CORITANI CAPERS
Leicester area members have had another successful year of meetings and brief highlights can be recorded as follows.
April’s meeting saw a show of Paul Beardsley's slides "South Yorkshire PTE as a bus operator". Unfortunately, Paul was unable to attend, so Mike Greenwood gave the talk, which since the content was as unfamiliar to Mike as the rest of the members, helped to give a random and surprising element to the proceedings. Mike has since the commencement of the meetings kept a meticulous log of attendances, and April 2006 was Steve Perkins' 200th appearance.
In May, Paul Roberts gave us a show entitled "Lost liveries of the 1960s/1970s." This was the first show at our new venue of the Newfoundpool Centre, as yet more shenanigans at the City Council meant that Andrewes Road was no longer available to us after April 2006.
The annual Study Tour in June saw John Arnold at the wheel of ex Leicester Renown DBC190C, which this year saw us in the Leicester City area looking at various transport landmarks. We had kindly obtained permission from First Leicester to call in the Abbey Park Road depot (provided we had high viz jackets if we alighted the bus – not joking this time!) which was poignant as is likely to be the final time many of us will visit the site. New premises for the Leicester fleet are currently being built nearby on Abbey Lane, and it could well be that by the time this article appears in ‘Omnibus’, Abbey Park Road will have closed completely for re-development.
July is now well and truly established as "Bring an Artefact" day and just to carry on the theme started in ‘Omnibus’, amongst this year’s exhibits was The Who CD featuring BMMO D7 4111. Adrian Rodgers brought along an itinerary from a Midland Red Coach Cruise of the early 1960s. What was of fascination was not so much the journey described, but the menus on offer at each stopping point. (At the first “Bring An Artefact” day I took in some hard-backed 1961 Coach Cruise books and as an eight or nine year old remember going on such a trip. Each cruise had a printed passenger list with allocated seat numbers – I wonder if any survive?)
In August we had hoped for a return visit of the enigmatic Howard Turner, but family illness postponed his visit. At the eleventh hour, Paul Roberts again provided the show, this time entitled "In Search of Classic Buses", which was Howard's intended theme. We were treated to some lovely shots of Devon General, Doncaster Corporation and Harper Bros.
September saw a visit from Mike Fenton, who this year gave us a show of Wales in the 1970s. Mike's collection always covers some more unusual vehicle combinations and coupled with his canny photograph positioning always provides a show that never disappoints.
So to October, which was a milestone for the group – our 300th meeting! Champagne flowed and celebrations (of the chocolate variety) were duly eaten, whilst Chris Aston provided the entertainment with a film show of London and the South East.
In November, we welcomed back Malcolm Keeley for another "full house", this occasion showing us slides that did not quite make the Ian Allan “Heyday Of Midland Red” book. Again, another fascinating selection including many of the BMMO built buses that were early WMPTE repaints. The November meeting was also Ken Williams' 100th appearance.
In December, Mike Cattell gave a show, principally on Leicester in the 1980s. To the astonishment of some members Mike Greenwood had arrived in formal attire, as he was on his way to a family wedding.
And so to January 2007, our annual quiz and photograph competitions. At the start of the meeting, Dave Pritchard gave a warm thank you to Mike Greenwood, unanimously endorsed, for his continued efforts over the last twelve months at arranging the meetings and guest speakers. For this, Dave was awarded three quiz bonus points; unfortunately this did not assist his overall score, which again this year was "unplaced". This year’s competition saw a consignment of five double deckers (more chocolate, that is) going north to Sheffield, as reward for Mike having 35 points, although Adrian Rodgers and Simon Gill both finished with 34. The annual slide competition was won by Ken Johnson with a view of Leicester Tiger Cub 191 at the Abbey Park Road depot, whilst Simon Gill provided second and third with nice shots of a Jersey Ford and a Southport PD2 respectively. This year’s print competition was jointly won by Simon Gill and Peter Newland (two of the Sheffield double deckers immediately being reallocated in recognition), Simon with a shot of a West Yorkshire Bristol SUL4A and Peter with a Crosville Bristol L type, both scoring 10 points, closely followed by a Lothian Olympian by Dick White with 9 poiints.
We are all looking forward to another exciting year in 2007 and look forward to seeing the progress that is being made at Wythall very soon.
Brian Dicks
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
Tel : 01564 826471 e-mail us
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