Dennis Javelin:
Ray Smyth:
A Volvo double deck bus frim Finchs Coaches from Higher Ince, Wigan.
The company has approx 12 double deck buses mainly involved in school
children journeys. This vehicle was new to one of the London bus fleets,
and I think that the bodywork was by Northern Counties of Wigan.Ray Smyth.
Its been a long time since I was down at their place but the last time I was there Brian had a ex Manchester area PD2 or 3 that he was restoring - I wonder if he ever finished it?
Hi Dennis, Thank you for your post. I have known the Finch family since the mid 1970s, I used to do the occasional job for them on a Saturday.
They were usually a load of boozers from a local pub for a long day out which included spending the afternoon at " The Races ", York, Catterick,
Uttoxeter, etc, then an evening at Wakefield Theatre Club or The Golden Garter in Manchester. The pay for the day was between £7.00 & £10.00.
I always got a boozers " Whip Round " of cash at the end of the long day, very often was between 30 & 40 quid. Dont tell the Inland Revenue.
The Leyland PD3 that you mentioned was MJA 893G, ex Stockport Corporation, which became SELNEC, South East Lancashire North East Cheshire.
I have always kept in touch with Finchs, and earlier today I had a chat to Brian Finch, he is past 80 years old and still working. Back in the 1970s
when I did the occasional job for Finchs, my contact was Dad, Fred Finch RIP, and Brians brother Raymond. There are a few Finchs pictures on here,
including a Harrington bodied AEC Reliance, ex Yelloway of Rochdale, reg no 7072 DK, what a great machine to drive that was. Not long back,
Brian Finch acquired ex Wigan Leyland PD2, reg no DEK 2D to do local weddings. It was previously owned by Doug Smith, a mobile crane driver,
ex Ainscoughs. Cheers, Ray Smyth.