80 years ago . . .
As the torrential rains
came down all around and our planned trip out today was postponed, I
sat and reminisced about what was happening in the world 80 years ago
in 1932. Those thoughts were largely triggered by a radio programme
about walking and the mass trespass at Kinder Scout in that same
year, and without which perhaps the freedom to ramble as we know it
today would not have happened.
What has that got to do
with Dorset and buses you may well ask? The year is the connection.
One of the treasures from a lifetime of collecting transport
memorabilia and ephemera is a copy of the 1932 poster issued by the
Dorchester and District Carriers Association, complete with a list of
their routes and times..
Sixty three villages
are listed as being linked to Dorchester by bus, not quite from A to
Z but ranging from Affpuddle and Ansty through Chebbard and
Littlemayne to Waddock and Wrackleford. Many of the services shown
were run only two days per week for the market on Wednesday and
Saturday whilst a smaller number of villages could lay claim to a
daily service, including the roads to Frampton, Bloxworth, Cerne
Abbas and Puddletown. Many of the routes terminated in the Council
Yard in Trinity Street, opened in 1922. Others continued to 'put up'
in the time-honoured way at inns such as the White Hart, the Phoenix,
the Plume and the Ship.
Some of the operators
names are now long forgotten, whilst many others were taken over by
the ever expanding Bere Regis & District Motor Services during
the war or shortly after. The name of Davis – one of the partners
in the Bere Regis business - appears on the poster with his service
from Bloxworth. One of the other partners – Toop – appears with a
route from Winfrith. Other names that lasted into comparatively
recent times include House of Hilton and Pearce of Cattistock.
It was in Pearce's
garage that this little piece of history from 1932 hung above the
office desk for many long years. Coincidentally it was in 1932 that
Pearce obtained their first school contract to Maiden Newton from
Cattistock. Many years have passed now, operators have come and gone,
routes and vehicles have changed. How many of those village journeys
are still possible today, are there still buses in Southover or
Hillfield?