A double decker blast from the past has proved just the ticket for pupils at a Leeds primary school.
The 1970s bus was given a much-needed facelift by a dedicated team of volunteers who transformed it into an authentic ’50s cafe.
The group of IT workers from Lloyds Banking Group spent a day at Farsley Farfield Primary School as part of the firm’s Day to Make a Difference initiative.
The scheme allows workers to take one day out of the office to take part in projects that make a difference in their local communities.
Jonny Heath, 42, part of the team, whose son Ollie, 10, is a pupil at the school, said: “The bus’s days of being mobile are well behind it, but we wanted to do something that would help to make it a community resource. We got our heads together and came up with the idea of turning it into a 1950s-style cafe – which we called Bus to the Future.
“There was a lot of work that needed to be done to get the bus in a state where it could make a big difference.”
The project saw the team install a new black and white floor, red leather upholstery and ’50s furniture to make the inside of the bus as authentic as possible.
The bus will now be used by pupils at the school as well as being a community space for people living in the Farsley area.
Jonny said: “We all agreed we’d had a great day working on the bus and at the end of it, we felt like we’d achieved something that would really make a difference.
“Working in IT, you can sometimes have a long wait to see results. But in that one day, we really created something tangible that was going to help.”
Youngsters at the school didn’t take part in the work themselves, but got the chance to have a look at the finished product when they went into school on Tuesday.
Jonny said: “We heard how the pupils reacted when they went into school on Tuesday and apparently it was a bit of a jaw-dropping moment.
“They can’t wait to get in there and start enjoying their milkshakes!”
The school is next door to one of Lloyds’ major sites.
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