Hold very tight please (From The Oxford Times)

Hold very tight please

2:50pm Friday 11th July 2008 in Food and drink By Julie Webb

With a number of great bus-themed hits of the past playing annoyingly in my head - a mixture of Flanders and Swann, mawkish late-night Country and Western, and playgroup outings - I was doubtful about how much I would find to enjoy at the Oxford Bus and Morris Motors Museum.

Not really a girlie thing, I thought. It turned out, however, to be a very interesting, and novel, way to explore the area's social history.

I was not alone in my shamefully sexist preconceptions, as one of the directors, Chris Butterfield, told me. "We have men come to get a ticket who say: Just one please. My wife's staying in the car.' We say Tell her she can go round for free, and if she likes it she can pay at the end.' They nearly always do."

Museum staff aim to attract three sorts of visitor: the nostalgic - including ex-bus company employees and Cowley workers - who find plenty among the exhibits to trigger their reminiscences; youngsters, in whom they hope to awaken an interest in history; and historians themselves, amateur or professional, who can also make use of the archive.

This is being re-organised at the moment and contains some fascinating material shedding light on the hot Oxford issues of the day. As an example, Chris showed me a handwritten chart from 1878.

"It is the sort of thing you would find on a spreadsheet now," he said. "The Oxford Local Board was contemplating the introduction of electric trams, and wrote to other towns to enquire about their experiences. This chart records their responses: Leeds said: One class of persons is benefited at the expense of another.'!

"Electric trams never did come to Oxford in the end - the university, in particular, would not have nasty overhead wires. There were only ever horse trams.

"Then William Morris came on the scene with the first motor-bus, in December 1913. Within months the tram company had thrown in the towel and bought Morris out - the last tram ran in August 1914.

"We have one of the early designs of bus here. It is nicknamed the chicken shed' because that is what it was when it was found in a garden in Headington. It ran from 1920 to 1929. It had hard tyres and no springs, but The First World War had given the first changes greater impetus.

"The surviving soldiers had learned how to drive these vehicles and they came back and set up bus companies," Chris said.

Charabanc outings, which widened horizons still further, became popular. "We have an example of the kind of chassis from the 1920s with a body used for coal during the week, which at weekends was lifted off by several men, or a simple crane, and replaced by a charabanc."

The fine Old Tom charabanc on display illustrates a typical layout.

"There was a door for every row of seats," Chris explained. "You didn't need a gangway, so you could fit more people in."

The semi-coach', which started off the collection, dates from 1949 and, with its distinctly swish upholstery, was used for light work such as market day trips and seaside excursions.

"One of our members clearly recalls going to Bognor on this very bus," said Chris.

The first vehicles owned by the Oxford Bus Preservation Syndicate, which was set up in 1967, were stored all over the countryside until the present site -once a siding used by the high-class Cornmarket grocer Grimbly Hughes - was acquired in 1984, and the museum (next to Long Hanborough railway station) developed with the help of Heritage Lottery money, Landfill Tax funding and grants from West Oxfordshire District Council.

One of these paid for the refurbishment of the 1950s/60s ticket machine used in the Museum shop - tracking down someone who could undertake this job wasn't easy.

"Eventually I managed to find two men working in a garage loft on a Welsh hillside who had the tools and expertise to do it," said Chris.

Run entirely by volunteers, from the coachpainters and fitters in the purpose-built workshop to the tea makers in the new café, the museum likes to involve itself in community activities as much as possible, taking part in Woodstock Carnival, providing facilities for school classes, and offering free rides on many occasions, including trips through the centre of the city on Heritage Open Days.

The museum holds an annual rally at a farm near Oxford Airport - on October 12 this year. About 30 visiting buses join the museum's own vehicles, travelling from as far afield as Nottingham - quite a trek at 32 mph.

It has about 40 buses now - as many as it can accommodate. These include a vehicle which belonged to the local Long Hanborough bus company, Oliver, awaiting restoration, and some curiosities, such as a 1966 double-decker made by the Cowley Motor Bus Company but used in Hong Kong, kitted out with subtropical-heat-friendly seating, and signs in Chinese as well as English.

Another intriguing model is the low-bridge bus - headroom upstairs is so restricted that taller passengers had to bend double to get into the seats.

Despite illuminated warning signs in the cab, and even notices begging passengers not to allow the driver to proceed under Oxford or Cowley railway station bridges collisions still happened, as some dramatic photos on show demonstrate.

The smaller part of the museum, dedicated to the history of Morris Motors, has examples of the car's development from the Bullnose Morris onwards, with some scene-setting to give a flavour of the times, and lots of memorabilia.

An accompaniment of music from the Works' brass band can be had at the press of a button - its specially made tour bus, with an extra large boot for the instruments, can currently be seen from the workshop viewing gallery.

Most people are aware of how mechanical inventions in agriculture and manufacturing changed the circumstances of working families: this museum gives one the chance to understand how developments in transport engineering have also affected the employment and social lives of Oxfordshire folk over the last 120 years.

n Oxford Bus Museum, Old Station Yard, Long Hanborough, near Woodstock, OX29 8LA. Open Wednesdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays 10.30am-4.30pm also Saturdays, Easter - October. Admission £3. Call 01993 883617 or visit the website W ith a number of great bus-themed hits of the past playing annoyingly in my head - a mixture of Flanders and Swann, mawkish late-night Country and Western, and playgroup outings - I was doubtful about how much I would find to enjoy at the Oxford Bus and Morris Motors Museum which is hosting a Morris vehicles rally this weekend.

Not really a girlie thing, I thought. It turned out, however, to be a very interesting, and novel, way to explore the area's social history.

I was not alone in my shamefully sexist preconceptions, as one of the directors, Chris Butterfield, told me. "We have men come to get a ticket who say: Just one please. My wife's staying in the car.' We say Tell her she can go round for free, and if she likes it she can pay at the end.' They nearly always do."

Museum staff aim to attract three sorts of visitor: the nostalgic - including ex-bus company employees and Cowley workers - who find plenty among the exhibits to trigger their reminiscences; youngsters, in whom they hope to awaken an interest in history; and historians themselves, amateur or professional, who can also make use of the archive.

This is being re-organised at the moment and contains some fascinating material shedding light on the hot Oxford issues of the day. As an example, Chris showed me a handwritten chart from 1878.

"It is the sort of thing you would find on a spreadsheet now," he said. "The Oxford Local Board was contemplating the introduction of electric trams, and wrote to other towns to enquire about their experiences. This chart records their responses: Leeds said: One class of persons is benefited at the expense of another.'!

"Electric trams never did come to Oxford in the end - the university, in particular, would not have nasty overhead wires. There were only ever horse trams.

"Then William Morris came on the scene with the first motor-bus, in December 1913. Within months the tram company had thrown in the towel and bought Morris out - the last tram ran in August 1914.

"We have one of the early designs of bus here. It is nicknamed the chicken shed' because that is what it was when it was found in a garden in Headington. It ran from 1920 to 1929. It had hard tyres and no springs, but The First World War had given the first changes greater impetus.

"The surviving soldiers had learned how to drive these vehicles and they came back and set up bus companies," Chris said.

Charabanc outings, which widened horizons still further, became popular. "We have an example of the kind of chassis from the 1920s with a body used for coal during the week, which at weekends was lifted off by several men, or a simple crane, and replaced by a charabanc."

The fine Old Tom charabanc on display illustrates a typical layout.

"There was a door for every row of seats," Chris explained. "You didn't need a gangway, so you could fit more people in."

The semi-coach', which started off the collection, dates from 1949 and, with its distinctly swish upholstery, was used for light work such as market day trips and seaside excursions.

"One of our members clearly recalls going to Bognor on this very bus," said Chris.

The first vehicles owned by the Oxford Bus Preservation Syndicate, which was set up in 1967, were stored all over the countryside until the present site -once a siding used by the high-class Cornmarket grocer Grimbly Hughes - was acquired in 1984, and the museum (next to Long Hanborough railway station) developed with the help of Heritage Lottery money, Landfill Tax funding and grants from West Oxfordshire District Council.

One of these paid for the refurbishment of the 1950s/60s ticket machine used in the Museum shop - tracking down someone who could undertake this job wasn't easy.

"Eventually I managed to find two men working in a garage loft on a Welsh hillside who had the tools and expertise to do it," said Chris.

Run entirely by volunteers, from the coachpainters and fitters in the purpose-built workshop to the tea makers in the new café, the museum likes to involve itself in community activities as much as possible, taking part in Woodstock Carnival, providing facilities for school classes, and offering free rides on many occasions, including trips through the centre of the city on Heritage Open Days.

The museum holds an annual rally at a farm near Oxford Airport - on October 12 this year. About 30 visiting buses join the museum's own vehicles, travelling from as far afield as Nottingham - quite a trek at 32 mph.

It has about 40 buses now - as many as it can accommodate. These include a vehicle which belonged to the local Long Hanborough bus company, Oliver, awaiting restoration, and some curiosities, such as a 1966 double-decker made by the Cowley Motor Bus Company but used in Hong Kong, kitted out with subtropical-heat-friendly seating, and signs in Chinese as well as English.

Another intriguing model is the low-bridge bus - headroom upstairs is so restricted that taller passengers had to bend double to get into the seats.

Despite illuminated warning signs in the cab, and even notices begging passengers not to allow the driver to proceed under Oxford or Cowley railway station bridges collisions still happened, as some dramatic photos on show demonstrate.

The smaller part of the museum, dedicated to the history of Morris Motors, has examples of the car's development from the Bullnose Morris onwards, with some scene-setting to give a flavour of the times, and lots of memorabilia.

An accompaniment of music from the Works' brass band can be had at the press of a button - its specially made tour bus, with an extra large boot for the instruments, can currently be seen from the workshop viewing gallery.

Most people are aware of how mechanical inventions in agriculture and manufacturing changed the circumstances of working families: this museum gives one the chance to understand how developments in transport engineering have also affected the employment and social lives of Oxfordshire folk over the last 120 years.

Oxford Bus Museum, Old Station Yard, Long Hanborough, near Woodstock, OX29 8LA. Open Wednesdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays 10.30am-4.30pm also Saturdays, Easter - October. Admission £3. Call 01993 883617 or visit the websitewww.oxfordbusmuseum.org.uk