YATELEY'S FIRST MOTOR COACH SERVICE

Contributed by Valerie Kerslake and Reg Burford

The story: The THAMES VALLEY TRACTION COMPANY usually gets the credit for the first regular motor coach service between Yateley and Reading which they began in May 1921.

Why the story is wrong - probably...

FRED FULLBROOK, brother of the Yateley builder, B.A.Fullbrook, turned old Ford cars into 8-seater buses and ran a regular though possibly rather thin service to Reading a year or two earlier, according to his nephew Guy Fullbrook. The bus was garaged in the old coach house of the White Lion, a long building end on to the road on the left of the inn. This was also Fred's workshop.

Up till then the carrier's trip with horse or motor van was the usual means for ordinary people to get to Reading.

Reg Burford writes about how it began:

The Yateley to Reading carrier service was started in the 1890s by my grandfather, Thomas Maybanks. He operated from The Limes (now Lime Tree Cottage) in Chandlers Lane, then moved to Alma in Mill Lane in 1906 where they had three stable stalls and a cart shed, and the 3½ acre field in Mill Lane where the dairy now stands. The carrier went to Reading four times a week, leaving Yateley at 6am and arriving in Reading between 9.30 and 10.00am. He left Reading at 3pm and arrived back at Yateley between 7.30 and 8.00pm. It sounds a very slow journey but there were many stops on the way.

Passengers and parcels were carried, mainly for the big houses and hotels. They (for Mrs Maybanks accompanied her husband) would also do any shopping that was wanted, and take shoes in for repair. The customers would put a large M on the gate or in the hedge if they wanted a call.

There were five carriers, operating from Maidenhead, Henley, Newbury, Wallingford and Yateley, and they would meet up in the Reading cattle market at lunch time to transfer goods for onward delivery.

Grandfather died in 1916. His son Percy Maybanks carried on the business until his death in 1956.