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Start made on our new building

Late last year the trustees decided to invest in a new building so that all our vehicles could be on one site, this will save us money in the long term by not having to pay storage charges to third parties in what has in some cases been sub-standard accomodation. Once the decision had been made building plans were drawn up and quotes for the building work obtained , planning permission was then sought and this was granted on the 11th of February. Work started in earnest on the 23rd of February as these photos by Geoff Meek show :-

The left photo shows the land where the new building will be erected, the existing doors in this photo will be bricked up. The centre and right photos shows the area right up to our boundary fence has been levelled and aggregate laid with the shuttering for the concrete being put in place. When it is finished the building will be used to store some of our long term restoration projects and hopefully give us a better layout for workshop space in our main building - sorry there are no vacancies for other vehicles !!

Two newly completed vehicles make their debut

Our Ribble 90 display on the Flag Market at Preston on June 20th saw the first appearance of two newly restored Ribble vehicles . After 21 years under restoration Dave Prescott has finally got 1036 on the road. It is a 1961 Leyland Leopard chassis with a Harrington Cavalier body with 32 reclining seats . Most of the work was done single-handedly by Dave when it was kept in a barn at Whitestake, it only moved to Freckleton in 2001 after it had been repainted by Preston Bus. While at Freckleton the interior was restored and the seats re-moquetted.

The other vehicle making its debut was another Leyland Leopard but this time built in 1973 and with a 49 seat Duple Dominant body. It has been restored by BusWorks in Blackpool taking them nearly two years to finish it.

With its owner (on the right) keeping a close eye on it, 1036 attracted a lot of attention on the Flag Market , as did 1052 parked on the other side of the obelisk.