All aboard for coach firm memories
Things were really hard for Shropshire bus passengers until Excelsior gave them a bit of comfort.
On the wall of 95-year-old Reg Price's home in Donnington hangs a framed picture of a 20-seater 1936 Bedford which, with its comfy seats, at last brought a touch of relative luxury to local bus and coach travel.
"During the war they had wooden seats on coaches. That was the first in Shropshire with proper seats," says Reg, who for many years was the boss of Excelsior, a bus and coach firm based in Wrockwardine Wood.
Reg, who still drives, although he does not go far now, got in touch to tell us the story of Excelsior after we published an old bus photo in our Pictures From The Past slot.
He says his father Alf Price, who had worked at the New Yard works at St Georges, started the business in about 1920.
"His first vehicle was a hearse with all the fittings taken out and seats up the side for people to sit on."
Reg does not know how the name Excelsior came to be chosen for the firm, which ran a local service.
"They waited for people to come and get in the vehicle between Oakengates and Wellington. Buses would just wait for some people to come, and they would get on the bus and you would take them."
The garage was in Lincoln Road in Wrockwardine Wood, and the family lived at Hollyhurst Road. In those early days, Alf did not employ anybody and drove the bus himself. Eventually Reg learned to drive and joined the business.
He says his mum Eva answered the phone and things like that, and was also the subpostmistress in Wrockwardine Wood.
The company by now had the Bedford - Reg does not know what happened to the hearse.
"We went on seaside trips and things like that and would take potato pickers to farms."
Another Bedford joined the fleet and after war service in the Army, Reg went back into the family firm. In 1948 he and local girl Averil Matthews, from Wrockwardine Wood, arranged their marriage but tragically his mother died on the very day they were going to marry.
"We got married three or four months afterwards. Then about four or five months after my mum had died my dad remarried. I objected to it really, getting married after such a short time, but didn't actually fall out with him. I didn't go to the wedding. He changed his will and left everything to my stepmother. I didn't have much to do with her.
"We came home one night and the house was empty and all the furniture had gone. We slept on the floor for about six months. My dad had taken all the furniture away to be with her. I forget where they went to live - St Georges, I think."
When Alf died, the stepmother became the owner of the business, but Reg and Averil decided to buy her out.
"I had to pay her so much a week rent for the garage, and talked it over with my wife and decided to go to the bank and have a loan and pay her out, which I did. I had a good wife, and we started the business on our own.
"We had three Bedford coaches and would do seaside trips and works trips. We did get more vehicles later.
"We lost two of our own children, they were stillbirths, and put in for adoption. We adopted twins and a lad."
Meanwhile the firm was very busy and never had to advertise.
With some bus tickets, passengers could take them to Dickins outfitters in Oakengates and would be given a discount on their purchases.
"I did two trips to Blackpool in one day. We did pensioners' trips and all that. I was involved in Mencap, and we did work for them, and was chairman of the Ketley Old Folks committee."
A proud moment came in 1976 when Excelsior won a trophy at the Blackpool national coach rally.
"We were the only coach firm in Shropshire to win a cup in the rally," said Reg.
A proud moment of another sort is demonstrated by an item of memorabilia which is a letter of thanks from the head of a school in Cheadle. In May 1964 a coach carrying the schoolchildren had caught fire and Reg and others on an Excelsior coach behind it dashed to their aid and rescued children and retrieved their luggage.
By the time the Price family link with Excelsior was broken, the firm had eight coaches and two mini buses at its Wrockwardine Wood depot. The company livery was Westminster crimson and grey.
"I had heart trouble and we decided to pack it up in 1982. I sold it to the wrong man. He changed the name and within 18 months he went bankrupt. We had done so well, and then to see it go like that, it was a shame.
"I loved it. You would meet different people. We used to do all the old folk's work and all the clubs around here and take people on holiday."
Reg, who lost Averil 10 years ago, added: "I still drive - I drive a Ford Ka. I don't go far, just to the doctors and to Oakengates and that. I have arthritis in both knees, but I'm not too bad for 95.
"I've got a bus pass. When people see me they say 'It's about time you were back on these buses.'"
