Campden Voices 

by Judith Ellis, 23 April, 2006

Mary Koster (nee Jones) writes:
Mr George Haysum was my uncle. In 1910 he married the sister of my mother Miss May Maria Keyte, known as Aunt Molly, and from 1929 they lived at High House, Sheep Street. Uncle George served in India in the Great War and shortly after his return he bought two horses which had been used in the fighting in France, together with a wagon, and so commenced his work of bringing up from the railway station the goods transported by train.

The next step was success in his application for the franchise for the Great Western Railway, not only to transport goods but also passengers to and from Campden and the station.

Time passed and the horses were sold. My father was consulted and he went (if I am correct) to Cowley, Oxford, to the Morris motor car manufacturers to meet with their designer and together they made drawings for the bus which eventually was built. Uncle George could not drive a vehicle, so my father sat in the passenger seat and Uncle George in the driving seat. My father explained how to drive and they drove up Sheep Street, round the land known as the Pike at the top of Catbrook/Westington (in those days the island was a grass area with a large tree in the centre) back down Sheep Street, and my father then told Uncle George that he could drive!

A garage was built by the Landgate Brook and a wooden garage in the orchard. Later Uncle George acquired a lorry and an Austin car which was used as a taxi. To use the bus the fare was 6d and the taxi 2/6d. Uncle George was busy – he had to time departures for the taxi and bus to go to the station with the passengers and then the lorry to transport goods all over Campden. Aunt Molly did all the bookings which she kept properly in a diary.