"Sunshine + Buses On The Cobbles!"
Dear Readers,
On Sunday 07/01/18, the streets of Morley were treated to a takeover by the red and yellow squadron of preserved Black Prince buses-with one or two other famous bygone operators adding shades of green to the town!
Our Black Prince buses provided short workings around the town centre and immediate area, the 54 running to Morley ASDA, driven by the Black Prince family's very own David Crowther, photographed here with Mrs Crowther.
The 53 ran to the Glen estate, via Tingley Mills, with genuine Black Prince staff, Matthew Stockwell and Gordon Fitzgerald taking turns at the controls.
Preservationist Steve Hurley came along to the show, operating the 427 short workings to Gildersome with his West Riding Leyland "Lynx" single decker (currently carrying its "as acquired" colours of blue and yellow) - Steve aims to have this example of a now rare type in original West Riding livery soon.
Black Prince bus conductor and bus commentator/professional photographer Stephen Whiteley provided his immaculately restored Black Prince midibus, Optare "Vecta" M73WYG-fleetnumber 73, which was very popular operating on mystery tours, departing from the cobbled street every hour during the afternoon...
...It was really good to see this superb machine in traffic after a period of absence from the event roster, with the opportunity duly taken to recreate one of Stephens own original 2001 images, the image chosen to feature on our publicity for this event showing 73 alongside 441 on the cobbles!...
We even had one of the drivers from that original photograph on hand to almost perfectly recreate the image! Cheers Matty!...
Leeds City Transport Leyland Atlantean CUB331C, of 1965 vintage, provided short workings on the 51 service, between Morley Town Hall and Morley Tingley Mills, crewed by the double act of Andy Rawnsley and Mark Conlon, taking it in turns to drive or conduct the Atlantean during the afternoon.
The sun shone on the town for the day and the crowds gathered for the last chance to see Black Prince buses and friends running via the old bus stop arrangements-heading down the cobbled street with our fantastic town hall as the backdrop for the final time.
It was great to see so many people showing an interest in the buses and the town, with enthusiasts coming from far and wide to take the final classic bus photos. We saw several members of Black Prince buses staff in attendance, including Commercial Manager Jack Berry, telling stories and reminiscing about the good days!.
The photograph below shows Driver Matthew Stockwell, Myself, Black Prince former owner and Engineering Director David Crowther, Driver Mick Nash and a very excited LOCAL passenger, Lisa ;-)
Our buses ran beautifully during the afternoon, providing some much missed colour around the streets of Morley and opening up lots of memories for the public, reflected in the wonderful positive comments made by passers by, delighted to see the classic red and yellow buses back "home".
We have been overwhelmed with the kind comments about the "Cobbles" running afternoon and words of encouragement regarding what we do to preserve the vehicles and spirit of Brian and Sheila's Black Prince bus company, which is a huge part of the history of Morley.
A massive THANK YOU to everybody who made our afternoon such a resounding success-from Thursday 11/01/18, the classic views will no longer be available-I'm so glad we made the effort to pull the afternoon together, which was a hefty task in the two week timescale for planning!.
Take Care for now, we shall see you soon, on Black Prince Buses!.
Bradley McMullan
