Farmer's Buses

DAVID FARMER’S BUSES   by Miles Marshall researched in 1985

Anyone in the village, who can go back a little over thirty years, must remember David Farmer and his Gem Bus Co.

FROM TAXIES TO BUSES

At one time Mr. Farmer was landlord of the Harrow Inn in the Hughenden Valley where he also ran a taxi service.   He would ply for hire in Lacey Green and would always try to fill up his taxi for a trip to High Wycombe at half–a-crown return; he would often have as many as six passengers crammed into his car at a time.   Later he bought two second-hand buses, a dodge and a Reo ’Gold Crown’ and started the ‘Gem Bus Co’.   At various times over the years he owned two Leyland buses and a Gilford, a local production made where the stamp factory now stands in High Wycombe.  His buses were always repainted in his livery of  green and cream with the Gem Bus Co on a traditional gold belt  design on the sides but they were generally known locally as ‘Farmer’s Buses’.

BASED IN LACEY GREEN THEN MONKS RISBOROUGH

When he left ‘The Harrow’, he lodged for a time at ‘The Crown’ in Lacey Green and kept his buses in some big sheds in a field where Greenlands now stands.   The field track up to the sheds is still there, on the right as you enter Greenlands.  When later on he built himself a large house in Aylesbury Road, Monks Risborough, the buses were housed in big sheds behind the house from where they had to be backed out onto the Main Road.  When the bus depot was moved to Monks Risborough, the first driver had to collect his bus at 6.30 a.m. and often his day would last until 10 p.m., for £3 a week.   There were no conductors so the driver was also responsible for the fares and without the aid of automated machines.

DAVID FARMER –THE MAN

David Farmer was a brilliant mechanical engineer, though he had had no formal training at his craft.   He had great skill with hand tools, particularly a file, and one of his hobbies was making model stream engines

Fortunately I have been able to trace two of Farmer’s old drivers, David (Jock) Wallace, now in retirement, though he drove hire cars for Witcher Bros. for some years after Farmer sold out, and later, Freddy Ferguson, some years Jock’s junior and still working on the buses but now as an inspector with Alder Valley.   I am most grateful to both of them for invaluable assistance in writing this story.  Mr Wallace spoke with respect and genuine admiration of his former employer though he admitted that Dave Farmer was not the easiest of men to work for.   He could be an awkward and cantankerous old man at times and was known to swear at passengers wanting change for a pound note!   He was a hard working though and dedicated to his business.  He would work all night if necessary to rebuild an engine or a gear box just to get a box ready for the morning run.  If on a test run he was not happy with the sound of an engine, he would think nothing of stripping it down again at once to get it right.

FIRE!!!   “STAY IN YOUR SEATS”

Some passengers, particularly the younger ones, were quite afraid of the old man and I was told of one occasion when a bus caught fire and he was very short with some of the passengers who tried to get out, telling them to stay where they were!   Jock remembered the incident.   ‘That was the Dodge’ he said. ‘The battery which was under the driver’s seat short circuited’.   But he went on to assure me that if the old man said there was no danger, then there was none.   He was a very competent and self-assured man who would have certainly have had the situation under control though he could well have been a bit terse with passengers who might, understandably in the circumstances, show a lack of faith.

NIGHT DRIVING IN WW2

The return fare to High Wycombe was a shilling (5p) when Jock started to drive for Farmer in the early 1940’s.   He had been a regular soldier before the war but, being invalided out, was able to drive a bus for the rest of the war years.   He well remembers the nightmare of driving along Hughenden Valley road, under those trees, with masked headlights which would not show up the air-force-blue uniforms of the men from Bomber Command who would be walking in the road.

THE ROUTE and TIMETABLE

The first bus in the morning would leave the old ‘Crown Inn’ in Church Lane at 7 a.m. and proceed to High Wycombe via Pink Road, stopping at ‘The Whip’, the ‘Pink and Lily’, the ‘Hampden Arms’, and the ‘Gate’ in Bryants Bottom and then through Hughenden and Frogmore to the ‘Little Red Lion’, which stood at the bottom of Marlow Hill.   This bus returned by the same route in time for the 9 0’clock run from the Crown.

LAST DAILY RUN of the ‘THIRSTY’ BUS

The last bus of the day from High Wycombe was due to leave the ‘Little Red Lion’ at 9 p.m. though sometimes, if the driver was in the pub, the return trip might be delayed a little though it was seldom after the half hour.   Often, Jock told me, a stop had to be made for ‘water’ at the ‘Hampen Arms’ on the return journey and it was surprising how thirsty the radiator could become at that late time of night as more ‘water’ was sure to be needed at the ‘Pink and Lily’ and, just to be on the safe side a call would be made at the ‘Black Horse’ where Harry Gomme was always ready to supply the driver’s needs.

UMBRELLAS at the READY

Mr. Farmer often drove one or other of his buses himself and is remembered in the village for his quaint and quite ineffectual trick of urging the bus up the hill from Risborough by rocking his body back and forth as he sat at the wheel and encouraging his passengers to join in the rhythm.   A sigh of relief would signal its arrival at the Whip.   Not that the buses were usually overloaded but they had all seen better days and their engines were worn.   One of the old Leylands had glass panels in the roof which let in the rain water, so passengers might be seen inside the bus with their umbrellas up.

ROADSIDE REPAIRS

David Farmer was well known for his skill at roadside repairs and he expected his drivers to overcome most mechanical breakdowns without outside assistance.   Jock once had to replace a head gasket on the Dodge in High Wycombe High Street and on an outing to Eastbourne. Freddie was once faced with a major engine rebuild before he could start the return journey.   On another occasion when Mr. Farmer was driving the village football team back from a match in Wycombe, the bus broke down in Bryants Bottom.   Setting the team on their way on foot, he repaired the bus and caught them up at the ‘Pink and Lily before they had time to down a second pint.

THAT KIND OF BUS SERVICE

A rather nice little story I picked up in the village concerns the late Mrs Hilda West of Stocken Farm, whom many of you will remember with affection.   Mrs. West was waiting at Frogmore for the return bus and just as it arrived she recollected leaving her purchase on the shop counter,   With the present owner of Stocken Farm then not much above a year old, in her arms, she was somewhat handicapped, so with the brief injunction ‘Hold John a minute’ she thrust her young son on the lap of the astonished David Farmer and rushed off to retrieve her parcel.   It was that kind of a bus service!

THAMES VALLEY BUSES STOP AT WALTERS ASH.

Whilst the Gem Buses were licensed to ply between Lacey Green and High Wycombe via Hampden, they were not allowed to pick up local fares in the Wycombe area and Thames Valley inspectors were always on the lookout to catch Farmer poaching on their ground.   They used to run a service along the Hughenden Valley and up Combe Hill to Naphill and Walters Ash, terminating at Park Wood near the gates of Bomber Command.   This service was of little use to residents of Lacey Green for none but the most energetic would be prepared to leg it all the way along New Road, or over the fields before New Road was opened to get this bus.   As Farmer’s buses became older and more unreliable, there was a clamour in the village to get the Thames Valley route extended from Park Wood to the Whip.   A petition to the Minister of Transport organised by the Vicar, Rev. John Steward, resulted in a public enquiry held at the Guildhall, High Wycombe.

PUBLIC ENQUIRY

The Vicar was supported by many prominent people in the village and a number of witnesses ready to testify as to the unreliability of the old Gem buses.   Mr. Farmer, needless to say, vigorously opposed the petition.  Mr. Ferguson has been particularly helpful in this part of the story as he supported his employer at the enquiry. The Minister however, found in favour of the petitioners and Thames Valley were permitted to run through the village, turning round at the Whip, from 1950 or 51.   In 1953 Farmer gave up the unequal struggle and sold out to Thames Valley.