Written by Sue Wickstead
Interesting
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| Published by | DB Publishing (1 Aug. 2012) |
| Genre | History, Transport |
| Pages | 192 |
| ISBN-10 | 178091198X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1780911984 |
I have had this book physically sitting in my TBR pile for quite some time now. I won it in a raffle, probably around 2020, the exact date escapes me now, and it's been one I've been thinking about but never quite managed to get to... until now.
The blurb:
The story of the Bewbush Playbus, a Community Project started in 1980 by the Girl Guides Association using money raised for Her Majesty The Queens Silver Jubilee Celebrations. The photographs and memories contained in this book were used on public display to publicise and promote the work of the project with the aim of generating much needed support and funding. The project operated for many years in the district neighbourhood of Bewbush Crawley, West Sussex. It was a much loved and well used mobile community vehicle. Over the years the Association provided much needed play support to its many young users as well as encouraging parental involvement. As such the Playbus brought a lot of pleasure and support to the community. Sadly in 2003, due to lack of core funding and a vehicle which was difficult to maintain mechanically, the project closed its doors. It was a further intention to get the book published to celebrate the Queens' 'Diamond Jubilee'. So finally here it is, with love to all those ever involved or who knew of our work!
History
Transport
Non Fiction
My thoughts:
Bewbush Playbus is a factual account of the setting up and running of the Bewbush playbus scheme which sadly closed its doors for the final time in 2003. The Bewbush playbus is the inspiration for Ms Wickstead's children's stories involving playbuses, and it is my love of these stories which made me curious about the 'real' playbus.
This book describes the conversion of an ordinary double decker bus into a safe mobile play space for, initially, the under 5's; the learning curve of the volunteers; gaining inspiration from other playbus groups nationally; the changing market as schools started to provide places for children in the September following their 4th birthday; and the trials and tribulations of maintaining a playbus.
Even though I do not have a connection to Bewbush, nor have I used or had access to a playbus scheme for my own children, I found the history very interesting and informative. The book includes lots of pictures which document the various playbuses as a much loved resource within their communities.
I think this book will be of particular interest to parents and children who have used the Bewbush scheme, and others with fond memories of their own playbus schemes, as well as the individuals and groups who were involved in its creation and maintenance.
| Author Bio – Sue Wickstead |
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 Sue Wickstead is a teacher and an author and writes children's picture books with a bus theme. Sue once worked with a play charity which operated on a double-decker bus. This led her to write the photographic history book about the project. The 'Bewbush Playbus' book was published in 2012. Sue then began to write a fictional tale about the bus. 'Jay-Jay the Supersonic Bus', his number plate JJK261 gave him his name and has now been followed by more picture books which all indeed have a bus connection as well as links to her teaching journey.
Award winning author - 'Wishing Shelf book Awards'
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| Social Media Links – | |
| X - formerlyTwitter | @JayJayBus |
| Web site | SueWickstead.com |
| JayJayBusBooks | |
| Goodreads | Sue Wickstead |
| Facebook Author Page | Sue Wickstead |
| Facebook Playbus Page | Bewbush Playbus |
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