CBPS news update for June 2011
Here we go with our update for June. Yes I did say June but we seem to have weather more in line with a normal April when, it seems we had our summer! Since the last update, a group of us went to the Bristol Harbourside event in 'friend' Steve's Bristol LHBristol Commercial Vehicles Light Horizontal engined. What a good day with lots of free rides and plenty of stalls. On Friday 17 June we were involved with the Royal Blue Run that started in Oxford and took us across country following the old routes to Marlborough, Trowbridge, Cheddar Gorge and Weston-Super-Mare ending the day in Exeter. On Saturday we went north to Bude and then down to Wadebridge and Padstow ending in Newquay. Sunday saw the convoy start at Polperro moving on to Looe, Callington, Tavistock and finishing again in Exeter. A big thank you to Colin Billington for his superb organisation and for the loan of his Royal Blue LeylandLeyland Bus was a British bus manufacturer. It emerged from the Rover Group (formerly British Leyland) as a management buyout of the bus business. It was subsequently acquired by Volvo Buses in 1988 and the name finally disappeared in 1993 Leopard FDV 803V which performed brilliantly.
On this same weekend, 'friend' Bob took our Bristol LH (MUO 328F) to the Bodmin & Wenford Railway where she was part of a display of vintage vehicles during their steam weekend. The 26 June sees the Cornish Coastal Run taking place on Sunday starting from the Summercourt Fair field. We have entered the Bristol LH and our Leyland OlympianLeyland Olympian was a double-decker bus built by British Leyland/Leyland Bus in the United Kingdom from 1980 to 1993. 34754(A754 VAF) for this event which takes us to Truro and on to Falmouth where we have a coffee break. We then make our way to Helston before climbing to Four Lanes and dropping to the car park at Carn Brea Leisure Centre. After lunch we head to the north coast and Porthtowan before ending the day back at the fair field around 4pm.
At the moment, our Bristol VRBristol VR was Bristol's rear-engined bus chassis, designed as a competitor to the Leyland Atlantean and Daimler Fleetline. 1003(VDV 141S) is stored without MOT but we intend to get her back on the road soon. A working party is due to go to South Devon to paint Bristol VR 1141 (AFJ 706T) soon and get her back on the road. Our Vario, 52529 (S529 RWP) is roadworthy and has been used to move more spare parts including seats to dry storage in Devon. Our VR's 38749 and 38873 are not forgotten but we have to be rational with our ideas. If there are any enthusiasts who want to support us and get involved, please contact us.
Don't forget the Western National Preservation GroupWestern National Preservation Group's rally on the Hoe on Sunday 24 July when we hope to have our vehicles there.
