LETTERS TO OMNIBUS
Another Anniversary
Just a reminder that 11 July 2004 sees the 40th anniversary of the first successful acquisition of a bus into preservation in the Midlands.
I was present when Barry Ware drove 1107 out of Bird's yard in Stratford-on-Avon on 11 July 1964. The story of that day's drive from a scrapyard to a MoT pass has already been recounted.
The rest is now history, and 1107 takes pride of place as the "doyen" of the fleet at Wythall.
Stan Letts
Oldbury
Ebenezer
Regarding Mr Keeley's enquiry (Omnibus no.158), Ebenezer is an English male name from the Hebrew, meaning 'stone of help'. It was originally the name of a place mentioned in the Bible where the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:1). When the Israelites took their revenge Samuel set up a memorial stone with this same name (1.Samuel 7:12). The name was used as a given name by the Puritans in the 17th century, possibly after being mis-read in the Bible as a personal name, and was often adopted by Nonconformist chapels; it is also sometimes used as a symbol of Nonconformity.
Francis (‘Tim’) Shuttleworth
Ludlow
The two battles referred to took place in the mid-11th century BC, near Mizpeh. What made the Philistines a formidable foe in that era was their weapons superiority, because they were among the first people in the Middle East to make effective use of iron, and therefore had better swords and spears. Ed.
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