“Thank you Miss Jones. You can go back to your typing now.”
This self-consciously posed advert for a bus driver’s seat dates from 1967 - at the height of the Swinging Sixties. It is far removed from the iconic fashion shoots of David Bailey and his ilk. Women bus drivers were as rare as hen’s teeth back then, and are not commonly encountered even in today’s Britain. (A different story in the United States, however.) But all praise to Hallam, Sleigh & Cheston for trying to make the bus driver’s lot a more comfortable one.
The good news is that Hallam, Sleigh & Cheston remains in business today. Part of Widney Manufacturing Ltd., the group continues to manufacture specialist components for the automotive industries, most notably windows. Indeed, I remember the Widney badge on the window frame of many a bus I have ridden on in past years.
It is a minor miracle that Widney survived the holocaust of British manufacturing down the decades, not to mention many upheavals in the bus industry. They’re still based in Birmingham too, their home since 1886. Long may they prosper.
“Thank you Miss Jones. You can go back to your typing now.”
This self-consciously posed advert for a bus driver’s seat dates from 1967 - at the height of the Swinging Sixties. It is far removed from the iconic fashion shoots of David Bailey and his ilk. Women bus drivers were as rare as hen’s teeth back then, and are not commonly encountered even in today’s Britain. (A different story in the United States, however.) But all praise to Hallam, Sleigh & Cheston for trying to make the bus driver’s lot a more comfortable one.
The good news is that Hallam, Sleigh & Cheston remains in business today. Part of Widney Manufacturing Ltd., the group continues to manufacture specialist components for the automotive industries, most notably windows. Indeed, I remember the Widney badge on the window frame of many a bus I have ridden on in past years.
It is a minor miracle that Widney survived the holocaust of British manufacturing down the decades, not to mention many upheavals in the bus industry. They’re still based in Birmingham too, their home since 1886. Long may they prosper.