DIRE WEATHER AS SEASON OPENS
Easter was exceptionally early this year so, typically, the weather decided to be disagreeable, with flurries of snow threatening, among other things, to hide the essential car park lines.
Easter Sunday (March 23) was forecast to be a very poor day and this kept people away. Normally this is the best Sunday of the year for us as the shops are closed! I always notice how many visitors are exceptionally well dressed, presumably because they have been to church.
Monday's weather was expected to be better but was actually worse - just as cold but with showers too. But evidently people now wanted to get out and about, despite the weather. Bank Holiday Mondays are always busy and visitor numbers were only slightly below usual Easter Monday level. As usual with this holiday, cars were parked on site and staff worked hard through the cold to get everybody in. At one point our car park was completely full despite numbers being slightly down. Here we stumble across the law of unintended consequences - if people stay longer because of our improved presentation so do their cars!
Once again you have to be astounded by how cheerful the British can be in the teeth of adverse weather! And there are the bonus bits of fun - witnessing Alwyne's face when a visitor insisted he must come from Nottinghamshire. "Definitely not", assured Alwyne in broad Lancashire. Your scribe helpfully provided a clue by pretending to be George Formby playing his ukulele. Must be from Derbyshire then, persisted the visitor.
The two May Bank Holiday weekends repeated the foul weather, with many potential visitors giving up on the Sundays but valiantly facing the Mondays. Thankfully the weather largely defied the forecast on Spring Bank Holiday Monday, an important day for us, the rain not closing in until late on. This was the former Two Museums event, handily extended at the Aston end to become Three Museums Day. We provided the service from Wythall to Aston Manor Transport Museum, for the first time without the assistance of much-loved North Birmingham Busways. A further service, provided by our Aston colleagues, could take visitors on to the Birmingham City Museum Collections Centre at Dollman Street, which is a fascinating place and added an extra dimension to an already popular event.
Seven buses were to be found on our linking bus service to Aston - Fleetlines 6311 and 6757 with Leyland and Gardner engines respectively, BMMO D9 5399, Birmingham Guy 2976, BMMO S23 5956, visiting Routemaster RM357, while Midland Rider Leyland Lynx J377AWT was particularly enjoyed by those liking more modern, but now disappearing, vehicles. More buses were to be found on the car park shuttles to Resolution, increasing the variety further.
Never have we had six consecutive major operating days with such poor weather and, of course, it is impacting on our admission figures. Good to see so many volunteers again, thanks for all your help under the variously Arctic and tempest conditions.
Malcolm Keeley
Air-ukulele? George Formby actually played a banjulele that he bought for £2/10/-. Editor
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