New book is next stop for Playbus
A SUPPLY teacher has set the wheels rolling on a new career as an author after penning a book about the Bewbush Playbus.
Sue Wickstead, of Furnace Green, became involved with the playbus – which was a familiar feature in the Dorsten Square car park – following the birth of her daughter in 1986.
She continued to work with the project long after her own children, Tom and Elly, were grown and was still on the committee when funding and mechanical problems saw the bus closed down in 2003.
Now, after two years of hard work, Sue has published Bewbush Playbus, through DB Publishing. The book is packed with photos of the youngsters who used the bus over the years as well as the dedicated staff who kept the project going.
Sue, 57, served as parent, committee member and project co-ordinator during her time with the Playbus and said: “My heart was always with the bus – it just got under my skin and I wanted to celebrate it.
“I have very fond memories of all the trials and tribulations my involvement brought especially raising the profile of the project and fundraising for a new bus.”
The Playbus project was born in August 1980 when the south east branch of the Girl Guides Association chose to spend their portion of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Fund on a project in the new neighbourhood of Bewbush.
At the time, Bewbush had no community centre but a community bus seemed to be an ideal temporary replacement.
After it had been converted and painted by BAA and BCal, Lady Baden Powell officially presented the bus – then called Supersonic – to Bewbush and it was put to use in a summer playscheme and then as a pre-school playgroup.
And its ‘temporary’ status ran on and on and on...
The idea to write a book about the Playbus came after an exhibition of photos was set up in Crawley Library to promote the project but Sue had a much more personal reason for putting pen to paper.
She said: “It was always in my mind to write it but then my friend Angela Flatt died at a young age and it was in her memory that I decided to write it.”
Angela had been described as the backbone of the Playbus project. She died of a brain haemorrhage in 2007, aged just 46.
Bewbush Playbus is available from Amazon and costs £16.99. Alternatively, contact Sue on 01293 516206 or email suewickstead@aol.com
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Saturday 18 May 2013
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