THANKS to everyone who contacted me regarding the red and white number 9 bus poser that appeared in the January 23 issue.

Readers responded rapidly to tell us exactly where it was with some interesting replies, many of them from those who drove double deckers.

  •  Dennis Bibby from Parr writes: “The number 9 went to Prescot via Toll Bar/ Thatto Heath / Nutgrove, along Rainhill Road onto Warrington Road and into Prescot, then turned around and went back to St Helens via the same route. The picture is taken at Rainhill hospital gates on the way back to town.

“I drove these buses between 1974 and 1976 and I probably drove this one (it looks like one of the AEC models that we had). I preferred the Leyland models; they were good to drive.

“I passed my Public Service Vehicle test in a Leyland double decker in St. Helens. Incidentally bus numbers 7 and 8 went round what was known as the circle.”

  • Another bus driver, Denis Williams, confirmed the location.

“I was a bus driver in the late sixties and remember driving this actual bus, number 137. I’m pretty it is parked opposite the then entrance to Rainhill hospital at Nutgrove. That was where buses running early were supposed to wait until the schedule departure time. The actual Prescot circle, as the route was named, consisted of 7 and 8s running in opposite directions via Rainhill and Prescot every 10 minutes (seven minutes at peak times). The number 9 ran via Rainhill to Prescot where it turned round and returned using the same route.”

  • Richard Waring, a Parrite living in Haydock, tells me: “The bus is stopped outside the Oasis Cafe, and I think the old Post Office/Toffee Shop. It used to stop and sometimes have a break.

“This particular bus is a 1953/54 registration. It is possibly a Bridgemaster AEC, lightweight model with no chassis to reduce weight. The bus is in our town’s colours, altered after the MPT fiasco when all our buses were repainted.

“The buildings in the faded background are the beautiful Victorian constructions inside the hospital entrance gates. The corner of the houses to the left, between the big tree and the lamppost, are the doctors’/nurses’ houses.

”The road was widened possibly around the late 70s. I have a photo showing the same spot as yours when the road was being widened (perhaps someone can remember the date). I took it to show what legalised demolition councils could and still do to our heritage “REEC0 TV RENTALS are advertised on the side of the bus. I think they were combined with Proffits TV Rentals. The 7/6d (37½ pence) charge was about right for that period. Frank Warings had a special scheme for pensioners of 3/11d per week.

“AEC had a large repair works in Fleet Lane, Parr, opposite Parr Central School. We used to watch wagons going in for service and repairs. It was next door to Crosby Spring Manufacturing.”

  • Ray Grayson adds: “The reason the road is wide is because it took a ‘dog leg’ at that point, the layout of the road allows car parking as seen in the photo, it is also wide enough for another bus to stop on the opposite side.

“At the end of the wall behind the cars, just out of picture, through two towers, was the entrance to one half of the hospital. Behind the cars ran a dirt road that took you over the railway line and out onto Scholes Lane. On the opposite side of the road to the bus stood a gents toilet, often frequented by the crew, to which I, as an innocent six or seven year old, would shout out ‘Mum, the man’s gone for a wee’.

“Maybe three or four shops stood behind the bus. I would guess the photo was taken mid to late 60s, and before decimalisation in 1971. Many thanks for the memories.”

  • Gareth Hodgson tells us: “I think the wall to the Avon side of the hospital behind the bus is to the left of the picture.

“I worked there as a nurse in the late 80s and slowly watched it being demolished as we worked, ward by ward. It was heartbreaking. Now with closures of hospital beds for the mentally ill is in the news again, I bet the government wishes there were more places like Rainhill left, albeit somewhat modernised.”

  • Christine382 adds: “The road is so wide because there used to be a trolley bus terminus there. I can just remember the overhead wires.

“As for the dome, the annexe building had two high towers. Could it be one of these behind the winter trees? The towers were straight, but the tree branches could give this illusion.”