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This page is a collection of various items about the buses that served Eastbourne, the famous and sunny holiday town in Sussex, on the south coast of England.

MEMORIES OF JACK COOKE

In November 2018 Robin Cooke kindly sent me this collection of photographs which had belonged to his Grandfather, John "Jack" Cooke who joined Eastbourne Corporation in 1923 as a conductor, then became a driver and finally an inspector, having served with them for over 40 years. Here we see Jack (looking very smart on the right) in the 1920s during his early days as a conductor. The crew are standing in front of no. 19 (HC 4585), a 1924 Leyland with an open-top, outside-staircase Vickers body. It was withdrawn in 1934.

Jack and his family moved to Gloucester during the war to stay with relatives and Robin thinks that he was on secondment to Bristol Tramways. Anyway fast-forward to 1948 and here is Jack standing alongside no. 18 (JK 9116), a Leyland Titan PD1 (with an East Lancs body) which had been delivered two years earlier. In 1963 it was rebuilt to open-top, retired five years later and sold to the first of a series of private owners, eventually being scrapped in 1976.

It looks as though Jack may have qualified as a driver by this time. The picture may have been taken in Churchdale Road near the bus depot, which was convenient for Jack as he only lived a few yards away.

Here is Jack at Princes Park (the east end of the seafront service), back on conducting duties and with a rather older vehicle. No. 78 (JK 2336) was a Leyland Titan TD2 dating from 1932. Its Leyland body was rebuilt in the Corporation workshops to open-top at the end of 1949 and named the White Queen. It was withdrawn in 1954 and was last seen in use as a shed in Pevensey in 1960.

Here's another one of the 1932 TD2 Leyland Titans - no. 77 (JK 2335). Its subsequent history is pretty much the same as no. 78 in the previous picture, i.e. it was converted to open top at the end of 1949 (in this case being named the White Princess) and retired in 1954, but this one was scrapped, rather than being sold.

The view from the Foot of Beachy Head looking east down the seafront with St.Bede's School on the right will be very familiar to most Eastbourne residents and visitors alike, and is virtually unchanged today. Jack didn't seem to be either driver or conductor in this case, so perhaps he was the photographer.

Now we move forward to 6 June 1956 when four Eastbourne buses are operating an excursion to the Derby at Epsom Racecourse. Normally these vehicles would be open-toppers. My guess is that both of the buses in this picture are from the AEC Regent II batch delivered in 1938, as they all had Northern Counties bodies with rounded rear windows and were converted to open-top around 1954, replacing the ancient TD2 Titans seen above.

Jack is standing at top right. Whereas the rest of the group appear to have cans of beer, Jack has a pair of binoculars and what looks like a Box Brownie camera - clearly a keen racegoer! I wonder if any of the other chaps can be identified.

Finally on 12 May 1960 Jack was just pulling away from the Lambe Inn in Old Town when he was rammed from behind by a tower crane which had suffered a brake failure on its way down the fiercely steep East Dean Hill. With no footbrake or handbrake working, the driver of the 12-ton crane, Norman Wilson, amazingly managed to avoid hitting anything until it swiped a Morris Mini Minor at the Summerdown Road traffic lights. Plummeting on down the road with its horn blaring, the crane eventually hit the bus with the projecting jib penetrating the upper deck. Jack realised what was happening and, after two impacts from the crane, slowed the bus gradually and brought the combination to a halt. One bus passenger was treated for shock but miraculously no pedestrians, motorists or the driver of the Mini Minor were hurt.

I can't identify the exact bus involved but it was one of the 1947 batch of five AEC Regent IIIs numbered 20-24 (JK 9648-52). They were all re-seated after this accident using second-hand seats on the lower deck from London Transport trolleybuses. All of them were scrapped in 1966-67.

The photo may be from the Brighton Evening Argus, but thanks anyway to Robin Cooke for sending this interesting series of pictures.

POLLY

There were two Eastbourne buses named Polly and both were used by the Corporation Welfare Department to carry disabled and elderly people on various journeys and excursions. The first was a 1939 Dennis Falcon, former Southdown no. 81 (FUF 181) which had been one of two acquired originally for the "Tramocar" fleet in Worthing. These little buses had a low floor on their Harrington centre-entrance bodies, which was ideal for aged passengers. After the war no. 81 was transferred to Hayling Island services where light buses were required in order to negotiate the old wooden Langstone Bridge; but after a concrete bridge was built in 1956 the bus was retired and sold to Eastbourne in 1958.

It was then painted pale blue with the name Polly in the front destination box, and lived in a far corner of the Churchdale Road bus depot, as seen in the unique view above, supplied by Brian Pask by kind permission, via the SCT'61 website. Along the side it says Eastbourne Old Peoples Welfare Council.

After retirement and replacement by the Leyland Tiger shown below around 1961, it went into private hands and was to take part in the HCVS London to Brighton run in 1969, 1970 and 1971. During the 1970s it was kept at the Bluebell Line premises at Horsted Keynes and wore the unlikely inscription Independent State of Cuckfield Omnibus Co. on the side. This great picture was taken by B. Harris and kindly supplied by Chris Stanley. It shows FUF 181 heading south at Purley Cross while taking part in the 1970 HCVS London to Brighton run.

The bus still exists and was undergoing a long-term and total restoration by Seaford and District, which is excellent news.

The second Polly was former 1947 Southdown Leyland PS1 Tiger No.1247 (HCD 447), one of a batch of 25 supplied in 1947. They had standard ECW 31-seat coach bodies intended for the express services between the Sussex coast and London. In the mid 1950s they were downgraded to bus work and this example was renumbered as 676. It was sold to Eastbourne Corporation Welfare Department in 1961 to replace the Dennis Falcon shown above. This photo (by kind permission of Cliff Essex) shows it parked outside the Corporation depot in Churchdale Road.

Like the Dennis Falcon, this bus had Polly" painted on the front destination window, but was painted green and black, rather than pale blue. Here's a picture (by Peter Esposito, via Chris Stanley) of HCD 447 parked round the back of the Corporation depot in June 1968. It was last noted derelict in a scrapyard at Lower Dicker, Sussex in 1975.

TREE LOPPER