Fetteresso Kirk’s Sunday Bus goes from strength to strength. The regular authorised drivers - Doug Flett, David Gourlay, Richard Marriott and David MacDonald - work wonderfully well together on a six-monthly rota, with flexibility the keyword. The essential and highly valued Driver Helpers (provided by each week’s Welcome Team) and their contact phone numbers have now been added to that rota for the convenience of all. The current driver rota, passenger list and bus itinerary are displayed on the notice board in the church hall vestibule [and can also be found on this website]. Our route round the town is fixed accordingly to the homes of the various passengers, …….but it can easily be altered to accommodate new ‘fares’. And talking of fares, we only ask that our passengers make a small donation of anything up to £1.00 each week (ably collected by “clippie” Dorothy Maclean), to help offset the cost of minibus hire.

While Fetteresso Church is the main user each Sunday, there are some rare occasions when the green Community Bus is unavoidably booked for the weekend by other local organisations, in which event we utilise one of the “Yellow Perils”. This requires a visit to the Education Office and some form-filling by the relevant driver, before the key is issued. Whilst one of the two Stonehaven-based yellow buses is often available, there have been occasions when the Auchenblae-based Bus is the only one free. But we are proud of our long record of not letting our passengers down. What a warm and friendly group the bus passengers all are! With twenty now on our books and only fourteen seats available, there is always the potential for excess occupants on any one Sunday, although if or when this happened, we drivers would simply switch to implementing “Cunning Plan B” (ie two trips).

The Route? The minibus leaves the Community Centre car park at 10.00am prompt and travels to Somerfield (1-5 passengers), then a few hundred yards on to the Royal Mail building (1 passenger). The journey then takes us via Cameron Street at Barclay Street (1 passenger) and Dunnottar Avenue (1 passenger). Then it’s up Low Wood Road to St Bridget’s Crescent (1 passenger), Brickfield Road at the Spar Shop (1 passenger) Thomson Terrace (1 passenger) and Christie Crescent (2 passengers at two different stops). The bus route then takes us under the railway bridge on Arduthie Road to the Community Hospital (1 passenger) and Lilyloch Road (1 passenger). Then it’s onwards to Fetteresso Kirk, with a brief detour via Fetteresso Terrace (1 passenger) before arriving at the Church for around 10.35am.

The passengers do enjoy a sweetie en route…..….it stops them from screaming when we race round the corners!