Our April meeting saw us visit for the first time, the Transport Museum at Wythall, located south of Birmingham and just off junction 3 of the M42.

This delightful museum is located on part of the area formerly occupied by RAF Wythall, which during WW2, was a barrage balloon site and maintenance facility, whose balloons protected the southern flank of the industrial areas of Birmingham.

The Museum houses a tremendous collection of buses from the old Midland Red and Birmingham City Transport fleets alongside important examples of other makes and from other bus companies.

Everyone at the Museum made us feel most welcome during our visit, even moving buses for us on request so that we could obtain the best viewpoints for our sketches.

Our afternoon Critique led by Robert Calow and Tony Nicholls was held in one of the restoration workshops and concluded our very pleasant day ‘on the buses’.

Many thanks to Denis and all at the Museum for their kindness and hospitality! With such a varied collection and from the welcome we were given, this venue is one which we will certainly be revisiting in the near future.

Phil Hadley GAvA Midland Region Organiser