MAYDAY! MAYDAY!
With the Midland Red event occupying the July date this year, we moved the Family Day to the bank holiday weekend at the beginning of May. This gave us a pair of Family Days of which the Sunday was as successful as the July date whilst the Monday was very lively, demolishing the marketing ploy that cheaper Sundays would divert visitors to that day!
Sunday was nicely under control with the grass overflow in moderate use. Part was out of bounds following heavy rain so we prayed that Monday wouldn't be too busy and would remain dry. We were also missing some of our regular staff, making their traditional pilgrimage to Llandudno. Nevertheless families kept arriving on the Monday and parking cars became a concern. Many were brought into the Museum proper, where somehow Pete Murphy kept finding places for them; one half-expected to find him using the dumper truck to stack them on top of each other! Weather remained sunny until the 1330 bus went out bathed in sunshine. By the time it returned 25 minutes later the Museum had been thoroughly hosed down by a heavy shower. This had several implications. Firstly the 1400 departure had to be duplicated as many decided another bus ride was a prudent move. Secondly the prayer group implored that the overflow grass would hold up. Thirdly there was a rush of families off away, only to be replaced by more families presumably driven from other attractions with even less cover than us!
Visitors on both days not only enjoyed the usual bus and miniature steam trains, and the delightful restored Mister Softee Karrier ice cream van which has joined us for each event day this year, but also the bouncy castle (now kindly supplied by Keith Lewis), a garden railway displayed by the G-scale Modellers (Birmingham branch) and, yoho, splendid remote control ships by the Droitwich Model Boat Society. Oh yes, on Monday not one but two De Lorean cars! Many families stayed with us for much of the day and the picnic tables were in demand; comments as people left showed that they had very much enjoyed their visit.
At the end of the month came the Spring bank holiday weekend. In addition to the usual advertising, Rosemary Clarke enticed famous local historian Carl Chinn to the Museum for live radio input into the Ed Doolan programme immediately before the weekend to raise our profile. The Sunday demand was almost treble last year but ticked over nicely, the only need for the Mayday call being the infant singing the Crazy Frog song who needed to be silenced before the infection spread to others. (Who remembers Beeper the frog advertising National Express? Ed.)
The Monday was the Two Museums Day, which is one of the most onerous days of the year for us, not least because the Scania Hall needs largely emptying to permit the splendid displays by the Model Bus Federation. This exercise was compounded by the entirely successful plot to add an additional vehicle into the hall in the form of SOS HA3501. Peter Murphy masterminded this, aided in particular by Kevin Hill. (The MBF dedicated its displays on this occasion to the memory of Bill French. Ed.)
The pressure of parking on site was relieved by the kind loan of one of Britannic's car parks, although this adds to the workload by warranting a shuttle bus service. The shuttle was controlled by Jim Munro, who organised an all-Fleetline operation, comprising two Wumpties (East Lancs and MCW bodied) and the ex-Walsall shorty. Thanks are due here to Jim, Dave Taylor and Andy Walcott for the use of their Fleetlines.
At the core of the day's events, however, was the half hourly service to Aston Manor Transport Museum. This went entirely smoothly apart from traffic congestion in the vicinity of Cannon Hill Park. Three of the four running boards were operated by the D9, the Bristol FSF and a North Birmingham Busways Atlantean. The fourth was shared by the S23 and two absolutely splendid guest ex-London Transport buses. One was RTW 75, one of 500 Leyland-bodied Leylands with AEC preselector gearboxes built for LT around 1949 producing superb sound effects, which made the writer regret he was sitebound for the event! This bus belongs to Blue Triangle and the owner of the other bus, the equally immaculate RML898 complete with period adverts, is also associated with the same company. Thanks not only to their owners but also to Dave Hales for organising their visit. We also managed to operate a few local demonstration rides, thanks here to the 1685 Group for Daimler COG5 1107 and Kevin Hill and the Potts family for the Red & White Bristol MW, making a total of eleven buses for visitors to sample, representing every decade from the 1930s to the 1980s.
Visitor numbers were markedly higher this year on both days and all staff are to be congratulated for dealing with the demand with courtesy and humour. Thankfully the Britannic site took the parking strain on the second Monday but the cafeteria staff have to meet the increasing demand in space that is now somewhat inadequate on the big days. The biggest applause is due to them.
Malcolm Keeley
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
Tel : 01564 826471 e-mail us
A registered educational charity no 507191
