A special celebration on 31st March 2012
The organisers of 'M&D and EK 60' would like to thank all those who visited the show and to those who brought buses and coaches,
sales-stands and displays.
A full list of the 97 vehicles which attended is shown in the 'Vehicles entered' box at the bottom of this page.
The M&D and East Kent Bus Club
The club was formed in 1952 to bring together those interested in the former Maidstone & District and East Kent bus companies, and is one of the longest-established regional societies for bus enthusiasts in the UK. It has consistently had a large and thriving membership and its 60th anniversary in 2012 is a very significant milestone that Arriva is pleased to help publicise.
Over those six decades the Club has studiously recorded in great detail the vehicles and services of the main operators and their present-day successors, Arriva and Stagecoach. It has also included the large number of smaller operators in the area in its activities and continues to offer comprehensive coverage of all bus and coach companies in Kent and part of East Sussex.
The club has produced its monthly newsletter, now in A5 format and called ‘Invicta’, since the earliest days, and other activities include photograph sales, the production of publications, local meetings, outings and other events. To find out more about The M&D and East Kent Bus Club, please click here to visit its new-look website.
‘M&D and EK 60’ –
Brought to you by the organisers of ‘M&D 100’
‘M&D and EK 60’ is being organised by the same team that brought you the highly-successful ‘M&D 100’ in April 2011 to mark the centenary of the formation of Arriva’s predecessor in Kent, The Maidstone & District Motor Services Ltd, and the aim is to build on the success of that event by expanding it to include East Kent, Maidstone Corporation/Borough Council/Boro’line and other operators’ vehicles.
The event is not restricted to local buses and coaches, though, as the showground is huge and all vehicles, old and new, local or from other parts of the UK or beyond, are welcome!
If you enjoyed ‘M&D 100’ you will know that this event will be equally as good and if you didn’t attend ‘M&D 100’ but read the reviews afterwards and wished that you had, then this will be a second chance for you to catch up with what you missed!
‘M&D 100’ brought together almost fifty buses and coaches that once ran for M&D. probably making it the largest gathering of vehicles which all once ran for the same company (with the exception of London Transport). We want to repeat that success and bring together even more representatives of the M&D fleet, as well as having a display of as many former East Kent vehicles as possible to make this a truly significant gathering to celebrate the bus club’s jubilee.
We hope the event will be used to showcase some vehicles which have just reached the completion of their restoration work and which can make their public debut at the event.
The event will also give an ideal opportunity to bring together former and current employees of the companies and, at ‘M&D 100’, the Reunion Tea Room hosted by the Maidstone & District Staff Reunion Club was hugely popular, with people meeting old friends and colleagues, often for the first time in many years. ‘M&D and EK 60’ will be an opportunity for former East Kent staff to also get together and form a reunion.
‘M&D and EK 60’ is being held alongside the annual Heritage Transport Show which will be displaying a large number of cars, vans, commercials, tractors and motorbikes, so there will be plenty to see and do. By mid March, 360 vehicles had been entered into the Heritage Transport Show!
The admission charge will cover both events and as many free bus rides as you can manage during the day!
Get-together for former M&D and East Kent buses and coaches
The organisers of ‘M&D and EK 60’ have written to the owners of former M&D and East Kent vehicles, both preserved and still in active use, inviting them to bring their buses and coaches to the event.
Both companies ran large fleets over several decades and there are many vintage buses and coaches in preservation. We hope that there will be examples at the event from all the decades through which the companies served the people of Kent and East Sussex, including some which are still running for bus companies around the country.
Invitations have also been sent to independent operators in the area to bring their vehicles along to represent the current scene that the bus club continues to record in detail, both for the benefit of current enthusiasts and future transport historians.
More information about bringing a bus to the event is shown in one of the boxes at the bottom of this page, including a downloadable entry form.
Some of the buses and coaches on display will have had many hours of tender loving care lavished on them and their owners will be proud to show them off.
The restoration work on some will have taken place over many years, and at a cost of many thousands of pounds in some cases, but their owners have each preserved a small piece of local history for future generations to enjoy. Bus companies are part of the fabric of local society and generations of local families will have used the buses on display to get to work, school or college, and for shopping and leisure trips.
Some vehicles on display will still be in the course of restoration and visitors will be able to appreciate the sort of work that is required to restore an old vehicle to its former glory.
As entries are received, we are updating the list of vehicles entered in the box towards the bottom of this page, so bookmark this page and keep checking back for the latest news. By mid-March 100 buses and coaches, old and new, had been entered and more will be booked in before the end of the month!
Free bus rides
Free rides in vintage, and not so vintage, buses and coaches around the showground’s internal road system will take place frequently throughout the event, giving visitors an opportunity to sample rides on a variety of buses and coaches from a bygone era. These buses will also provide a facility for getting between the main parts of the showground as well as linking with the pedestrian entrance from the car park and also the main gate for those arriving by public transport.
Buses will run up to every five minutes and will make stops by the Clive Emson Conference Centre, the John Hendry Pavilion and the Kent Showground offices. At ‘M&D 100’ the bus rides proved so popular that extra buses had to be pressed into service!
Free shuttle bus
A free shuttle service will run from just outside the main pedestrian entrance to meet Maidstone-bound buses on Arriva’s 333 and 334 services to save people having to cross the very busy dual carriageway to get to or from the bus stop opposite the showground. You can also take a ride on these buses if you want to sample a longer ride in an old bus. Because of the nature of the A249, they will run down to the M2 junction at Stockbury, returning on the other side of the dual carriageway to make a connection with the Arriva buses before continuing to the M20 junction and then back up Detling Hill to the showground.
Reunion for former M&D, East Kent and Maidstone Corporation/Borough Council/Boro'line staff
M&D and East Kent both employed many thousands of people over the years, without whom they could not have thrived. It is fitting, therefore, that there will be the opportunity for former employees of the companies to meet up with their old friends and colleagues. At ‘M&D 100’ the Reunion Tea Room was extremely popular and was visited by several hundred people who were able to meet colleagues they had lost touch with many years before. We hope that they will come back to renew those acquaintances and that former East Kent staff will be able to enjoy similar reunions in the tea room. Former employees of Maidstone Corporation, Borough Council and Boro'line will also be welcome in the tea room.
Guest speakers
Three guest speakers will give presentations during the day. The M&D and East Kent Bus Club’s founder, Don Vincent, will talk about how he and four then-teenage friends came to set up the club way back in 1952 and how it developed in its early years, well-known transport writer and former director of M&D, Roger Davies, will talk about some of his reminisences of his time with the company, and Stagecoach in East Kent and East Sussex’s Commercial Director, Jeremy Cooper, will talk about developments in East Kent over the past ten years.
These talks will alll take place in one of the rooms on the first floor of the Clive Emson Conference Centre.
There will also be other speakers talking about transport-related subjects as part of the Heritage Transport Show.
Slide shows
A continuous slide show depicting buses of M&D, East Kent and other operators over the past sixty years will run during the event, in addition to which there will be three ‘live’ slide shows with commentaries at various times during the day. These will be presented by Alan Snatt, John Bishop and Roy and Terry Blackman.
Buses in miniature
Many model collectors specialise in buses, and a wide range of die-cast models of M&D and East Kent buses and coaches has been produced over the years by manufacturers such as Corgi, Lledo, Exclusive First Editions and Britbus.
Other modellers build their own from scratch and some like to have bus station layouts representing the town of a particular bus company.
To help celebrate the bus club’s Diamond Jubilee, there will be displays of models of the local companies. Anyone interested in bringing their models along can find further details in the box at the bottom of this page.
Exclsive First Editions will be exhibiting their recent and forthcoming releases and the Kent branch of the Model Bus Federation will also have a stand in the exhibition hall.
Admission charges
The admission charge will be £7.50 for everyone, except that children under the age of 12 will be admitted free. However, advance sales of tickets will be available until 23rd March at the reduced price of £5 per person (subject to a £1.50 booking fee for each transaction) through the Kent Showground website and also by phone. Please click here to visit the Kent Showground website.
The cost of admission covers not only ‘M&D and EK 60’ but also the Heritage Transport Show and as many free bus rides as you can manage during the day, so represents great value for money!
Sales-stands and displays
There will be stands selling bus memorabilia, books, photos, models and a wide range of other bus-related items. There is plenty of space at the showground and we hope to attract as many, if not more, people than came to ‘M&D 100’, so it will be a good event for traders to sell their wares to transport enthusiasts and the general public.
The M&D and East Kent Bus Club will have its full range of photos and publications on sale, so be sure to visit their stand to say ‘hello’ and, if you’re interested in buses in Kent, but not already a member of the club, then why not join to receive all the latest local bus news in the monthly ‘Invicta’ magazine. Click here to visit the club’s new-look website.
For more details about how to book a sales-stand or display at the event, please see the box at the bottom of this page.
Tell your friends about ‘M&D and EK 60’
Don’t forget to put the date, Saturday 31st March 2012, in you diary and tell your friends about the event. A lot of people are already talking about it and the organisers are sure that there will be a good turnout to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime anniversary of a well-respected club. ‘M&D 100’ attracted around 5,000 visitors which puts it in the league of the largest bus rallies in the country. We hope that the added interest in the East Kent fleet and other operators will make ‘M&D and EK 60’ even more popular.
Find us on Facebook!
We’ve set up a Facebook page to promote the event, in addition to this website, so, if you’re a Facebook fan, go to www.facebook.com/MDEK60 and click the ‘Like’ button at the top of the page to receive regular updates and news about the event, and don’t forget to tell your Facebook friends to do the same!
Website links
Arriva buses timetables www.arrivabus.co.uk
The M&D and East Kent Bus Club www.mdekbusclub.org.uk
Kent Showground www.kentshowground.co.uk
Facebook www.facebook.com/MDEK60
Don’t forget to bookmark this page or add it to your ‘favourites’ and check regularly for updated information!
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The owners of any former M&D or East Kent vehicles, both preserved or still in active use, are very welcome to bring their buses and coaches along to 'M&D and EK 60'. All other buses and coaches welcome too!
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If you collect models, have bus station layouts or build your own models from scratch then bring them along to 'M&D and EK 60' and show them off to the visitors to the show
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For full details of getting to the event by car, bus and train.
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Sales-stands selling bus and coach-related items, and displays relating to M&D's, East Kent's and other companies' history are welcome, as are trade displays from suppliers to the bus industry.
Click here to see a list of stands and displays booked in so far. This list will be updated as more bookings are received.
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This page has a list of the 97 buses and coaches that attended 'M&D and EK 60' on 31st March.
We hope that everyone who visited the show had a good time and enjoyed the buses, the bus rides and all the other activities that the organisers provided!
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Visit this page to see a plan of the showground site.