Depot resident ABO434B made a very special outing last month, to take Olympic Gold
medallist Nicole Cooke on a tour of the Vale to celebrate her performance in the Beijing
Olympics. The main focus of the tour was her home village of Wick, and seen below are
two photographs of the event.
From the official press release...
"A heritage group is set to breathe new
life into a prominent building in the centre of Barry.
Following the completion of a tenancy
agreement with the Vale of Glamorgan Council, the Cardiff Transport Preservation
Group (CTPG) has ambitious plans for the development of a
transport heritage project at the old Western Welsh bus depot in Broad Street.
CTPG is a registered charity, which was
founded in 1992 – the same year as the depot closed when the then National Welsh
Bus Company ceased trading – and has 100 members. It has played a leading
role in organising transport festivals in Barry over
the last few years.
Handing over the keys to the depot,
council leader Cllr Gordon Kemp said: "I know that the group has ambitious plans
for the building which has the potential to become an educational and tourist
asset.
"It is intended that the depot will be a building reflecting the heritage of Barry from an architectural and transport perspective, and the vehicles could well become familiar 'faces' right around the town."
The project will focus on buses and
commercial vehicles, and the depot has capacity for 30 vehicles.
CTPG chairman Mike Taylor said: "We are
very grateful to the council for its enthusiastic support of our museum plans.
This has always been our goal and we hope the depot will become a major
attraction in Barry over the next few years."
As well as undertaking restoration work,
the group intend to have displays of passenger transport vehicles, uniforms and
ticket machines past employees would have used and other memorabilia. Mike said:
"We offer a warm welcome to any former Western Welsh or National Welsh employees
who would like to pop down and tell us about their experiences."
Opened in 1939 by the Western Welsh
Omnibus Company, more recently National Welsh, the depot is the last of its type
in South Wales. During the 1950s,
Yesterday, the 31st July 2008 the lease to the Barry Bus Depot was signed by the CTPG
Chairman, Mike Taylor. After many years of work by the CTPG in negotiating with the Vale
of Glamorgan Council the keys will be handed over in an official ceremony on Thursday
7th August at 2:00PM outside the bus depot.
Interior work on the depot has begun in earnest by the Vale of Glamorgan Council,
the skylights have begun to be replaced by workers. The pigeon population that
inhabited the depot have now been evicted, much to their distaste. Their legacy
remains temporarily in the building along with the plant life that has slowly crept
through the building's walls. The lease on the depot is hoped to be signed by Mike Taylor,
the chairman of the CTPG in the near future and will be announced on this website when it
has taken place.
