It may be wet but there's still plenty to do...

We’re just over a month into 2014 and it’s already been a busy few weeks behind the scenes here at S&DTHT. Planning is well underway for 2014 with many events being planned and dates confirmed.

 

Our first event was on the very first day of the year, where we went to Winchester for the first event of the year; that being the Friends of King Alfred Buses running day. Sadly 2014 was to be the last one to be held on New Year’s Day as Fokab are going to try something different in 2015. As always we went along and this year it was a very good one. We took 1 - JOW 499E to the event and it was used on the park and ride service from St Catherine's site to the City Centre. 432 – NLP 389V was also due to attend the event but due to continued electrical problems it was decided to leave her at home. Over the day we carried 360 people on the service, and despite the poor weather we had a good time.

 (No. 1 waits at St Catherine's Park & Ride site)

The next event we will be at is the free shuttle bus to the Solent Model Railway Group's Annual show at Fleming Park in Eastleigh. This is another event we’ve been doing for many years and is always a good one to attend. The bus is always well used and last year was a particularly busy year with around 300 journeys on the bus. The route starts at the show at Fleming Park and then heads into Eastleigh for its first stop at Eastleigh Railway Station, before heading down Southampton Road towards Southampton Airport Parkway. Here it turns around and heads back via Chestnut Avenue to the show. It's a simple route that only takes about 20 minutes to complete. For a few years 71 – LOW 217 was used on the service but last year a change was had when the new boy on the preservation scene 1 – JOW 499E was used. following its recent return back to the road after 20 years. Once again, 1 – JOW 499E will be used on the service for this year.

 

(Timetable for the Model Railway Show)

 

Our Facebook Page is still going from strength to strength with nearly 300 likes! Something we never thought would happen when we set it up just under a year ago. The page gives us the ability to share news, events and pictures from our archives, as well as raise awareness of the Trust on a much larger scale than ever before. Another of our social media outlets is our Flick Group which now has over 2000 pictures of Southampton and the local area's buses from over the years - well worth a browse if you've a few minutes to spare. Also our Twitter page is growing well. If you are on any of the platforms we mention and you don’t like us or follow us already then please feel free to do so and let your friends know about us as well.

There’s been plenty going on behind the scenes as planning is well underway with organising events and shows we hope to attend later on in the year. This year we are hoping to attend a few different events than we usually attend. For details on events we're currently planning on going to, check out our 2014 Events Page on the website. For various reasons some of the events listed may be subject to change at any time, or additional events might be added, so it's worth having a quick look every so often to keep up to date.

Work has also started on a new project as well and we hope to bring you some more news on this project soon, so keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages in the coming weeks and months, where we'll be giving details in the future.