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Background The Greater Manchester Buses
North Group was formed in 1999 and it initially supported the preservation of 8151 and 8551. As more buses were acquired by Group members, the scope of the Group was changed to become much wider,
concentrating on Greater Manchester Transport and GM Buses as a whole, rather than simply the northern section. The Group's name was changed in August 2000 to the Greater Manchester Buses Group
in order to reflect this and the website address became www.gmbuses.co.uk, in line with the Group's name change. Several vehicles
are now included as part of the GM Buses Group, each being owned independently. The name "GM Buses Group" was chosen because "GM Buses" was no longer used as part of
the trading title of either of the companies which were created when GM Buses was split in 1994, meaning that afiliation could not be inferred, nor does it use a name previously used by any company
still in existence. It also summarises the aims of the group, being a support group for the preservation of both Greater Manchester's buses and the history of GM Buses itself, including Greater
Manchester Transport and the companies created from GM Buses. Group Aims The Aims of the Group have developed since its formation and are now to piece together as much as possible of the history of Greater Manchester Transport and
GM Buses onwards so that this history is not lost. The main problem is that the era focussed on by the Group is seen as very recent and of little historic value, and so items are discarded leaving a
large gap in the transport history of Greater Manchester. In the ever changing world of post deregulation public transport, new liveries and company names come and go, and we believe it is
important to record these changes and help to further represent the more recent transport history of Greater Manchester by supporting bus preservation and the collection of related items and documents.
GM Buses Website The GM Buses
Website allows the Group to further its aims by creating an online archive of information, photographs and documents, available anywhere and at any time. Events The GM Buses Group held an event in 2001 in conjunction with First
Manchester at Wigan Depot, to mark the end of Atlantean operation there - Farewell to the Atlantean.This event provided a publicty boost for the Group,
being very successful. The GM Buses Group played a major role in the organisation of an event to mark four anniversaries charting the development of public transport in Greater
Manchester. 'The Big Orange' was organised jointly by The Greater Manchester Transport Society, The GM Buses Group and The SELNEC Preservation Society and was held on 9th and 10th October 2004 at
Greater Manchester's Museum of Transport. Publicity Through GM Publicity, the Group's in-house design and publishing service, the GM Buses Group produces publicity material to help fulfill its aims by providing
publicity for the Group and its members' vehicles, as well as its own and joint events, and providing publicity for events related to the Group's aims, such as the Bolton Atlantean Running Day
through both printed posters and leaflets and the GM Buses Website.GM Publicity Publications include:
- Event Posters
- Specialist Posters and vehicle window posters / information
- Event Leaflets
- Vehicle Information
- GM Buses Website
- Design, Stationery and General Documents and Publications
Recent publications include:
- Vehicle information for First Manchester buses taken to rallies by GM Buses Group members
- Interior advert and poster for 3303 when repainted into Wigan Corporation livery for the Centenary in 2002
- Event and vehicle posters for the Bury Centenary Event, organised by Greater manchester's Museum of Transport.
GM Publicity is expanding through the relationship between The GM Buses Group and The Greater Manchester Transport Society, providing publicity material and marketing services for The Big
Orange and other events. |
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