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FEBRUARY 2013 People keep asking when The Bus Up the Dale will be ready for publication, and we still aren’t sure—but it’s getting closer all the time. Originally conceived as a brief history of the fondly-remembered Swaledale bus company, Percival Brothers (Coaches), Ltd, since it somehow became a Grand Universal History of Every Bus in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale Ever, it’s taken a bit longer than we thought. Rumours of Reuben’s death have been greatly exaggerated, but he has been far from well in recent months. We regret that this has slowed things down. Research is now ostensibly complete—or as complete as it’s likely to get—so, now that it’s largely a question of writing, clearly as long as our Star Writer is in poor health, progress will inevitably be problematic. The draft of The Bus Up the Dale currently stands at 40,000 words—taking the story from Albert Morton’s pioneering post-bus service between Richmond and Keld in 1905 to the formation by Percival’s of a Limited Company in 1937, and introducing some cherished 1940s anecdotes. The good news is that people with no interest in buses have said it’s very readable and absorbing so far—and they (poor souls) have been slogging through the text without the benefit of the hundreds of accompanying photographs and other illustrations which have accumulated. The book is intended to continue to 1971—when Percival’s finished—and beyond. The Percival’s slide shows originally suggested by Helen Bainbridge of the Swaledale Museum, and delivered by Reuben Frankau in his own inimitable style, have now ceased. It isn’t often that the Museum has to invite a guest speaker back to repeat the same talk, but such was the level of interest in Percival’s ! And every time—both at the Museum and at other venues— contributions from those attending added significantly to our information. We’re extremely grateful to them, and to Helen for her encouragement and support in the earlier stages of this project. We’ve been wonderfully fortunate in the support and co-operation of locals with long memories, and present-day relations of the characters who ran the buses. Thanks to these people, when The Bus Up the Dale finally appears in print, it will be much much more than a collection of bus photographs and old timetables. One reason for the continuing delay in completion of the book is the difficulty of finding the time, energy, and petrol required to go round gathering people’s recollections and archive materials. As research went on, we were encouraged to put some articles together for Vintage Roadscene magazine by the late David Hayward, whose personal assistance with The Bus Up the Dale was considerable (and much appreciated) from 2006 until his recent death. Thanks to David, several pieces on Swaledale family firms were published in 2010 and 2011—listed here for those who may wish to look them up. For various reasons (like, we’ve forgotten how to upload pictures...), we’re still keeping the information and photographs on this site to a modest minimum for the time being. We want the information to be accurate and fair (some previous Swaledale local history efforts have caused a lot of bad feeling in this regard), while with photographs—of which we have been lucky to find quite a few—there does arise the issue of respecting and protecting people’s Copyright. Some Copyright-holders are pretty laid back, but some are not, and they do have their reasons. The book, The Bus Up the Dale, was to have included a chapter on the Percivals’ shop at Gunnerside. As research continued, it became inescapably apparent that the grocery, cartage and agricultural side of Lodge Percival’s business encompassed more than enough local history to fill a book on its own. James Percival suggested this second book could be marketed as a companion volume to the first, and called “The Shop Up the Dale”; however, the working title is currently Swaledale Life in the 1930s. It is intended that both of these publications will appeal to anyone with an interest in Swaledale, but transport buffs may wish to bear in mind that there’ll be less about buses in the latter volume. |
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