Tales from our Busman Days
The photographs that have been added to the Busman Days page have certainly brought back many memories to those who have viewed the web site. This has resulted in my receiving a number of emails that outlined former staff's recollections, of what were clearly happy days.
As a result, I have decided to post the emails on this page. I hope that you remember some of the senders and also feel that you have something to add.
I have not sought to edit any of the content, as I feel that would be doing a disservice to the sender.
From Patrick Walsh
Sir
As a Conductor and finally a driver at Hockley where I spent many happy years as an 18 -26 year old, your article brought back many happy memories, and as in your case many of the staff are no longer with us., after spending 4 years with a run in on the inner circle 8 We had a period at Hockley where about 25/26 went to Australia over a 6 month time frame my sister and her future husband among them, many never to return starting families of there own, along with a whole new life.
Thank you for bring many happy memories back to an old man.
Pat
A 2nd mail from Pat.
Thank you for your reply to my e-mail to you, if I may take up a bit more of your time.
Closure of Garages
Having re read the article you wrote and having looked at the photographs again, there are a couple of comments I would like to make, the first I would like to raise is that when the first of the one man operated buses (OMO’s) came into being the camaraderie seemed to go out of the job, as you were single crewed it never felt the same.
With the closure of so many garages it seemed to tear the heart out of the job, I think the writing was on the wall when the private car became so plentiful to the working man and passenger numbers started to fall. Roseberry Street & Highgate Road was among the first to be closed, I cannot for the life of me remember which of the two was first, and then you had Coventry Road, Moseley Road, Quinton, Washwood Heath, Millar Street, Hockley, Lea Hall, even the repair sheds on Tyburn Road fell victim to so called progress. So many garages, so many crews, so many stories, and unfortunately many absent friends no longer with us.
Do any of your readers
remember two of the most infamous checkers/inspectors who ever worked the night
service a Mr. Gadsby and a Mr. Hayes? They used to drive around in a Ford 105E
Anglia with the cut away back window; it had the
Having taken up enough of your time I will close, but once again thank you for revving some wonderful memories that had long since faded with age, I still have in the house somewhere my conductors and drivers badges along with my Bundy key, a strip of tickets and some tokens, which I haven’t seen in years.
May I take this opportunity to wish you a very happy and peaceful Christmas, and best wishes for the New Year
Kindest regards
Pat
From Glenys Wane
Hello
Have just been looking through all your old photos.
Which bring back many happy memories of the 12 years I spent at the garage as
the "Mileage Clerk", and when we moved into the new build I eventually became
Admin Services Assistant (Admin Supervisor).
I started at Summer Lane in 1976, and I moved out to WWH in 1981, I knew Bob
Ong (and his girlfriend Kathy Hogben) from my Summer Lane days and remember Bob
finishing, when I went out to WWH.
One day Bob left a bus in the yard with the engine running, and it must have
come out of gear and it smashed up Inspector Mark Pollark's car !!!
I also went to Bob's funeral, I think it was the day before or after Inspector
Mark Pollark's and in those days funerals were big occasions with every spare
person in the garage going, and at least 2 buses being laid on !!
Kathy Hogben had a very posh funeral at Yardley Old Church with black horses
with feather plumes on them and a glass carriage. Kathy lived in Keatley
Avenue, Tile Cross and my dad's sister lived in the house opposite. My mom
watched the funeral from her flat window on the corner of Queens Road.
I worked in the Engineers office, so was (and still am) very good friends with
John Loach the Garage Engineer and his wife Sheila, and used to babysit for
their two kids. One of the other Garage Engineers was called Keith Perkins, and
we keep in touch with him and his wife Margaret - she was a van driver at
Harborne.
Keith & Margaret Perkins and John & Sheila Loach now live in the same street in
Calpe about 25 miles from Benidorm, and last Christmas, Keith got us a villa to
rent (unbeknown to John & Sheila), so we flew out on the Wednesday for 10 days.
It was Sheila's 75th birthday on the Tuesday and we had phoned and wished her
"Happy Birthday" and enquired if she had received a birthday card (which I
hadn't even posted) and said that I was sure, that the card would probably
arrive the next day. So late on the Wednesday evening Keith rang John &
Sheila's door bell, and we burst in singing Happy Birthday to Sheila, she was so
over the moon to see us and nearly died of shock.
One of the main Engineering Managers at Summer Lane on the 8th Floor, was a
gentleman by the name of Dennis Prothero, who had worked with John Loach for
many years, and they used to holiday together every summer with their wives and
caravans. So in October this year, John & Sheila were over from Spain visiting
Dennis & Kath Prothero and so we booked a night in the Travelodge at Frankley
Beeches and went out to Sunday lunch with the four of them.
I also used to keep in touch with the late Ted Lane who was the Garage Foreman
and still swap Christmas cards with his wife Gwen who now lives in Poole.
I remember a lot of people in your photos and tales. Jim Mitchell was the
Traffic Manager at WWH when I was there (and I knew his son Andy and his sister)
as I worked at the Hunters Moon in the evenings to help fund my 6 weeks holiday
in New Zealand in 1989/1990. I even went to a concert at the NEC with Andy and
his sister about 2 days after getting home from my holidays.
Tony Cole was No. 1 (Inspector) and then went on to become Traffic Manager and
moved upstairs with us, John Sheppard had then joined us as well as Services
Supervisor, but in 1987 there was a big leaving party and people like John
Loach, Keith Perkins, Olive Prosser all took there redundancy, and as they were
over 50 were able to claim their pensions as well. It was sad, when I heard
that Tony Cole had passed away, we used to swap Christmas Cards and had the odd
phone chat throughout the year. He had started to recover from the death of his
wife, and had told me that he had bought some Bermuda shorts and was going out
to the Caribbean on holiday - the furthest he used to get was Saltley watching
the trains every lunchtime, Bless him !!
I know Inspector Les Linnecor, and occasionally get "Hello" notes from him. I
remember inspectors: Derek Ellis, Tony Cole, Des (John) Orr, Cheryl Murtagh (and
her husband Tony a driver), Brian Morrissey, George Painting, Ray Alsop, Roger
banks, Tony Alsop, Ron Daly and Frank ??
I didn't know Harry Calvert, but recognise a lot of the faces on the photo:
Gordon Smith the cleaner, Nancy ??, Annette Hill. don't know, the lad with the
moustache might be a young Ian Busby, Andy Pitt, that might be Ian Woodford,
then Martin Morton with the pint pot, don't know Tommy Brain (went to his
funeral as well), don't know I presume Mrs Calvert, a young Mickey Martin, I
presume Mr Calvert, cant remember the name of the next lad - lived by the
Richmond, and don't know the last one.
The photo dated 1981 (is that Jim Mitchell in the suit) in the Yard, I see Jim
Mitchell, Ken McCormick, looks like Pat Leake hiding behind, and Bob Ong, in the
white shirt would have been Tony Cole, and next to him the cleaner Doreen Curtis
(I didn't know her hubby Duggy, he was on the engineering side, and had gone off
sick by the time I started and died a few years later). Another funeral I went
to. I kept in touch with Doreen and her daughter for many years, she left the
Fox & Goose and went to live with Janet at Hemel Hempstead, and again
unfortunately passed away.
All Friends together 1981 the canteen staff with Pat Leake were Kim, Jackie
Hamer and I don't the girl on the right the bloke in the blue overall in the
tyre shed was called Cyril (I think) then in front of the bus, I think that is
Derek Ellis in the grey jacket - I think he became a checker and moved garages
Kathy Hogben and Ken McCormack are in front of the bus
Pat Leake and Derek Ellis were good table tennis players and my first hubby,
myself, my 2 brothers and sister in law all played in the Birmingham leagues.
Pat retired to Anglesey, but then came back again - I think he missed his busy
social life.
Another Pull - again I see Micky Martin on the photo - who was the union rep for
the T&GWU skilled workers
Is it time to go - Annette Hill is the cleaner on the left, cant see who is in
black, the brown coat was Inspector Ciaren Heney (Known at Pat), he left to
become the Police Force Lost & Found Property Officer at Digbeth Police
Station. Derek Ellis in the grey jacket, cant remember the headband but he
was a fitter, Charlie Coleing (service man) chatting to Jim Mitchell - my office
door was there on the right hand side next to the Breakfast Room
the new Build, the traffic office was on the ground floor, our offices in the
middle and the top floor was the canteen.
The picture outside the Two Hands, made me laugh as I got married at 19 (in
1978), and moved into the flats next door "Melbourne House", the 6 blocks of
flats were all Australian towns, and my first hubby had moved in, when they were
brand new in 1953 !
Well I must say its almost 20 years ago since I left the buses, and have had
many jobs as a temporary secretary (both legal and medical), but have never had
such fun or developed such great relationships and friendships as we had in
those days, and still keep in touch with lots of Summer Lane
staff as well. In fact Sue that practically ran the Private Hire Office (who
was one of the first members of staff I got to meet) came on holiday with us
last year on a canal boat for the week, and again we went down to Stafford and
had Sunday lunch with her a few weeks ago!
Please excuse the ramblings, you may know a few of the Inspectors that I knew
when they were drivers - as for photos, unfortunately I think all my albums got
left behind when I left my first husband, but at least I can take the memories
with me !!!
Kind regards
Glenys
From Bill Jones. (Not the Bill Jones who later became the licencee)
Hi.
Just found your page after being prompted by a relative that still lives in Brum.
My family has a connection to WMPTE (as was) and is still connected to passenger
transport to this day.. having a brother in law that operates a bus based in
Norwich and a sister that started on the busses in London and is now a project
manager for TFL.
Ok, my Grandmother (RIP), was Susan Ringland, she was a bus cleaner at Lea Hall
garage for many years retiring in the 1970's. Her best mate was one Sally Wodges
(sp?), also a bus cleaner. My mother Marina Baxter was a clippy at Washwood
Heath in the 1950's and that's where she met my father, Douglas Jones who was a
driver. Now it's a small world and I've noticed that there is a certain Bill
Jones mentioned several times within your pages. I believe that he taught my dad
to drive buses and later became the landlord of the pub outside the garage. Long
story short, I was named Billy after him....
So, I'll see if I can get hold of some photographs for your site and will seek
permission of those in them for that purpose.
Good luck with the site and any other contributors you may find.
Oh and Clive Copestake was a mechanic at Lea Hall too. He is a friend of the
family that remains so to this day.
Be good.
Bill Jones.
From Christine Frost
Hi,
My nan worked at Lea Hall and Washwood Heath - she's in one of your photo's
marked "Lea Hall Ladies darts 1963", My nan is at the front holding the cup her
name was Susan Baxter. The lady at the back left (as you look at it) is Mary
Greaves. We have some photo's here and will send them as soon as we can scan
them in :-)
Many thanks
Christine
2nd mail
Hi Richard,
My brother Billy Jones asked me to mention him to you as he had been in touch.
(See earlier mail above) My nan worked nights / sheds - cleaning buses at both
Washwood Heath and Lea Hall (she lived over the road from LH and I remember it
fondly as a chid), My mum was a clippie and my uncle also shed side engineering
I think. we've found some photo's - I'll put them on facebook abd send to you at
the weekend :-)
It's great to see someone doing this - thank you,
Christine
From Roy Dillon
Hi Richard,
Just been on your web site Busman, "MAGIC", I have a good mate who worked at Liverpool Street for a number of years, Geoff Simmons, he as only just got himself a laptop, and is not yet set up and running with an email address, so I will give him a bell the weekend and direct him to your site.
I am certain he will have lots to add, as his Uncle, Alf Yates, who you may of heard of, worked for BCT/WM all his working life, he was a great chap, who I got to know during the last few years before he passed away, some of the storeys he told me where fantastic.
Geoff made a video of him chatting about all his experiences during his years on the trams and buses.
Roy
From Kevin Madden
Hello Richard,
Dad was a conductor in the 1950's, his number was 22171.
He remembered someone called 'Harry Harry', Driver Knight who drank all tea in Wellhead Lane.
At Baldwins Lane, Shirley, he said an inspector, the driver and himself were chatting when they noticed a figure on the top deck, they checked and found a man had passed away. My father did not notice as the man was crouched down when he originally checked the bus after the circuit. The inspector asked my dad if he had paid his fare............
Worker 7 pence returns. Night Service with Morning Extra.
On another occasion my father had an inspector and his wife on his bus, as the Inspectors travelled free he decided not to charge his wife any fare, trying to get into his good books.... He was reported by the same Inspector the next day for not collecting his wife's fare!!
Kevin
Hi
Richard
My dad was so excited about your plans to do this web site. He loved working on
the buses, if there is any possible way you could call him now and again to let
him know if you get anymore information for your site that would be really
lovely.
My Father as you know lives alone and many of his work mates have passed. I live
so far away from him that sometimes I worry that he is isolated. BUT I could
hear in his voice the excitement and enthusiasms in his voice when he spoke
about you and your plans.
Kind Regards
Rosemarie Jones (Dainty)
From Andy Pitt
Hello Mr Scott,
My name is Andy Pitt and I too was at Washwood Heath bus
garage as a mechanic in the shed. I was there from 1978 until it closed in 1998,
I enjoyed looking at your photos there were a few names I knew from my time
there i.e. Jimmy Jones Ricky Cole, Jimmy Mitchell whose son John was a mechanic
at Lea Hall and is still with us now at Walsall as a driving instructor I am
still on the buses at Perry Barr.
I saw your letter in the Birmingham Mail and thought I'd send you a few
photos, I hope you can make use of them. The 1st one is of everyone in the Cross
Guns at Mechanic Harry Calvert's retirement do, then there are some random ones
of the garage including the new (at the time) Metro bus. There are also some sad
ones of garage closures, Moseley Road, Lea Hall, Washwood Heath plus a couple of
the new Washwood Heath being built.
Andy
From John Bricknell
I enjoyed your article in the Brummagem Magazine and I well remember the trams along Washwood heath and alum rock road. the ones that ran along alum rock were the number 8 and I think that the ones that served Washwood heath were number 10. I attended Leigh Road School from 1948 to 1952 and as I lived at Ralph Road Alum Rock I would catch the tram home from that stop that was shown in your picture. When I was about 12, the tram was just leaving the stop and I thought that I would catch it by grabbing hold of the centre bar that divided the steps and trying to swing myself on board. Unfortunately, I could not get my feet up onto the step and I was dragged along tha ground for about twenty yards before I had to let go. Only my pride was dented as I escaped with no injury. In those far off days, I think that the fare was either halfpenny or at most a penny. The tram terminus was at the Fox and Goose to Martineau Street and the number 8 also ran from Martineau Street to The Pelham pub.
By a strange coincidence, when I moved to York I applied to be a bus conductor with what was then the West Yorkshire Road Car Company but when I had my interview for the job as conductor, I was offered the job of early turn clerk. This meant starting work at 5am until 10am. issuing ticket machines to the conductors and counting cash from the previous days takings. At 10am I started a two hour break and then spent another couple of hours sat in a converted bus on waste land, taking the machines and takings from conductors who were going off duty. Perhaps I should have just been a conductor!
I look forward to more of your articles
John Bricknell
Hi Richard
I have just finished reading your piece in the latest issue of “Brummagem” and found it most interesting. I started work at Perry Barr Garage in 1970 as a conductor becoming a driver in 1972 and then Inspector in 1979 working firstly on the road then into the office and performing various tasks until becoming Customer Liaison Officer in 1996, a position I held until leaving in 2002 to start a new life north of the border. When I started at PB the DOS was Harry Yarnold, the Garage Inspector was “Tommy” Tucker and Joe Griggs looked after the output sheets, there were Inspectors Chapman, Sparks, Newman, Allwood, Benbow and Whitfield in the office and on the road we had Inspectors Gould, Rawl, Donlan, Duffy, Ryan, Fahey, Whitty, Edge, Griffiths, Crowson, Clayfield, Jarrett, Francis, Maurice, West, Fawl, Curzey, Mills, Kelly, Kite, Britten, Blackmore Thompson and McMahon. I think I have remembered most of them but there was also John Bell who has also written a piece in the same issue of Brummagem. Later on we had Jim Mitchell as Traffic Superintendent, a real gentleman, during the WMPTE period the Birmingham area was divided up into three districts and Perry Barr was placed with Hockley, Miller Street, Washwood Heath and Sutton into District Two. Late night and early morning inspector’s duties were mobile and consisted of two inspectors working together in a car for each district and as such we became more familiar with the staff and area of the other units in our district thus getting to know the Inspectors from other garages, I remember well Brian Morrisey, Tony Cole and Dessie Orr at Washwood Heath also Pat (Kieran) Heaney who had transferred from PB.
Before starting work on the buses I had always for as long as I could remember been interested in Birmingham City Transport Buses and Trams and got to know some members of staff including Eric Cadwallader, he was very kind to us young enthusiasts and often would take us around the garage at WH and also let us look at the withdrawn vehicles parked on the ground to the side. I took a photograph of him posed in front of bus 3003 and attach a copy for you to see, I also attach a copy of a photo of myself at PB with Driver George Marmion just preparing to take out a late night duty on Perry Common.
I have also had a good look at your website and find this most interesting, all these photograph need a wider audience before there is no one left to put the details to them. With this in mind I can offer the following, the photo of you on your last day with BCT was taken in the main gate of the garage with the engineer’s office behind you. The gent in the white coat is Mick Watts the garage foreman, he had a great passion for classical music and steam trains he was also a very accomplished cine photographer and travelled the world filming steam in top quality sound, there were not too many amateurs capable of this at the time. The other gent is Charlie Hayes, a very quietly spoken, but well educated chap who had flown on Lancaster’s during the war completing 32 missions.
The photo you caption as a training bus is an AEC Regent which was new in 1931, during the war it received a new Utility body (as the photo) and then in August 1948 it received dual controls as a tuition bus, but then the body was transferred to a Guy Arab wartime chassis in 1952 and continued as a tuition bus until at least 1967. This photo was taken by Alf Yates who was a night engineer at Washwood Heath until transferring to Perry Barr, he sadly passed away about five years ago.
I hope this is all of interest to you.
Kind regards
Geoff Kelland