After the delight the previous day of seeing Laura and Nick starting a new chapter in their lives as a married couple, we set about our next adventure...taking 1321 to Showbus. Now this was promised as the premier event of the rally calendar, with buses of all ages and models from around the world attending. It was also a landmark event, as this was the first time since 1992 the event had been staged at Woburn Abbey and Safari Park, after it had previously moved to Duxford. We set off bright and early (and in need of muchos coffee, or in Calum's case the infusion drink known as 'tea' to us non-intellectual sorts) around 0600hrs, and we had high hopes for the event...
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| (C) Steve Hodgson |
It all began to unravel on the journey down after a stop-off at Jacks Hill Transport Cafe, with frankly woeful signage causing us to get lost en-route and endure a massive detour to simply arrive at Woburn alone. And if that wasn't bad enough, when we arrived we then spent nearly fifty, yes FIFTY minutes queuing to get into the site, where we were duly shown to the Leyland Tiger display where 1321 was to be exhibited. Finally parked up, it was at this point we all left the bus to go our separate ways, and I was joined by my good friend Ash Hammond for a wander around the exhibits, totally oblivious to the unfolding chaos within the site. It was at this point I received a call from Calum saying "get yer arse here, they're extracting the Setra!", to which I began to ask the question 'what do you mean "extracting" the Setra?!' Ash and I wandered across, to find a crowd gathered around a rather rateable Kings Setra double-deck coach firmly bogged down in the soft ground it had been parked on, just after the recovery truck that had been summoned to extract it had also succumbed to the same fate as the coach itself. I left the unfolding drama at this point (Calum tells me that a JCB-type device was summoned to rescue both stricken vehicles) to have a wander to the entrance, where a large queue of vehicles had begun to gather to gain access from the Deer Park access road. The marshalls were by this point being inundated by angry vehicle owners wanting answers about long delays to enter the event, and the attitudes displayed by some of these marshalls left a lot to be desired, with the attitude being "if you don't like it, p**s off!" (not that anyone could get anywhere as buses were now stretching through the deer park as far as the eye could see). In fact, the party aboard a Maidstone Leyland Leopard actually waited so long they set up a picnic in the deer park!!
Ash and I decided to distance ourselves from the increasing numbers of exhibits getting bogged down in the soft ground on the main site, and brave the knee-deep deer droppings of the deer park to walk along the line of buses to get some photos, and it was here where the sheer scale of the farce began to unfold. By this point, it turns out buses were beginning to queue back through Woburn Village and as far back as the slip road for the motorway - some who joined the queue around 10am didn't get parked up on site until well after 1430hrs!!! And where were the marshalls to throw light and order on the situation? They were riding round on bicycles trying to avoid the large numbers of furious vehicle owners and spectators demanding answers as to how such a farce was allowed to unfold! I was reliably informed afterwards that the local police were almost called in to close the event down amid the sheer chaos unfolding - surely a first for any bus rally (and certainly not an accolade to be proud of!)
We gave up walking down the long line of exhibits after about three miles, and caught a lift through the slow-moving line of buses closer to the main rally site with our good friend Leonard Carpenter with Barton Leyland Leopard 1235 (RVO657L). After he got stuck in more congestion, we bade farewell and bumped into Dennis Vickers of Chesterfield 123 Group to catch a lift on Chesterfield Transport Leyland Tiger coach 3 (283URB), finally returning back to the main rally field. I then went off to attempt to photograph some of the entrants who had finally arrived after nearly 5hrs stuck in the deer park, and had a quick wander around the Mike Sutcliffe collection of early 20th century heritage buses, before retiring to the mobile bar aboard Bristol VR VDV135S for a few pints with good friends Neill Lomax and Robert Nogues before returning back to 1321 for the trip home. Getting out of the site proved as fun as it was getting in, with some congestion, but thanks to Paul's quick thinking and expert knowledge of the region's roads, we were able to avoid the worst of the jams for a relatively uneventful journey home. That was until we dropped Calum off in Clifton, to receive a phone call moments later informing us our electrical gremlins had returned, and 1321's tail lights had failed somewhere after leaving Woburn. A quick inspection of the situation in the lay-by at Nottingham University North Entrance confirmed our worst fears that the tail lights had packed up completely, and with no tools on board to perform any 'running repairs' we eased our way back to HQ using our brake lights as makeshift tail lights in the ever reducing light to prevent kamikaze car drivers from rear-ending us. We now had a new problem to look into, leaving a bitter taste in everyone's mouths...
All in all, our thoughts on the day?? It was nice to catch up with friends and fellow vehicle owners alike, but the event organisation was dire at best. Showbus? More like SHAMBLESbus!! I took the liberty of writing a well-balanced and strongly worded message to the Showbus organisers voicing the views of the majority on the day's events, but as I kind of expected it was not to be dignified with a response, which certainly makes you think about supporting such events in future...
Our next blog turns away from 2599 being in the limelight, but still playing a very much prominent role in proceedings...sounds double-Dutch?? All will be revealed in good time! Some months previously, Paul had introduced me to his good friends, husband and wife-to-be Laura and Nick, who were most enthusiastic about the bus and its Northern Irish connections. So we were delighted to donate the bus to provide transport for their guests to and from their reception, many of whom hail from Northern Ireland.
We arrived in good time at the East Midlands Conference Centre, and left with a decent load for the church at Long Eaton, where we enjoyed a short break during proceedings before greeting the newly married Mr & Mrs McEntree and heading off with a full busload to the picturesque surroundings of the Trent Building at Nottingham University, where we were most privileged to be invited to the silver service buffet meal and celebrating the happy couple's new marriage. After a hearty three course meal (of which your blogmaster approved thoroughly), we set about getting some final photos with the happy couple and 2599, before passing on our well wishes and heading back to world HQ. Paul then had to indulge in the scandalous art of 'work' before we began preparing for our next adventure in less than 24hrs time...Showbus. Now that, dear readers, is a blog in itself...
