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100th Birthday surprises as we celebrate centenary

Celebrations on 31st October to mark the 100th birthday of trentbarton have raised £1,000 for our Charity of the Year – the Lewis Mighty Fund, a local organisation who is tirelessly supporting youngsters battling against cancer.

Whilst our customers made donations in return for a chance to step back in time on board vintage buses, trentbarton sprung a series of birthday surprises across the towns, cities and villages we serve.

For one elderly resident of Arnold, near Nottingham along our calverton connection route this meant a surprise visit from our gold trentbarton 100 bus and this special bus being named after her.

Alex Hornby, our Commercial Director, explained: “Irene Ball was born on October 31, 1913 – the same day as the first ever Trent Motor Traction service.

“A century on, Trent Motor Traction is still going strong as trentbarton, and we thought it was a great idea to name our golden bus after a very special lady who shares our birthday.”

While Irene was celebrating with family, friends and members of the trentbarton team, ten lucky customers also found themselves with 100 good reasons to cheer.

Throughout the day ten golden envelopes containing £100 in cash were hidden under bus seats across trentbarton land. All were found by the end of the day on our buses across the region.

The biggest beneficiary of the celebrations, however, was the Lewis Mighty Fund, our adopted charity in its centenary year.

“We really wanted to spread a little happiness on our birthday, but we were overwhelmed by the generosity of our customers when it came to supporting this very worthy local cause,” added Alex.

The donations were taken aboard a fleet of vintage buses that retraced the route of the first services between Derby and Ashbourne and Derby and Nottingham. For one day only, the buses returned to the roads now served by trentbarton’s i4 and swift buses.