A glowing review...BUSES Festival at Gaydon 23/08/15

We were progressing well into August now, with 2599 now safely back at 'HQ' after her little visit to Dom at Motor-Canics, and she had the honour of doing her very first wedding job, providing transport for the wedding of Paul's friends Kelly and Kieran Atherton on Saturday 5 August. Sadly I could not attend due to prior work commitments, but reports back from the day suggest the bus received a positive reception. At this point, I shall for one time only had over to our leader Paul for this special report on the Buses Festival event at Gaydon near Warwick - an event your blogmaster did not make it to thanks to being shafted into adding to a certain Rupert Murdoch's millions...but anyway I digress!

"So after 19 months of blogmaster Dan having all the credit here, I finally get let loose for one time only for the following report - the 2015 buses festival at Gaydon! It was a nice start to the 23 August. I went to the farm did the necessary checks - even put fuel in - and set off to pick up a few people who were joining me for this adventure. There was something definitely missing from the usual crowd of me, Calum, Gary and Jean and Pete. We even had Robbie Hadfield with us for the first time on 2599. The banter with myself and blogmaster Dan was missing, and it wasn't the same without him (aww thanks Paul - Dan) . As we pressed on we had a driver change and let Calum have a play. At this point, I got the entry card which had my name on it and the photo to be placed on today's most wanted! As we pulled in to Warwick services, we did the usual coffee, toilet and cigarette stop (depending on your needs), and after letting Gary into the hot seat we set off on our way to Gaydon."

(C) Robbie Hadfield

"As we arrived in glorious sunshine we were greeted by the stewards and sent on our way to park up with the other buses and there was such a wide variety of vehicles. Old and new, and I was very impressed with the layout and the organisation of everything. So all of the people on the bus set off and I started to take pictures and then set off for my first journey on of the running vehicles as 2599 was on static display. And what should turn up but ex Devon general Bristol LH KTT 38P which had just been purchased by a very good friend of mine Lawrence Mortimer. I went for a ride on it, and I was most impressed! So as I headed back, the heavens opened up and everyone started to enter the fabulous motor museum and wow ! The cars in there are fabulous!! A few to mention are the Aston Martin Vanquish as featured in the James Bond film 'Die another Day', the McLaren that BBC's 'Top Gear' tested, the Thunderbirds Ford 'FAB1' and my personal favourite, the Back to the Future DeLorean."

"So as the rain settled down a bit I ventured out to find Mr & Mrs Crosby sampling London Ttransport 'Green Line' RF627. At this point, I thought I am going to join the queue and go on the next bus which turned out to be ex-Greater Glasgow PTE Leyland atlantean HGD 903L. She was amazing and I took the appropriate photos, after that. I needed a Bristol fix, and what a fix I got when Western National MW EDV502D showed up. As I was travelling on this magnificent machine I noticed some of my friends from the Irish Transport Heratige group had come over to the event and we started talking about 2599 and the progress we had achieved in such a short space of time. And this gave me an idea. The I.T.H lads had come a long way to go to this event. So I thought, let's give them something to remember. So I asked if they would like a ride on 2599? THEY DIDN'T NEED ASKING TWICE! Their eyes lit up and the grins on their faces got wider. So as we returned to base I talked to the stewards about taking 2599 out . To which they replied, we could do with an extra bus! . So the I.T.H lads along with myself, Gary and Jean, Robbie and Mark Ashton were on the bus, and more people started to approach us and jump on. By the time I pulled up to do a run, we had a good 20 people on! And while we were waiting a certain Mr Wilkinson was standing in front of 2599 when (unbeknown to our group at the time - Dan) someone from Buses magazine took a photo of 2599 (which has since appeared in print - your 15mins of fame Pete!! Dan)"

(C) Robbie Hadfield

(C) Robbie Hadfield

"So with Robbie guiding me we arrived at the village Church to stop for photos, when Robbie asked me if he could have a go, to which I replied yes. So after making sure that all the passengers had appropriate life insurance Robbie set off, and the 2599 grin was there for everyone to see. His inner 8 year old had come out to play, and he absolutely loved it. To be honest, Robbie did very well with 2599 after just being put in the hot seat. So as we arrived back it was smiles all round and we parked up next to ex-Trent dual door Bristol RE 356 (FRB208H). Eventually, it was time to go, and we set off for home, Gary had a drive, Calum had a drive, and even Robbie had another drive -even I got a play at the end!! It was a fabulous event and one I would recommend to anyone."

Paul Waplington (speaking about 'Buses Festival' at Gaydon 2015)

Scores on the doors (as Paul said when he sent me this post), he doesn't make a bad blog writer, bless him. We also asked our good friend Robbie for a quote on the day's proceedings, which he has kindly allowed us to publish here along with several of his own photographs.

(C) Robbie Hadfield

(C) Robbie Hadfield

 

(C) Robbie Hadfield

(C) Robbie Hadfield

(C) Robbie Hadfield

(C) Robbie Hadfield

(C) Robbie Hadfield

(C) Robbie Hadfield

 "It was a great day out, never been there before but chose BUSES festival over Showbus and from the sounds of it I'm glad I did. First time I'd ever been after hearing about the success of last year's event. Lots of activity with buses giving out rides and busy stalls inside the museum and in marquee's outside. There was a bit of rain in the late afternoon with many visitors choosing to escape to the Motor Museum for shelter. I'm looking forward to next years event and am very grateful for Paul Waplington trusting me with 2599 not once...but twice! It's not a cheap hobby but you could tell how proud Paul is of his small fleet. Well done BUSES and well done Paul."

Robbie Hadfield (speaking about 'Buses Festival' at Gaydon 2015)

Thank you gents for your fantastic reports, its much appreciated - both of you make good writers, I only wish I could have been there to take my own photos and report on proceedings...ahh well, next year perhaps??