South East Bus Festival 2019-2022
One of the highlights
at the start of the year in the Bus Rally calendar is the South East Bus
Festival, which takes place annually on the Kent Showground at Detling near
Maidstone, Kent. The event began back in
2011 and the independent transport videos cameras are no stranger
to it. This programme looks at the
highlights of the buses and coaches attending the event over the years from
2019 to 2022. There is always a good
display of buses and coaches to be inspected by the public in the main display
area, with a selection of buses giving rides around the site with stops at the
many attractions which include classic cars, commercial vehicles, model steam
engines and a lot more!
This DVD
programme begins in 2019 with just a brief visit, as the weather was rather
inclement for filming! We then jump to
the 2021 footage, the 2020 event did not take place due to the ongoing
worldwide coronavirus pandemic. In 2021
the event took place in October and our cameras film the buses and coaches on
display and giving rides from various locations around the showground as well
as the vehicles leaving the event at the end of the day. Many fleets are
represented, not just from the south east of England but also from many parts
of the UK. The 2022 event returned to
its usual April timing. A beautiful spring
day showed all the buses and coaches off to their best in brilliant
sunshine. One of the highlights of the
day was a parade of buses to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. A selection of buses from the decades of The
Queen’s reign paraded around the showground, which started with a Stagecoach ADL Enviro400MMC
double-decker in a special ‘Jubilee’ livery.
It was followed by buses and coaches from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s,
1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s bringing us up-to-date with electric buses in the
shape of a Volvo BZL single-deck demonstrator and a new Abellio London BYD Enviro 400EV MMC City “TfL Future Bus Project”
double-decker. As you can expect there
are many vehicle types for you to enjoy including AEC, Bristol, Daimler,
Leyland and many more. Modern vehicles
include buses manufactured by Alexander Dennis, Scania, Wrightbus and Volvo to
name but a few.
So there is a lot for
you to enjoy on this DVD programme as we celebrate the “South East Bus Festival
as it brings together buses and coaches, old and new, from across the South
East and beyond”.