We were very fortunate to have a fascinating talk on the preserved veteran bus operations run by Chris Pearce and then a talk on the maintenance of vintage buses by ex-Stagecoach Engineering Director, Richard Alexander.

Starting with various anecdotes from his job as a Stagecoach Inspector Chris went on to describe how he came to start his business with an ex-Southdown Queen Mary and built up a business specialising in the use of vintage buses and how he had come to acquire a sizeable fleet.

After a welcome refreshment break Richard explained the pitfalls of operating elderly vehicles and by way of detailed photographs showed what they had managed to accomplish on limited resources and with skills accumulated over many years with particular emphasis on the restoration of Southdown's 1929 Leyland TD1 and 1923 Leyland G7.

A thoroughly interesting and entertaining talk ran on beyond our normal finishing time but everyone was left wanting more. A final video of a Leyland 0600 engine in full flight on the workshop floor was a memorable highlight.

Our thanks to them for coming over from Worthing and Portsmouth to entertain us in such a professional and enthusiastic way and to the Hall Caretaker for allowing us to over-run our time.

Adam Yates

As James Luke had to defer his proposed presentation for family reasons, we were fortunate that member Roy Meller was able to come to the rescue with a show entitled "Colour Scene".

Having trawled his photo archive for the period covering the post de-regulation era, Roy took us on an alphabetical tour of the country showing us the variety of post de-regulation liveries... some good... some not so!

Thanks Roy for coming to the rescue at short notice for a highly enjoyable evening presentation.

Richard Maryan