Saturday 23rd February, 2002

Annual General Meeting, 1345, Marshman Room, Broadmead Baptist church, Union Strest, Bristol Formal business, members only. Following this there will be a display of members' favourite colour prints (post-1986 and no preservation or rallies) by means of a Paxiscope viewer. Entries for this (approx 12-20 maximum) invited, a small prize for the selection adjudged best will apply.

Saturday, 20th April 2002 - Tewkesbury For our Spring meeting we are going to the north of our area for a joint meeting with our colleagues in the Midland Branch. Nick Warner, MD of the old established local independent operator Warners Coaches and of the Booomerang Bus Co, has agreed to give a talk to the Society and this will be combined with a visit to the depot. With services straddling more than one county and two Traffic Areas, an account of these operations will be of above average interest and should be well worth attending.

Participants will make their own way to Ashchurch Rail Station where a Warners bus will depart at 1130 (awaiting trains from north and south) for the depot, where a surprise attraction will be on show. Thereafter we depart for the town centre for observations and lunch at a time when there are a number of operators arriving and departing. The meeting, addressed by Mr Nick Warner, will take place in the Town Hall (upstairs council chamber) from 1345 and transport will be back to the station for the 1610 Birmingham train.

We draw attention to one meeting, fringing on our area, that may well be of interest to SW&W members. Following the success of the Bovey Tracey meeting in 2001 a similar format will be used for a meeting to be held in the Winchester and Chandlers Ford area on Saturday July 6th 2002, at which the speaker will be Bill Lewis, former manager of Southampton CT and an arch opponent of de-regulation, thus an interesting contrast to the views of Harry Blundred! Although now retired from the industry for many years and (by his own admission) not so abreast of current affairs, he will still have an interesting tale to tell, continuing the reflective nature of these "Summer Special" meetings.

See the main Diary for further details.

Our Autumn programme

Saturday, 5th October 2002, Salisbury

This is the meeting postponed from Autumn, 2001. It will be held at 14:00 in the "Wellington" Room of the Red Lion Hotel, Milford St., Salisbury. This is located just up from the central market/New Canal area, convenient for the Bus Station, etc. Bar Snacks, etc. will be available at the hotel.

It is intended to have a presentation on past independent operators, in and around Salisbury, hopefully including input from a retired proprietor. A little different from our normal coverage of current events, and not to be missed!

Saturday, 30th November 2002, Exeter

We return to our previous venue at the Exeter Transport Club, on the corner of Summerland St and Bampfylde Street, adjacent to the Bus Station and Depot.

The meeting will commence at 14:00. The speaker is Paul Landymore, proprietor of Cooks Coaches, Wellington. Their tendered bus services are seen widely across Devon and Somerset. Previously, Mr Landymore was with the Cawlett Group (Southern National, before it was sold to First Group). This talk will be an interesting insight into the running of a niche rural operation.