CHOCOLATE + CASTLE + CRUSOE
The season starts with volunteers reeling from snow blindness. It’s been a
long winter but no, not that long. Yes, it’s the catering staff splendidly
attired in their new white aprons, each one a credit to a soap powder
advertisement. The eyes can cope with one, but three of ‘em standing outside the
café in the brightness of a sunny spring morning are quite something to behold.
Easter Sunday and Monday was again billed as the Eggstravaganza when we try
to get the visitors to like us upon entry by bribing them with chocolate. We
have probably done that idea to death; even the kids seem to have had enough
chocolate by Monday! Taking the two days together we had a similar number of
visitors to last year but income was up due to bringing the Sunday prices into
line with the Monday. The buses were very popular on Monday and some duplication
of single-decker services was necessary. The 4:30 to the Maypole, designed to
take the stragglers back to civilisation, is usually lightly loaded and ideal
for the Crosville L5G. On this day 34 of its 35 seats were occupied!
The ‘May Day’ holiday was presented as Family Days with particular emphasis
on the EMES railway, plus the bouncy castle kindly organised by Keith Lewis.
These two days suffered from being only two weeks after Easter and numbers were
around three quarters of those received in 2005.
May was grim with lots of rain that reduced areas of the overflow car park to
a morass ready for the Spring holiday at the end of the month. Like Easter, the
Sunday of that weekend was slightly down in numbers but income was up.
This brings us to Monday and the Two Museums Day. Despite, or perhaps because
of, a poor weather forecast we had an excellent event. Already a strong day,
visitor numbers were up by a quarter and income even further. The latter is
explained by non-enthusiasts’ growing interest in the all day rides ticket. On
this particular day, the ticket would only take them to Aston Manor but, on
other days, destinations like Earlswood and Henley are well-known and clearly
appealing to visitors, and I would argue that the Alvechurch/Beoley run is even
more attractive.
Two Museums Day saw the first day’s work by WMPTE Fleetline 6311 since it was
repowered to Leyland O.680. The increasing success of the day means that none of
the workings can now be operated with 56-seaters or less. Phil ‘Robinson Crusoe’
Ireland’s enforced extended stay on his holiday rock obviously affected his
head. Not only did he give Keith Lewis an easy-gearchange bus to drive, but also
he sent the writer out at the helm of 2976 on one trip. The old Guy was
duplicated by the S15, a combined provision of 95 seats. The pair only just
cleared the queues at each end. Five BaMMOT buses (the others being D9 5399 and
the Cheltenham FSF) and two North Birmingham Busways vehicles (Volvo and AN68)
could be seen at different times on the service between the two museums.
Additionally, further buses were at work on the car park shuttle and a small
number of short runs around the lanes. Thanks to all the private owners who
assisted with these journeys, which very much added to the ‘customer
satisfaction’ of the day.
Even heavy bursts of rain in the afternoon did not dampen the enthusiasm of
staff or visitors – the latter seemed to be reassured that it had rained on a
Bank Holiday Monday! They stuffed into the cafeteria where the lunchtime peak
never ended. Well done, everybody.
Malcolm Keeley
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
Tel : 01564 826471 e-mail us
A registered educational charity no 507191
