This week we have looked into local transport history to answer the question: What happened to Huddersfield coach company Kenmargra?
This question received the most votes in our #AskExaminer feature, which gives readers the chance to ask a question on any topic of local interest.
Many Huddersfield residents will have fond memories of Kenmargra, which was established in 1950 by Kenneth and Marjorie Smith who used their own names and that of their young son, Graham, to create a unique company name.
Sadly, Kenneth - who was known as Ken - died in 1970 after he was knocked down by a car on Manchester Road, Linthwaite. He was 65. His widow died in 1993, aged 86.
The company ran until 1999 when the owners, Graham Smith and his wife Maureen, who have three daughters, decided it wasn’t worth carrying on.
All the drivers were given help to find jobs with other companies and the eight vehicles were sold off.
Today the couple are semi-retired and are still based at the former Kenmargra yard off Manchester Road at Linthwaite. Their business, G&M Smith, has a couple of vans and they do local deliveries of various kinds.
Mrs Smith was company secretary at Kenmargra and her husband did the driving - everything from school runs, football and rugby trips, children’s outings and excursions across the UK and the Continent.
By 1999, they decided to give up on coaches, partly because they felt that “red tape” was getting too much and because they had had enough of the long hours.
“A lot of new regulations came in,” recalled Mrs Smith. “There was a lot of red tape.”
She said many other coach companies decided to call it a day around the same time.
At the time Kenmargra had eight coaches but Mrs Smith has no idea where they may have ended up.
“I never kept track. A lot will have gone to the great scrapyard in the sky. There may be one or two still running.”
Although the couple haven’t had anything to do with buses since then, they still have good memories of serving the people of Huddersfield.
Mr Smith, who did not want to be interviewed, did comment via his wife that it had been a “joy and pleasure” to have driven so many people to so many different places.
“He (Graham) was very good at controlling the parties,” said Mrs Smith.
“The parties used to say ‘send Graham, we might be a bit rowdy and he always makes sure we get back on the bus and gets us home.’
“He counted them all back on.”
Her husband, now 74 and still driving vans, continues to be recognised from his Kenmargra days.
Seventeen years may have passed since the Kenmargra story ended but Huddersfield folk are still sharing their memories.
On the Huddersfield Town fans’ forum, Down at the Mac, user ‘Johnny Zero’ recalled: “We used to have them to take us swimming at Slaithwaite baths from junior school in Meltham. The buses were museum pieces..the wheels used to scrape on the wheel arches going round corners. We used to call them fag end buses.”
Forum user ‘Student Terrier’ said: “Reliability wasn’t in their vocabulary and I swear it as warmer outside the coach during winter. Never forget the sound of crunching gears. Happy days.”
But Mrs Smith said these comments were unfair as their coaches “always got through” even during harsh winters. And though they did run some older models, they also had modern vehicles as well, she added.
“Later on we got newer vehicles and we put them on school runs but they got vandalised. The coaches were well maintained and serviceable.”
* What are your memories of Kenmargra coaches? Email andrew.robinson@trinitymirror.com
