One of the original Fellrunner Village Bus volunteers, Bridget Davey, of Langwathby, has finally stepped down after reaching 86 — the age limit for volunteers.
Fellrunner chairman Kevin McGilloway explained: “Bridget was one of a small group of volunteers who were involved in getting the Fellrunner bus services started back in 1979 and served as chair for a time in the early 1980s.
“After standing down, Bridget got involved again in 2019, at the age of 81, when she volunteered to help out with cleaning our fleet of four minibuses.”
A small group of Fellrunner volunteers meet each Monday morning at 8am at the group’s base at Hopes Garage, Langwathby, to check and clean the buses ready for the week’s services.
Bridget is a former teacher at Penrith Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and a great lover of Scottish dancing, which she continues to do several times a week.
Back in the early days of Fellrunner, Bridget recalls that the bus keys were kept on a hook in her coal shed, but they often fell off the hook leading to the volunteer drivers searching through the coal to find them!
Mr McGilloway added: “Bridget has been a joy to have on our maintenance team and she will be missed, but all good things have to come to an end.
“The maintenance sessions go on all year round and Bridget has turned out in all weathers to make sure the buses are clean and tidy. Bridget took great pleasure in telling people how she had gone from ‘chair to char’ and her enthusiasm and reliability have been an example to us all”.
