Ribble Leyland National on Mellor Street, Rochdale - 18 Apr 1981

Easter Saturday 18 April 1981 (Easter weekend) - A Ribble Leyland National paused at the traffic lights at the junction of Mellor Street and Bury Road, Rochdale bound for Blackburn on service 244. By this time service 244 was a remnant of its former self with only a small number of journeys offered in contrast to the hourly service worked by double deckers in past years. The bus is at the same spot as my early 1960s photo of Ribble 378 (ERN 701), a 1952 Leyland bodied Leyland Royal Tiger in the previous frame.

The windows on the extreme left of the photograph were the living accommodation to the sweet shop owned by Mr and Mrs Crook in the 1960s. Their son Alan was a conductor for Ribble based at Blackburn garage and he worked on the service that passed by here (numbered 158 at the time). He very kindly used to send his 'Ribble Staff Bulletin' magazines to his Dad for me to read.