On the way to Wembley! Eastern Counties VR257 (PCL 257W) at Fiveways, Barton Mills – 24 Mar 1985 (12-16)

Sunday 24 March 1985 – Norwich City Football Club played (and won 1-0 against Sunderland) in the F.A. Cup Final at Wembley on this day and lots of different buses and coaches were employed to carry the many supporters.

Eastern Counties Omnibus Company Limited VR257 (PCL 257W), an Eastern Coachworks bodied Bristol VR new in September 1980, was seen as it headed away from Fiveways, Barton Mills on the way to Wembley. This vehicle would usually be assigned to working normal bus services around the Norwich area so to see it heading for London was certainly a rare occurrence.

Work was already underway to make the A11 dual carriageway and this section of the road was still single carriageway. It would later become the eastbound carriageway when the new westbound carriageway was built alongside and where the dilapidated direction sign was standing. New signage for the improved road layout was expected.

(There is no one more uninterested in football than myself and on this particular morning I had ventured out to photograph a certain coach service being unaware of the fact that it was the F.A. Cup Final day. I was totally oblivious that Norwich City was one of the teams playing. However, I was rewarded with the sight of numerous buses and coaches passing by as they conveyed the supporters to the event!)