| LUPTS history: introduction |
Each
October, the LUPTS Treasurer had to grovel before the Finance Committee of
Liverpool University’s Guild of Undergraduates in order to justify the
provision of a grant.
In 1988, the Chairman, having been upwardly delegated by an absentee
Treasurer, reported back that he had been asked the question “What do you do -
apart from the obvious?”.
The
answer must have been a reasonable one because Guild awarded a grant of £197.91
for the year’s activities.
He could have pointed out, however, that the Society provided an active
forum for people interested in transport for a period of over thirty years, was
responsible for the initial preservation of an ex Liverpool tramcar as
well as a number of other historic vehicles, organised extremely popular rail
and bus tours, not to mention holding nearly 700 meetings during its existence.
This
booklet has been put together as a formal record of the activities of the
Liverpool University Public Transport Society from its formation in 1958 through
to its eventual demise in 1991.
It is a companion volume to The LUPTS Record, published 1997, copies of
which are available from the address on the title page.
The
information has come from a number of sources.
Amongst these are the meeting minutes books.
Minutes were kept of all Ordinary General Meetings, although only the
whereabouts of those relating to meetings held since November 1973 are known.
Courtesy of the University of Liverpool’s Archivist, Margaret Proctor,
certain other papers relating to the Society have been made available for
inclusion.
However,
the principal source of information has been from former members of the Society,
some of which has previously been published elsewhere but much not.
Gentle persuasion has filled a lot of gaps in the records and enabled the
history to give a flavour of the society rather than be a purely factual one.
Specific thanks in this respect go to Martin Jenkins, John Ryan, Alan
Murray-Rust, Alan Atkinson, Jonathan Cadwallader and Mark Telfer whose combined
recollections span the whole life of the Society.
An article by Ian Young on the history of the Society, which originally
appeared in the 1969 LUPTS Journal and which was reproduced in the Silver
Jubilee edition, has also provided useful information.
Thanks should also go to Andy Babbs for placing so much historic LUPTS
material in the University Archives in the early 1980s.
Last updated: 04 March 2002
© Charles Roberts/LUPTS 2001/2002
Page hosted by www.lupts.org.uk