Cold Starts

Our old bus lacks any of the engine warming luxuries of modern vehicles and as such is even more reluctant to get going on cold winter mornings than I am.  A 6.00am start in sub zero temperatures is therefore quite a challenge for both man and machine.  However Crosskeys Coaches kindly fully charged our heavy duty batteries and with the aid of a tin of Easy Start the old girl stirred into life for its journey to Pembury.  Crosskeys have just completed a full mechanical inspection of the bus and I am pleased to say that the fault list was very simple and very short.  Please don't tell the bus purists but they did fit some new high power halogen headlamps to give the bus a bright modern beam to see by.

Another quirk of the old bus is that the engine never seems to warm up and therefore never supplies hot air to the cab heater, so by the time it reached Pembury I was in need of the cup of tea kindly supplied by the caretaker of Oakley School.

Once the bus's on board heaters kicked in our day with the staff and pupils of Oakley School was a real delight.  There was a wide range of learning difficulties amongst the pupils but everyone came on board, enjoyed the experience and left with a greater understanding of what life was like on the Home Front during WW2.

 "A wonderful day and we're so grateful that all of our pupils were able to visit the bus - not just the ones currently studying WW2.  Would recomend to all schools.  Thank you so much!"

Oakley School