Sunday, 21 April 2013

Past Attractions - Bicton Hall Of Transport




Bicton has seen a number of attractions come and go over the years. From the brilliant vintage bus ride (featured earlier) to the short lived 'Gotcha-land' (a very bad Noel Edmunds spin-off). The Bicton Hall of Transport was one of the good ones and was situated in a purpose built structure that is now the children's indoor play area.

Opened during the summer of 1979, the hall was filled with a collection of vintage and veteran cars as well as a selection of motorbikes and cycles. The exhibition was built around a collection of early vehicles assembled and restored by Leslie Goldsmith. His family had offered the collection to Bicton to house and exhibit to the public. I don't have much on its demise. At a guess, I would say that it would have gone around 1984 when the James Countryside Museum had a reduction sale of some of its contents. By 1985 a new attraction 'The World of Yesterday' and 'The World of Tomorrow' was advertised. The latter being housed in the Hall of Transport building.

The pictures I have show the earlier cars - an impressive collection.







Friday, 19 April 2013

Bicton Postcards 2








Bicton Postcards























Budley's Last Days




I took this picture in the 1990's and Budley is looking worse for wear. The not so good paintwork, missing nameplate and bell make it look scruffy and I think the seat that was once there had been removed.