URE was bought new in 1950 by Lymers of Tean, Staffordshire, and was a class coach in its day. It was used by the Stoke City Supporters Club and, on 4th March 1972, Stoke City beat Chelsea in the League Cup Final at Wembley earning them their first major trophy for 109 years. The following day the Stoke team boarded URE with its sliding roof open, to parade the cup through the streets of Stoke. URE is now stored safely in dry, secure accommodation, in Staffordshire. I am steadily restoring her, but due to work commitments, time is limited mainly to Sunday mornings.
Progress is therefore slow, but nevertheless continuing.
Restoration has included complete rewiring work and repairing the sliding roof. The plan is to restore her to roadworthy and rally condition, and I am now seeking help with funding the restoration. I am also in need of help from other preservationists, in knowing how they went about the preservation work, who the experts are that we could contact to do the work, and approximate costs for the work. On 4th March this year I happened to be in the Rushden area of Northamptonshire, and decided to pay a visit to a couple of bus collections there. Alongside the station is their collection of buses, and I was made very welcome by Bev Watson who showed me around.