Skills buses


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While on the subject of old radford, does anyone know how Skills started, was it when they used to take the miners to either Radford or Wollaton pits in what was known as a horse box? This was an open flat backed trailor.

Just a thought...

A !yada!

NB This has been split from another topic at Sirs request.

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thumbsup Certainly was, Mrs Skill used to gut all the wet fishfor the shop. They also used to have one on Ilkeston Road, nobody did fish like Skillys.

The best meat pies in Radford were the ones Mrs Smith used to make. That was another fish and chip shop at the bottom of Denman Street. She had a son called Fred, and used to refer to him as 'arr Fred', they were some relation along the line to Briggs chip shop in Ilkeston on Nottingham Road.

I will consult the oeacle for more information.

A thumbsup

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  • 3 years later...

From the Skill's website:

Company history:

Founder Arthur Skill, the current managing director’s grandfather, began by using his only lorry to collect fish from the early morning market and for light haulage during the day. Soon, he began carrying local miners to Bestwood Colliery, and, in 1921, he purchased a Crossley charabanc – Skill’s first true bus.

A workers’ service to the Celanese factory at Spondon was followed in 1927 by services to Bridlington and Scarborough, and later to Mablethorpe, Skegness, Cleethorpes, and Southend-on-Sea. From 1937 onwards, the purchase of other operators has, at various times, added colliery services to Bilsthorpe and Gedling, stage carriage services to East Bridgford and Bestwood, shop premises on Alfreton Road, and a picking-up point and booking office on Derby Road, Nottingham.

Nigel Skill began work with the family business while at school. During school holidays he and his four brothers and sister would help to clean the coaches and then see them off from Skills bus station at the bottom of Derby Road (nowadays the site of the large roundabout at the top of Maid Marian Way). As a teenager he would cycle from his home in Blidworth to earn pocket money cleaning coaches, leaving home at 4am. His father, who was by now running the firm, insisted they all learned to drive early and at ten years of age, Nigel would manoeuvre coaches round the depot for washing.

Nigel Skill bought the firm in 1987 to become managing director.

Continental tours were introduced in the late 1970s, and following deregulation in the industry in 1986, Skill’s has concentrated on the coaching side of the industry, investing in a first class fleet of modern vehicles, and offering luxury coach holidays ranging from day trips, weekend breaks to extensive tours of Europe and beyond.

For the firm’s 80th anniversary of service to Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, staff raised over £26,000 for charity in six months.

In May 2002, Skills Motor Coaches, moved to a new larger headquarters building, garage and workshops bringing to an end the company’s long association with the city’s Radford district. .

Mrs Sylvia Skill, daughter in law of the founder, Arthur Skill and mother of two of today’s directors, cut the first turf in a ceremony to mark the start of work on the £1.5 million development.

The new premises at The Holiday Centre on Bulwell’s Seller’s Wood Drive / Belgrave Road, which became necessary as the Skill’s fleet of luxury coaches grew, provides a single location for office, administration and call centre facilities as well as paint and work shops areas, and parking.

The company changed its name to Skills Holidays to coincide with the relocation.

In 2008, Skills took over the business, vehicle fleet and contracts of Motorvation, the Colwick, Nottingham, based private hire and contract hire carrier.

(Written by Graham Percy retired BBC presenter)

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I mentioned this elsewhere here. heard skill's grandson or similar on radio nottingham and he said originator used to collect fish at Nottingham Victoria and take such to Derby (Derby didn't have any fish trains) on way he see people WALKING to work from Nottingham to British Cellonese and started giving them lifts, they'd give him a tip and before long was making as much from that as he did selling the fish! so he fitted seats in his lorry and just did that

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  • 7 months later...

As a small child I lived on Peveril Street till 1959 or 1960. I seem to remember a branch of Skill's Buses there, at number 8 I think, with an open area that was used as a bus depot, and is now occupied by Sunbourne Court. Does anyone remember about the layout of Peveril Street 50 years ago? Perhaps my childish memory deceives me. I have lived outside Nottingham for a long time, and till recently had not seen this part of town for many years.

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congrats.gif Your memory is fine, Skills had a small yard at the point whre Peveril street joins Alfreton Road, we used to catch the Skeggy/Mablethorpe buses there in the early fifties, their coaches were like the one in Heartbeat, half cab single deckers, seats felt like rough horse hair, but we didn't care!! The halfway stop (Seggy) was the Adam & Eve Cafe englandflag.gif
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  • 13 years later...

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