To
the east of the market town
of Sleaford is the substantial village of Heckington, home to a unique
eight-sailed windmill and an annual show dating from 1864. The bus
route from Sleaford through Heckington to the Hales and Helpringham
seems to have a somewhat complicated history. Thoughts about it were
triggered by recently seeing some tickets of Sharpes Motors of
Heckington.
Leaving
Sleaford to the east by the A17 road, passing Kirkby-la-Thorpe
to Heckington, the route then turns south along the B1394 road though
Great Hale and Little Hale to reach Helpringham. The latter village
once had a railway station (closed in 1955) on the Sleaford to Spalding
and Peterborough line.
Richard Bray & Co. of Lincoln were running this route prior to 1930
when
it was taken over by the Lincolnshire Road Car Company, becoming their
daily route 36 Sleaford - Heckington - Helpringham. That route was also
served daily by G J Saunby of
Helpringham who sold out to the Road Car in 1933.
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By
1977 (but after 1974) Road Car service 36 had been replaced by E V
Wing of Sleaford
(founded in 1954) who was operating the route six times a day at that
time (weekdays
only, but only five journeys on Thursday reflecting the early closing
day in Sleaford). Wing also operated the ex-Gresswell route by an
alternative routing from
Sleaford via
Scredington to
Helpringham, then continuing southwards via Swaton and Horbling to
Billingborough. A basic service of three weekday journeys was provided,
increased to five on Saturdays; only two journeys ran on Thursdays, one
of which was extended considerably further south from Billingborough
through Pointon and Rippingale to Bourne for market day (see below).
The Wing business, with garage in Mareham Lane, Sleaford, had grown by
acquisition of the seven vehicle business of Charles
Gresswell of Billingborough
(previously based at the Robin Hood garage in Aslackby - a pub of that
name still stands at the village cross roads. In 1930 Gresswell was
listed as the publican). Five of
Gresswell's
fleet of
seven were Daimlers. Wing had driven for Gresswell in earlier days and
bought the
business from him in March 1964.
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Gresswell
founded and for many years carried
on his coach and bus service, starting after the 1914-18 war, and in
1939 he built a new coach depot at Billingborough. His routes included
Aslackby to Boston via Billingborough and
Quadring on Wednesday and Saturday; Aslackby to Bourne via Kirkby
Underwood and Stainfield
twice on Thursday; a daily service from Sleaford via Scredington to
Billingborough, extended via Pointon to Bourne on Thursday and
Saturday; and a
seasonal express run from Aslackby to the
seaside at
Skegness. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, and unusually for a
private operator in the shires, Gresswell had a Gibson ticket machine
of the type used in large quantity by London Transport.
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Click on image at right for a picture of GCT 234, a Gresswell Daimler CVD6 with Samlesbury body
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Former routes had also included Aslackby to Spalding on
Tuesday
until 1955; and Aslackby to Grantham on Saturday until 1957.
Charlie
Gresswell died in 1967 aged 74. In 1977 Wing was operating
Billingborough to Boston twice on Saturday, a shortened version of the
Aslackby to Boston route; and Aslackby to Bourne twice on Thursday; and
the two routes from Sleaford to Helpringham and Billingborough.
Also
in 1977 Sharpes Motors of Heckington
were still running a six times a
day Monday-only market day service from Little and Great Hale via
Heckington to Sleaford. In earlier years there had been a Saturday
service also, as well as a route to Boston on Wednesday (until about
the 1960s). This brings us to the mystery of their tickets
which include 5-day and 6-day weekly tickets for this route - the low
monetary value of these weekly tickets suggest that this daily
operation must have been many years ago (dates unknown); thoughts that
these might have been for school journeys are rather negated by the
availability of the 6-day ticket as well as a 5-day ticket. The Sharpes
business, founded by J. Sharpe, became a limited company Sharpes Motors
Ltd in July 1947. Variously known as Sharpes Motors or Sharpes
Motorways, it was
sold in 1983 to Mrs O'Byrne and her daughter and son-in-law Marie and
Roy Greenslade but lasted for only a further six months following
intervention by the regulatory authorities. The sole vehicle at the end
was a 45 seater Duple Dominant 2 which was a tight squeeze through the
passageway to the parking area at the rear of the premises. The base
was was at 21-23 High Street, Heckington with garage behind. The
closure of the weekly Monday cattle market in Sleaford in 1984 would
perhaps have bought about the demise of the service anyway.
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For
some years Sleaford had been linked by bus to Bourne by way of the
A15 road to Silk Willoughby and Osbournby; then onwards via
Threekingham,
Horbling, Billingborough, Pointon and Rippingale. Between 1961 and 1981
this was a jointly operated service between the Delaine
of Bourne and
Lincolnshire Road Car (service 34). Today in 2018 service 34 exists only as
a school day journey from Folkingham north through Osbournby to Sleaford;
supplemented by a market day return journey on Monday and Friday from
Billingborough and Folkingham through Osbournby to Sleaford (now
Centrebus 35). Delaine cover the road from Billingborough south to
Bourne but only on Thursday.
On retirement in 2005 the Wings business was absorbed into Sleafordian
Coaches
(originally formed as a taxi business in 1964), who were already
operating
from Sleaford - via both Scredington or Kirkby-la-Thorpe - to
Heckington
and on through the Hales to Helpringham and Billingborough. Their 1998
timetable showed half a dozen weekday return journeys plus school-time
services. It is not yet known when the bus routes passed from Wing to
Sleafordian. The Wing's depot in Mareham Lane Sleaford did not pass to Sleafordian and
was redeveloped for housing.
The bus provision through Helpringham and the Hales in 2015 is by
Centrebus circular route 37 (one return journey Monday to Friday) from
Sleaford. The morning journey going out through Osbournby to
Folkingham and Billiingborough; then Horbling, Helpringham, the Hales,
Heckington and back on the A17 to Sleaford. The route reversed for the
return journey at lunchtime. This is supplemented on the route from
Billingborough via the Hales and Heckington to Sleaford by services
provided by Sleafordian Coaches on schooldays, plus a limited shoppers
facility of one return journey Monday to Friday (with the inwards
morning shoppers journeys of the two operators at very similar times).
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SHARPES
SERVICE
MONDAYS ONLY
(Sleaford Market Day)
1977 TIMETABLE
LEAVE LITTLE HALE VIA GREAT HALE AND HECKINGTON TO SLEAFORD:
1020 HOURLY TO 1520
LEAVE SLEAFORD VIA HECKINGTON AND GREAT HALE TO LITTLE HALE:
1050 HOURLY TO 1450
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WINGS SERVICE
1977 TIMETABLE
(MONDAY TO SATURDAY)
SLEAFORD TO HELPRINGHAM via Heckington, Great Hale and Little Hale:
0730 - 0855 (Not Thurs) - 1150 (Not
Thurs) - 1300 (Thurs) - 1600
- 1735
HELPRINGHAM TO SLEAFORD via Little Hale, Great Hale and Heckington:
0758 - 0925 (Not Thurs) - 1220 (Not
Thurs) - 1330 (Thurs) - 1630
- 1805
SLEAFORD TO BILLINGBOROUGH via Scredington and Helpringham:
1000 - 1300 (Not Thursday) - 1430 (Monday) - 1600
and additionally on Saturday at 1830 and 2215
BILLINGBOROUGH TO SLEAFORD via Helpringham and Scredington:
0800 - 1100 (Not Thursday) - 1400 (Not
Thursday) - 1435 (Thursday)
and additionally on Saturday at 1745 and 2115
On Thursday (Bourne market day) the 1000 from Sleaford continued from
Billingborough via Pointon and Rippingale to Bourne.
Similarly the return journey left Bourne at 1400 and then formed the
1435 from Billingborough to Sleaford.
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