SOME fine weather brought thousands of visitors to the Isle of Wight Bus Museum at the weekend – for its Rydabus event.
Running on both Saturday, May 18, and Sunday, May 19, attendees got to see and travel on a spectacular collection of vintage buses.
The highlight of the weekend was a visit from Isle of Wight High Sheriff Graham Biss and his wife.
The pair were shown the museum's restoration projects and got to travel on a 1956 open-top Lodekka during a tour.
Five visiting vintage buses were on show.
Among them were two ex-Southdown 1960s single deckers and a 1949 Bournemouth Corporation Leyland which worked the resort’s town tour.
There was also a Wilts and Dorset VRT double decker beautifully restored at the Newport workshops, and now kept at Swanage, and a small capacity Bristol LHS single decker that made the long journey from Cornwall, where it spent its working life around Penzance.
Destinations for the residents and visiting buses included the Donkey Sanctuary, Havenstreet Station, Briddlesford Farm, Seaview, Quarr Abbey, Over the Downs, and a town shuttle.
Chairman Derek Priddle said: “There is a tremendous amount of work required to organise our running days and we owe a great deal to our volunteers, manning vehicles, catering facilities, marshalling, as well as those who maintain our fleet, which generally performed well considering its age.
“Our Rydabus and WightRider (October) events, with free entry and rides, are now established as part of the Island season.”
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