Remembering Sunderland's beloved Jolly buses - a historic travel story

But it’s true and this fantastic article, which comes to us from the Friends of Sunderland Museums, tells us more.

Fosums chairman Ashley Sutherland takes up the story.

Travel The Jolly Way said the buses.

The bus which doubled as a coal wagon

And thousands of people did right up until they left the streets of Sunderland 30 years ago.

But let’s go back to the start.

The founder of the firm was William Henry Jolly, who was born in 1896, and was the son of a railway clerk. He served in the Army in World War I and first found work at Doxford Engines when he came home.

That is where he met his wife, Ann. William bought his first bus in 1922. It had removeable seats and doubled as a coal wagon! The business grew over the years and it acquired other local operators.

William died in 1952 and from then onwards the firm was run by his widow Ann and their two sons Kenneth and Matthew.

Ken Jolly was chosen for Maundy money

Ken Jolly was a gifted musician and he became the organist at St Nicholas Church, Sunderland in his teens while the regular organist was away on war service.

He transferred to St Gabriel’s, Sunderland in 1962, where he was to serve as organist for the next 50 years. In 2016, when he was 90, he was one of a group of 90 people nationwide chosen to receive Maundy money from the Queen at a special service at Windsor Castle.

That year he also featured on BBC Songs of Praise with presenter Pam Rhodes. Ken died last year at the age of 98.

Notable buses belonging to W H Jolly include coach PT 6174, which had a Chevrolet chassis and a body built by Tindle Brothers of Bedford Street in Sunderland.

A fold-down hood for fine weather

It had a hood which could be folded down in fine weather and it was delivered on the same day that Ken Jolly was born.

The early coaches in the fleet bore the name ‘The Farnham’ after Farnham Terrace, which was William’s address in Sunderland before he married.

There were both buses and coaches in the Jolly fleet and a feature of the buses was that they always had varnished wooden slats for the back seat. The great majority of the vehicles had a Bedford chassis and Duple was the favoured body builder.

W H Jolly was first licensed to provide a bus service from South Hylton to the cemetery gates in Hylton Road, with the route later being extended to The Plaza cinema. Here passengers could transfer on to the Circle tram to take them into town.

‘Jolly buses were held in great affection’

In 1964 the Sunderland to Durham railway service which ran through South Hylton was withdrawn and Sunderland County Borough Council then gave Jolly buses the right to travel right into Sunderland via Hylton Road, St Mark’s Road and Durham Road.

It was in 1995 that the Jolly bus service came to an end and although that was a sad occasion it needs to be said that today South Hylton is well served by both the Stagecoach No. 8 bus service and the Metro.

Jolly buses were held in great affection and many of us will have been on excursions ‘travelling the Jolly way’. The staff were often long-serving and the firm had a family feel to it.

The last day of service, Saturday July 1, 1995, is pictured in one of these photos with driver Jim Rowlands at the wheel.

The very last service that night was the 23.15 from Sunderland Central Bus Station back to South Hylton and I’m sure that tears will have been shed as the bus trundled into the garage for the very last time.

Share your own memories of the Jolly buses by emailing [email protected]