(Above) The Reading Trolleybuses start to assemble at Sandtoft
The event was first conceived two years ago by the late Chairman and founder of the BTS, Mike Dare. Little did those involved with organising this event envisage that it would end up being a fitting tribute to a man who started the trolleybus preservation movement back in 1961, for which a memorial service was to be held on the Bank Holiday Monday on the final day of the event.
To put things into perspective, the event required a huge amount of co-operation between a number of motorbus and trolleybus enthusiasts, the Trolleybus Museum Sandtoft Board and key workers at the museum to carry out bodywork restoration, mechanical and electrical wizardry. Only two of the trolleybuses lived at Sandtoft and all the Reading motorbuses, two trolleybuses and the tower wagon were based on the outskirts of Reading.