The Birth of an Eco-bus

March 2008
Volunteers Tanya and Jim'll visited the bus and this is what they found...
'A damp and chilly Sunday in March saw us heading across to Herefordshire for our first look at the bus.



 
What greeted us was a big yellow and blue bus in a huge hangar. The top deck had already been stripped out but there were still plenty of jobs to be getting on with before the transformation into The Big Green Bus could take place. The next few days gave us the chance to play with angle grinders and sanders to strip paint from the bus sides and clean up the wheels, take out all the seats from the lower deck and remove the gorgeous Ioann Gruffydd's face from the side of the bus (which was a shame, but he just had to go!).We also had the chance to watch Andy and his team building window boxes from local wood and try out a prototype rocking chair made from one of the old seats.'


Early June 2008
OK, so Brigit needed an old wooden surfboard for the bus, recycled of course! The idea was to place the computers in the bus on the surfboard, cunningly disguised as a table, so that people could ‘surf’ the net! Failing to know any trendy surfing types, Gary took it upon himself to send polite requests to any surf shop he could think of and two days later…voila! Shaun Taylor contacted us saying he had an old wooden surfboard that had been used as a sign outside his shop, the Sorted Surf Shop, in Boscombe, which we were very welcome to. Which just shows what brilliant, environmentally conscious people surfers are!

Unsurprisingly there were plenty of female volunteers to collect the surfboard from the surfer dude’s shop, the task eventually falling to the lucky Judy who enticed said surfer dude to her house with the board. Gary, Jo and Caroline then hot tailed it down to Poole to collect Judy and the surf board, and set off on a perilous trip into the depths of Herefordshire to deliver the board to its final resting place. It was extremely exciting as it was our first visit to the bus and even though we had read much about it, nothing prepared us for the initial impression! Not only that but we were being filmed!

It was parked outside the hangar and was yellow! All sanded down and ready to be green, the exact shade of which Brigit and Andy were still deciding on at the time. There was a wide door cut in the centre for disabled access and the usual passenger door still intact. The original bus windows had been re-arranged or replaced with aluminium sheeting as dictated by the planned layout for the interior of the bus, and recycled aircraft windows had been used in the upstairs front panels. Inside the bus the space awaiting the surfboard was downstairs. Upstairs, the front area for the driver to sleep was almost finished as was the cinema area with custom-made staggered seating.




Back in the hangar one of Andy’s rocking chairs was completed and, after testing, was declared a success! Our biggest lasting impression was Brigit’s enthusiasm and excitement for the whole project, which were contagious. Both Brigit and Judy drove the bus, at least 10 miles an hour, and over lunch Brigit explained what else had to be done. Basically lots, but it was going to be so spectacular when it was finished, it was well worth the effort! We left the bus enthused with ideas to help the BGI and ways to raise money. Gary located a porthole for the main door and also sent down some old sail cloth which is to be used as awnings.

August 2008
You can see from these recent photos just how wonderful the bus is looking now, and how far we’ve come in such a short time. The bus and ivy were painted by Celia who, coincidently, used to live on a bus.

                  
The bus now has a wind turbine and the engine has received the OK from Mike the Sparky. The surfboard is now in place and steps have been made for the second entrance. Marmoleum has been ordered for flooring upstairs and down and the wooden door has been installed complete with second-hand porthole. Brigit is currently painting the inside.

There is still lots of work to do and funds to raise though before the bus can begin its Big Green Adventures. We hope to have pictures of the inside and the latest exciting developments in our next newsletter. Watch this space….

By Jo