Preserving King Alfred Buses & Coaches and the memory of King Alfred Motor Services 1920 to 1973
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REGISTERED CHARITY NO 1078631
Friends of King Alfred Buses Running Days in Winchester & Central Hampshire
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2007 King Alfred Buses Running Day
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2008 King Alfred Buses Running Day
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FRIDAY 1 JANUARY 2010, WINCHESTER
The renowned Running Day organised by Friends of King Alfred Buses will take place on New Year’s Day as usual. The planned city centre re-development is not going to start until next year! Free services by heritage buses and coaches will operate all day in and around Winchester on the former routes of King Alfred Motor Services and other local operators.
For just one day, the preserved buses and coaches can have the streets of Winchester and the surrounding district practically to themselves, re-creating a time now gone but fondly remembered and operating services for both enthusiasts and the local residents around Winchester and central Hampshire.
In 1980, Hants & Dorset ran the last King Alfred Panther in Winchester and, again, a tour was organised, using 418. A year later, another Panther, 419, by then owned by Rees & Williams, was brought back to Winchester for a tour - coinciding with the surprise return to Winchester of Tiger Cub 104, the first KAMS bus of the modern generation to be preserved. (Dennis '6' was already in preservation.)
The first "Running Day" proper, when timetabled journeys were operated, was in March 1983, with just one bus (104). A year later, March 1984 saw two buses running (104 and 591) and gradually, year by year, the event has grown.
The first New Year’s Day event occurred in 1986, ‘New Year's Blues '86’. By 1990, it had become necessary to widen the scope to take in other local buses, from the fleets of Hants & Dorset, Wilts & Dorset, Aldershot & District and others, so that in January 2000, some thirty vehicles were in operation on the day, including ten King Alfred. The number of visitors has also continued to rise over the years and this renowned event is now firmly established in the bus events calendar.
