Bristol Vintage Bus Group
Registered Charity number 1083056
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Work in progress …
ANNUAL REPORT
2024 / 25
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Bristol Vintage Bus Group Registered Charity number 1083056
ANNUAL REPORT 2024/5
Chairman’s Report
Outreach
Some school involvement was again possible this year, although headteachers are generally not happy for us to provide rides owing to their safety concerns, our vehicles lacking seat belts. These are available on hired coaches, but aren’t fitted to service buses – so presumably the children are never taken on these either? We did manage to pay visits to two primary schools in the area this year to show the pupils what public transport looked like years ago.
Under the auspices of the respective Parent Teacher Associations, we were able to provide free rides for the Year 6 (eleven-year-olds) pupils of two local schools as part of the children’s Prom celebrations.
We have also been fostering a link with the Museum Service’s working exhibits, based at L Shed on the harbourside. Our involvement with them is listed in the Events piece below and we hope to continue to develop this in 2025/6.
Getting Out and About
STALL
The stall made appearances at the bus rallies at Barry, Bournemouth, Cotswold Barn, Stroud and Yatton. It was also in attendance at the harbourside bus displays that we organized, although for these events we were mostly selling clothing items emblazoned with the Bristol scroll. These proved popular not just with locals but also visitors to the city who just happened to find us whilst exploring the harbourside. as well as, of course, our own mini running days in April and October. We also had a particularly profitable time at our big event at the Brislington Park & Ride site in July.
Card payments are an increasing feature.
BUS RALLIES and EVENTS
Firstly, in November 2024 there was a repeat of the Twilight Run through the city centre, finishing up at Cribbs Causeway Bus Station.
The 2025 rally season attendances were as follows:
In March we held our season-opening event at Flowers Hill.
The popular Stroud Vintage Bus Rally was attended by us in June.
July saw our regular Bus Show event at Brislington Park & Ride site. We are extremely grateful to Alan Peters and Mike Walker for their continued sponsorships of this event. This proved extremely popular with the general public, the weather generally behaving itself – certainly from mid-morning onward.
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The first weekend in August was the Gloucestershire Vintage & Country Extravaganza at South Cerney. Another very enjoyable (and profitable) weekend. Congratulations to the crew who stay with the vehicles across the three days. The month also saw our participation in the celebration of the 150[th] anniversary of the first Bristol tram, our buses at a Yatton Railway Station rally, Richard Avery’s MW bus attending the Victory Park Summer Picnic in Brislington and attendance at the Cotswold Bus Rally near Moreton-in-Marsh.
In October we ran a free shuttle bus service along Cumberland Road to link Museum Square with Underfall Yard for Bristol’s Historic Harbour weekend. As usual, we held a season-closing event at the end of that month. Due to the decreasing availability of free space to display buses at Flowers Hill, we moved the event to the Aerospace Bristol Museum site at Filton. Some aspects of this did not work as well as hoped, but the Museum is keen to foster a working relationship with the Group and it is planned to run our March and October events there in 2026.
Lionel Tancock and his coach were in attendance for a weekend on the Isle of Wight in May, the three-day Royal Blue Run in June, a gathering of classic coaches in Cheltenham in July, along with our Brislington Bus Show and the 7’6” bus event in Kingsbridge in September.
Vehicles
Concerning the Group’s own vehicles:
The issues with the Mercedes’ brakes were resolved
The step-Dart needed a replacement diesel pump and new wiper arms
The VR, on long term loan from the Aerospace Museum, overheated on a members’ lunch trip and was subsequently found to have a badly obstructed radiator. Several flushings of the cooling system and replacement hoses would appear to have resolved the issue.
Much work has been carried out on the open-top FLF acquired last year. A scrap FLF was acquired to be a donor for various body parts and external providers have refurbished much of her drive train and supplied replacement springs. Her internal fittings as an exhibition bus have been removed. It is hoped to bring her back to life in 2026.
Work on members’ vehicles continued apace, including:
Continued bodywork repairs to David Withers’ Leyland PD1
The dynamo on Richard Avery’s MW coach sent off for a rewind
Aled Rees’ open-top VR received a new floor and a repaint into Guide Friday livery off site and had her interior refurbished.
Aled’s double decker Volvo B5 received a repaint into First Bus livery; convincing enough for would be passengers to stick out an arm when she appears!
Alongside all of this, regular servicing and ad-hoc repairs have been carried out to a growing number of vehicles in order to keep the show on the road.
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Premises
Various issues have been addressed. There is a regular need to keep roof gulleys clear and drains free flowing. There are still issues with water ingress in both units, which are receiving attention. We are aware of the need for work on the electrical installations, in particular that of Unit H, and quotes are being obtained.
Governance
At the Annual General meeting in March 2025 David Withers stood down as Chairman for health reasons. The meeting readily agreed to make David our Honorary Life President in recognition of his years of dedicated service. Ricky Long was elected as his successor in the Chair, Aled Rees as Secretary and Richard Avery as Treasurer after Dayley Lawrence had stepped down owing to pressure of work. Josh Hughes was re-elected as Young Members’ representative. Dayley and Nick Sommer were elected and Lionel Tancock and Paul Tovey reelected to seats on the committee.
Ricky Long
Treasurer’s Report
The Group continues to enjoy a healthy financial position.
The Annual Accounts (see separate sheet) show a deficit for the year:
Income: £27,114; Expenditure: £34,948.
This is entirely attributable to the money spent on the open-top FLF. She will be a valuable addition to the fleet, as open-top vehicles earn good amounts of donation money, and the Group has lacked its own since the Bristol K left us.
Our weekend attendances at Museum Square have been both popular with the public and a good way of raising funds. Clothing items embroidered with the Bristol scroll sell well to locals and visitors to the city alike. The museum has welcomed our attendances, as seeing the buses on the quayside encourages the public on the other side of the harbour to investigate what is going on. This may well then cause increased footfall in the M Shed museum and the sale of tickets to whichever working exhibit is operating. Further such weekend attendances are planned for 2026.
Surplus funds have been put on deposit to generate some interest income. Some further refinement to our banking arrangements is being prepared.
The accounts have been approved by the Independent Examiner.
Richard Avery
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Bristol Vintage Bus Group
Income and Expenditure Account
| 2025 | : | 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| () Rally and Event sales | 11,104 | «5,238 | |||
| Other stock sales | 1,200 | ' | 862 | ||
| (2) Other sales | 0 | 10,040 | |||
| Storage charges | 6,000 | 5,900 | |||
| (3) Donations | 5,566 | : | 2,165 | ||
| Miscellaneous income | 630 | a | 2.5/9 | ||
| (4) Membership subscriptions | 1,975 | : | 1,190 | ||
| Bank interest | 639 | : | 0 | ||
| Total | income | 27,114 | |||
| (5) Stock purchases | 3,473 | 240 | |||
| (6) Rally expenses | 4,849 | 930 | |||
| (7) Vehicle expenses | 13,312 | 7,717 | |||
| (8) Property expenses | 12,979 | / | 7,463 | ||
| Sundry expenses | 211 | 412 | |||
| Administration expenses | 124 | 418 | |||
| Total expenditure | 34,948 | © | 17,180 | ||
| Surplus (Deficit) for the year | -7,834 | 10,790 | |||
| Current account | 71 | 52,766 | |||
| Business Reserve account | 2,701 | O | |||
| Liquidity Manager 35-day notice account | 12,619 | O | |||
| Liquidity Manager 95-day notice account | 30,520 | 6) | |||
| PayPal account | 0 | 589 | |||
| Cash floats | 100 | 0 | |||
| Total | 46,011 | 53,355 |
(1) Regular attendance at the Harbourside in 2025 and our big July rally at Brislington saw good business on the stall (2) The late John Grigg left the Group his Bristol LS coach, sold in 2024 for £10k.
(3) Donations and misc income have been split differently this year.
(4) The membership fee was increased this year; membership is flat,
(5) New clothing lines are being stocked and sold, very profitabltably, on the stall. There was just over £2k of clothing stock as at 31 October 2025.
(6) More of our costs have been properly associated with attendance at ratlies and events.
(7) Work on the open-top FLF bus has cost £7.5k this year.
(8) There was a £2.2k electricity refund for 2023 in 2024. NNDR, utilities and insurance costs all increased in 2025.
Richard Avery Treasurer
BRISTOL VINTAGE BUS GROUP ACCOUNTS 1/11/24-31/19/25
The information provided to me by the Bristol Vintage Bus Group showa true and accurate reflection of the monies held by them at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Anita Manning
Spuiouuns Anita Manning (Mrs) 69 Duckmoor Road Bristol BS3 2Dh
\& Jan 2°
BRISTOL VINTAGE BUS GROUP ACCOUNTS 1/11/24-31/109/25
The information provided to me by the Bristol Vintage Bus Group showa true and accurate reflection of the monies held by them at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Anita Manning
“ \& Spuanens Anita Manning (Mrs) 69 Duckmoor Road Bristol BS3 2Dh
1b Jan 20%