Friday 27th August 2010

Prior to the bus having its chassis cleaned and painted and a new body bearer beam installed, an oil leak on the differential needed to be repaired.  This led to the removal of the diff revealing a wonderful, heavy duty piece of bronze engineering.  At the same time a new battery cover was fabricated and more cosmetic work took place in the cab.

Thanks to Andy and Mick of Crosskeys for all their hard work and expertise.

Friday 20th August 2010

Whilst my son Ben and I spent an afternoon working on the bus in Cheriton we were treated to a fly past by a Spitfire & Hurricane.  It turned out that it wasn't for our benefit but to comenorate the 70th anniversary of the famous speach given by Winston Churchill to 'the few' who fought for 'the many' in the Battle of Britain.  We had excellent views of the aircraft performing barrel roles over Hawkinge.

Meanwhile the bus benefited by having several coolant leaks fixed and the radiator flushed and refilled with new anti-freeze.  Ben worked away in the cab getting into tight spaces to refit the freshly painted demister and to prepare and paint sections of the cab door.  The window frame in the cab door has been removed in order to change a broken piece of glass.  We now have to track down some new rubber sections to accompany the new glass.

Saturday 7th August 2010

Military & Flying Machines Show, Upminster

Ed and I spent an enjoyable and fruitful day exploring the show.  We learnt a lot, especially form Captain Mike Authers of the 25th Bomb Disposal Co RE Living History Group http://www.25thbombdisposalcorelhg.webeden.co.uk/ .  This group visit schools to teach and demonstrate the work of the Bomb Disposal Core during the war.  We acquired quite a few new exhibts for the bus, chief amongst which was an incendiary bomb and some assorted shrapnel, which we will show to school children who visit the bus.

The trip was especially poignant for Ed as he spent his wartime childhood living in Upminster and remembered when Spitfires flew over in anger and not just for display.

We waited in vain for a cup of tea from the WVS Mobile Canteen.

Tuesday 3rd August 2010

Loose items are put back together and the bus makes the short trip from Dover Transport Museum to Crosskeys Coaches, Folkestone where it is to undergo some mechanical checks and repairs. The bus is well known to the mechanics who last year serviced it and tailor made a new exhaust pipe.

Sunday 1st August 2010

Today the bus passes from the ownership of ABM to Recycled Bus, the operating name of the new business, which will operate Home Front, the new name for Moving Memories. A new website www.recycledbus.com has just launched and carries pictures of the bus and another new website www.homefrontbus.com has been commissioned and plans to launch in September.

The bus itself looks particularly tatty but is showing off a newly restored side light in the colour that half the bus will one day be painted. Little acorns come to mind!

 

April - July 2010

With the help of my good friend Ed Chambers careful consideration was given to whether or not the Moving Memories bus owned by Associated Bus Ministries would operate more effectively as a small business. The bus conversion, whilst excellent, couldn’t hide the fact that the bus itself had fallen into a poor state of repair and would require a large investment of time and money to put right.

We took our time, did plenty of research and carefully and prayerfully drew up a business plan. Following negotiations with ABM it was finally agreed to push ahead with a view to spending the rest of 2010 restoring the bus and preparing a team to work with it in schools and at events.

My daughter Amy and I donned a disguise and undertook some research at the Jersey War Tunnels whilst on holiday in July.