Roll up for a magical tour (From Stroud News and Journal)

Roll up for a magical tour

Whether for a school swimming lesson, a day-trip to London park or an annual holiday, many people in and around Stroud will at some point have travelled on a Beavis Coach.

As the renowned family business approaches it 85th year, 90-year-old owner Brian Beavis recalls the thrills of steering his father's modest enterprise to success and to giving thousands of holidaymakers their first experience on foreign shores.

THE business began just after the Great War when the open white stone roads stretched out for miles ahead and traffic jams and congestion were an alien concept.

Today, 85 years later the wheels are still turning for Beavis Coaches of Bussage.

Having been lucky enough to inherit a car in his youth, Mr Beavis senior spotted an opportunity and in 1920 decided to set up a private hire business from his home in Bussage.

It wasn't too long before the entrepreneur enlisted the services of his son, Brian, who made his first trip in 1933.

"I spent one morning waiting for my licence to come through then I was away," says Mr Beavis.

His first job in the seven-seater Wolsley was to drop some people at Cheltenham railway station.

"In the early days you could go to Cheltenham and back without seeing a single other car," says Mr Beavis, a grandfather of two.

"If you did see one though there was always a bit of a panic as cars desperately tried to get over to the left.

"But often you could see a car coming a mile off as chalk came up off the road.

"It was a different world altogether."

The business closed in 1940 when Mr Beavis, who by then had taken over in charge, volunteered to the army service corps.

After the war, the private hire service became prosperous once again.

And new post war optimism meant trips to Cheltenham station were increasingly replaced with those further afield.

In 1949, Mr Beavis received an unexpected request from an intrepid group of travellers from Bussage to be taken on a long distance round-trip.

"They wanted to go first to Germany on the border with Yugoslavia and then on to the Vatican to witness the closing of the door," says Mr Beavis. The trip ran far from smoothly however.

"The night before we were due in Rome we were still 120 miles away when the dynamo packed up," he says.

"We had to drive through the night with no lights but we arrived at 4.30am and I dropped them right outside the Basilica.

"It was a good job really as by 8am the streets were completely packed."

In the late 40s and 50s more and more families began buying their own cars.

But the demand for European tours increased, so the business diversified and later became Beavis Holidays.

"I could see the writing on the wall so we bought our first coach in 1949 and four years later I had three more," says Mr Beavis.

At first the most popular continental destination was to Switzerland and for private pilgrimages to Lourdes.

Soon after Mr Beavis and his late wife Madge embarked on more and more voyages to Morocco, Yogoslavia, Spain and Italy.

"Many people had not holidayed in Europe before," he says.

"In the early days there were only four companies in the country doing it and we couldn't cope with the demand.

"One year I did 16 tours which on average lasted between seven and 14 days.

"They cost around 23 guineas but we had no trouble filling them.

The business continued to flourish through the 60s and 70s with more coaches being added to the fleet.

Today the business owns eight and still runs numerous tours but the proliferation of cheap flights has inevitably had an impact on the demand.

Mr Beavis still believes touring the roads of Britain and Europe offers more than the flight package holidays of today and says there is no replacement for coach passengers buzzing with real enthusiasm and excitement.

"People travelling to their destination get a different sensation altogether on a coach tour.

"By coach, the holiday starts from home."