I’m beginning to think our Big Green Bus is ‘alive’ and trying to get my attention (as if it doesn’t have it seven days a week anyway) because almost every time we take it out on the road something happens to make our journey a memorable one ...

The very first journey we ever had (when Mike drove it from Swindon to Hereford for the refit to begin), we were hit by an overhanging branch that broke three of the front windows; nine months later, less than half an hour into our journey to our first green event near Bath it shot a con-rod out through the engine casing and burst into flames on the motorway; en route to the Big Green Fortnight in Bournemouth it sprung a leak in one of the heating pipes and sprayed loads of gloopy green radiator fluid all over the back seats; and on the way back from Loughborough University Open Day last month the windscreen wipers broke and we had to operate them manually from inside the bus with two pieces of string!

So, what else could go wrong??? Well, we hadn’t had a problem with the gears yet, so I guess I shouldn’t have been in the least bit surprised a couple of days ago when we lost reverse gear as our driver, Grenville, attempted to reverse the bus into position for our booking at Colwall Primary School in Herefordshire.

We were manoeuvring into our allocated space just after 9:15am when the bus suddenly stopped dead in its tracks and refused to go back any further. The priority was to get set up for the children’s workshops which were starting at 10:00am, so I had to put any thoughts of the implications of having a bus with no reverse gear (never mind the cost of getting it fixed) to the back of my mind - and concentrate instead on making the best of the space the bus had chosen for us to spend the day. I’m glad the rest of the team were so laid back and positive about it all otherwise I think I might have panicked, but everyone carried on as normal and we had a really lovely day with the children because the spot the bus had chosen for its reverse gear to stop functioning couldn’t have been a more perfect spot for our outside workshops!

However, moving the bus from Colwall Primary School to the location for the Colwall Green event in time for the following day was not so easy. Mark, our other driver, had kindly come out and made some temporary tweaks to persuade reverse gear to work (if we were lucky) enough for us to reverse into the spot that had been reserved for us somewhere else in the village for the Saturday event, but luck wasn’t on our side - and when we arrived at the site our reverse gear gave up the ghost again.

This time, we were blocking a narrow country lane, so setting up in situ wasn’t an option. Grenville suggested we push it back up the lane so he could then drive it forwards into a space where we could easily roll back out the next day if necessary. I thought he was joking - I’ve seen people pushing cars before, but unless you count the people who compete for ‘strongest person in Britain’ awards, I’ve never seen anyone pushing a double decker bus.

Scarily, Grenville wasn’t joking - and despite the fact that at first we were a bit weak and weedy because we were all giggling so much, it turns out that when push comes to shove (excuse the pun) Salena, Charlotte, Owen, Grenville and I had the combined strength needed to push the Big Green Bus back along the lane so that it could then be driven forward into a nice new spot ready for Saturday’s Colwall Green event….quite an achievement at the end of a long working day!!!

Anyway, we came back to the site the following morning and set everything up in time for mid-day when the first people arrived. We spent a wonderful day in a beautiful location and despite the weather forecast the event was extremely well attended. There were lots of fascinating stalls and people were still arriving at 4:00pm which shows, yet again, just how much interest there is in all things green.

We managed to get the bus safely back to base last night and I’m hoping that Mark’s diagnosis, which is that we just need to get the contacts cleaned up, will prove to be correct, because that way it won’t cost us an arm and a leg. Keep your fingers crossed!

Some pictures from our time at Colwall Primary School.