Having spent a lot of time away from the bus world in order to get my
life back into some sort of semblance of normality. The society still
owns a number of VR's, to whit HKE680L, NCD559M, PKG587M, HUD478R,
UGR694 & 698R and VEX298X.
All are in various degrees of disorder, but both NCD559M & PKG587M
have seen some fairly intensive work undetaken on them, NCD'd
injector pump being rebuilt & PKG's defective gearbox being replaced.
Both are obvious positive steps forward. Work is also being
undertaken on 694 & 698 in order to get them roadworthy again.
Three VR's are missing from this list, GBF79N, GLJ467N & LOD727P. GBF
was stripped for spares by Nigel & Russell Kirk & friends, they had
lent the society the money to purchase her for preservation.
Unfortunately (and yet again!) various other parties who had promised
mountains of cash failed to do so & the Kirk's eventually lost
patience awaiting repayments and GBF was cannabalised. Its a major
loss as 1) The major chassis defects the "engineer" claimed to have
found turned out to be two rotten bolts! 2) They didn't bother to
contact me to advise me of the fact they intended to recxlaim GBF
otherwise she might not of been cannabalised. Thus GBF79N RIP. It
should be noted that the Kirk brothers were instrumental in the
rescue of PKG from the breakers, though they did not have any direct
financial input they still poccess the log book which the society
needs urgently & thus I hope they will pass it down the line very
soon. LOD727P was reclaimed by West Kent Coach Sales, yet again
various parties offered the money, & yet again failed to! So Stuart
Gilkes took LOD back & as far as I am aware she was sold to the
Barnsley breakers, another excellent preservation project lost.
GLJ467N is my VR, I put the money up for it & thus I personally
retain ownership of it.
The biggest problem has been lack of newsletter/magazine. Rob Sly had
to give up as editor as his work load became excessive, I took over
the mantle & did my best to keep it up & running. I unfortunately as
a result of that, work pressures & various riots in my personal life
found it impossible to continue after November 2000. I did my
damndest to find a replacement editor but its amazing how all those
people who at first offer assistance suddenly melt away! Thus the
society desperately needs a newsletter editor, several members & non-
members have offered to assist in the relaunch of the society but no-
one yet has offered to undertake the newsletter, doen't need to be
one person, a team would be more than welcome.
So over to you lot out there, we need the asistance, members are
offering to pay subscriptions to get the society moving again so
people please help if you can.
I can be reached by email at garethcrowther1@...