Whilst most people woke up on Saturday 7 July excited about watching England play in the World Cup, I was excited about spending a hot, sunny afternoon with our members at the Ipswich Transport Museum, located on Cobham Road.
Myself and Sarah arrived early to welcome members into the converted Trolleybus Depot that now houses the museum’s impressive collection which celebrates our local transport and engineering heritage. It had been opened on a Saturday just for our member event, and provided a welcome haven from the hot afternoon sun!
After a short introductory talk about the museum itself, we were treated to a 30 minute ride in a vintage bus, going twice over the Orwell Bridge so that everyone could admire our gorgeous countryside and the River Orwell gleaming in the afternoon sun. We then returned to the museum for refreshments before breaking off into 2 groups for a guided tour of the exhibits. These included buses, fire-engines, bicycles and motorbikes, trams and trolleybuses, as well as prams – and even lawnmowers!
My personal highlight for the day was hearing members share their own memories about taking public transport and about how Ipswich has changed through the years. Sarah and I were also impressed that you could climb inside a lot of the larger vehicles, much to the delight of the children that were there with us too.
I would like to send a massive thank you to the museum volunteers who were enthusiastic and kind, and very willing to share their impressive knowledge with us (did you know that petrol used to be bought at the local chemist, before the introduction of petrol stations?)
This was my first time volunteering at one of our member events, and it was a pleasure to spend a relaxed afternoon with our lovely members and with the Transport Museum volunteers. I was very impressed with the lovingly restored pieces I saw, and will certainly be heading back with my partner one day soon!
