, not quite, but our very attractive, Maureen O Hara was a Scottish lady whose cousin was the beautiful Irish actress, Maureen O Hara .. in actual fact, our conductress WAS Maureen O Hara, but her Dublin born cousin was, in reality, Maureen Fitzsimmons! .. So there! ..I had the pleasure of being blessed with the opportunity of working with such a lovely bunch of people during those days in Cheltenham, alas, many of them have now passed on! .. My apologies to anyone Ive missed out, it was a long time ago and in those days (late 60s/early 70s) the Bristol Omnibus workforce at St Marks Depot must have numbered 200 or more? .. If I started on the male drivers and conductors, Id be meeting myself coming back! .. Being on the country roster I knew many employees from the neighbouring depots of Gloucester and Stroud ... but that, again, is another story! . . A couple of notes ... Sue Grieve, when I first met her, was married to Gordon, a bus driver on the country services. .She later married, Londoner, Terry Lawrence who came to work on the CDTC side of things. .I believe Terry is also deceased. . Ann Currans came to Cheltenham in the early/mid sixties, from Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Her brother, Liam came with her. . Liam worked on the town buses as a conductor for many years and Im sure many will remember this huge frame of a man, with a brain and intellect which was bigger still! .. The sad loss of a young man! .. In the photograph taken by Allan MacFarlane on October 1st 1966, A GUY Arab 111 with a Duple Body, fleet #78, is pictured in Clarence Street on the #7 service, soon to become the #597.. This vehicle was the last survivor of the non-Bristol buses in Cheltenham which were introduced when the Red & White ran the Cheltenham & District Traction Company. . ,The Red & Whites Garage was in Montpellier and Im fairly sure its where Mann Egerton, as I remember it, is or was? . The BOCs Stroud Depot was once under the control of the Western National Omnibus Company and their ex employees bright orange, free travel passes were still accepted when I was working on the Bristols! .. The 1st October 1966, was also the day new fleet numbering commenced throughout the Bristol Omnibus system. .The keen-eyed amongst you will notice this GUY is still in possession of its beautiful brass Indian Chiefs head on its radiator cap, unlike one of its sister buses featured in the lovely colour photograph taken at The Calcutta and posted on DGBiC a few days ago! .. Thats all for now, folks,. Ive lost my bloody phone somewhere and I also have to empty all the logs out of my bloody trailer, so I can go and pick up a load of bloody manure for Big Assumpta out in the bloody sticks! .. Oh! Happy Day! ...
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 07:09:32 +0000
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