Maurice Milton WATKINS,1911 - 1977 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, May 28, 2011, 13:37 (4996 days ago) @ slowhands

Thanks gents, I thought so judging by the picture quality of the photos, the bus looked to be of that generation but some of these vehicles had very long service lives indeed !. In my latter years c1977 at RFDGS our school bus from Beard's of Cinderford looked very similar to these indeed, curved prewar lines with a sliding door midway along the relatively short bus, only 36 seats or so. I think this was very much a "reserve" bus !. Seemed quite a comedown as in my first year there we enjoyed much higher tech Roy Grindle's 52 seat coaches including this one which was almost brand new then, I remember the snazzy roof "pennant" very well. Great to see it still running.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/fod_variety_1/pages/page_69.html
For us first years "the" seat to have was the single one immediately behind the door, from there could reach to open & close the door at the stops if the driver was friendly enough. Obviously the back seats were the exclusive domain of the "big" 5th & 6th formers who had more "adult" pleasures on their minds !.

Anyway, re Maurice Milton Watkins, he's clearly a generation before my father who was very much Maurice Anthony's age. That said my father would most definitely have known Maurice M who maybe even taught him to drive the buses he loved ?.

Many thanks for the memories !