SKYLARK MOTOR SERVICES

Perhaps named after the ground-nesting bird, their buses ran from Salisbury south to Woodfalls and later west to Chilmark

The name Skylark is associated with the stage services that ran from Woodfalls, Redlynch and Downton into Salisbury from the south.  The original proprietors were F Shergold and Sons (the Shergold name is of course also associated with Silver Star of Porton, but there was no family connection).  The Shergolds were carriers between Woodfalls and Salisbury before the 1914 - 1918 war and during the 1920s they were coal merchants as well.  By 1926 the motor bus service had started, running initially on Tuesday and Thursday.  From 1920 to 1925 Edward Locke of Landford was operating a motor bus from his home village to Salisbury on Tuesday and Saturday, running via Downton. He traded as Skylark and it is possible that the Shergolds might have acquired his business and trade name, given the start date of their motor service in 1926.  There was other competition at this time from Newman of Redlynch and Connolly of Woodfalls, the latter business passing to Wilts & Dorset in July 1933.

A timetable from October 1930 shows six journeys each way on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, with an extra late cinema bus from Salisbury on Saturday evening.  On Sunday there were four each way.  Wilts & Dorset service 15 was offering eleven journeys over the route each weekday (eight on Sunday), plus late cinema bus on Wednesday and Saturday.  Also listed is one return journey on Friday only from Downton and Woodfalls via Landford and Plaitford to Southampton.  But Gilbert Haines of Downton was also running a similar route twice a day (three times Sundays) from Downton via Woodfalls and West Wellow and Ower to Southampton. From February 1934 until June 1936 the business was run by Wilf Shergold and Horace Barber and then from 1936 until 1947 it was Barber alone.  By 1936 Skylark had expanded to a daily operation and added a short shuttle run of two minutes duration on Tuesday and Saturday to link the village of Hale to the main Salisbury route at Woodfalls. A Thursday market service had also been introduced from Woodfalls via Fritham and the strangely named Nomansland to Romsey.

The second world war brought increased business.  After the war the main route was extended eastwards across the northern New Forest through Fritham and Nomansland to reach Stoney Cross Aerodrome.  Double-deckers arrived for the first time.  In December 1946 a service of up to eight journeys a day was proposed from Downton to Ringwood, via Woodgreen, Fordingbridge, Gorley and Mockbeggar.  This was not pursued, probably because of objections from Hants & Dorset Motor Services.  The firm became a limited company in January 1947.  The company officials of Skylark Motor Services Ltd. were listed as S W Moody (Chairman), Horace Barber (Secretary and General Manager) and E P Moody.  The Moody family were travel agents, Salisbury Travel.  Interestingly the Chief Engineer was listed as a W E Shergold in 1955/56. 

In 1947 the Skylark bus operations were substantially expanded away from their traditional operating area when the business of F & R Viney of Chilmark was taken over together with their daily route from Salisbury to Burcombe, Barford, Dinton, Tefford and Chilmark.  On Tuesday and Saturday it reached Ridge, south west of Chilmark. (Fred and Reg Viney, the two partners, were brothers who had both lost limbs in a stone fall at Chilmark Quarry.  Their route was running on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday by 1923, increased to every weekday from 1932; the Ridge extension started in 1934).

The Skylark fleet lined up in 1949 - twenty one buses.  Two of the three similarly liveried deckers were ex- Hull Regents still in that livery (RH4776/7).  The third was ex-Huddersfield repainted in Hull livery (VH5729).  The fourth OW4257 is a Thornycroft with AEC engine, ex- Southampton, in two tone blue and cream, later repainted to Hull  style  (as was its replacement BTV572).

For a brief period from September 1949 until October 1950 the main Salisbury - Woodfalls - Stoney Cross route was extended to Lyndhurst. But as told above, the routes were never entirely the province of Skylark, and there was always strong competition with Wilts & Dorset (especially between Salisbury, Downton and Woodfalls) who were to buy the bus operations from Skylark on 17th June 1951.  It is reputed they paid £2,000 for the Woodfalls and Chilmark routes.  These were integrated into their existing operations.  To this day three W&D vehicles are out-stationed at Downton to operate the Woodfalls route.  Skylark continued as a coach operator from their Woodfalls base.  At this time it is believed they expanded in 1950 to the market town of Lymington in Hampshire with an associated company Skylark Motor Services (Lymington) Ltd. This was sold in 1955 to the Maitland family, owners of the well-known Excelsior European Motorways of Bournemouth, and was possibly the starting point of the long lasting Excelsior subsidiary based in Lymington (Hampshire Motorways Ltd).

In 1964 Skylark Motor Services of Woodfalls was purchased by A E Budden and Sons Ltd of West Tytherley.  At that time the Skylark business comprised a rented shed for the repair of 2 vehicles at any time, and a fleet of other vehicles on a parking plot of approximately one acre (where Skylark Motors is based today).  Buddens had a proper garage built, and Wilf Shergold stayed on as manager, and then as director of the company now named Buddens Skylark Coaches Ltd.  Buddens transferred all repairs to Woodfalls but still parked some vehicles at their West Tytherley base.

With the Buddens acquisition of Skylark came the Salisbury Travel Agency at 21b Milford Street. with Mr Mel Moody being a director of Skylark and manager of the travel office.  He became a director of Buddens Skylark Coaches Ltd and subsequently the travel office in Salisbury was closed. Skylark had excursion licences from the New Forest area including Wellow, Landford, Nomansland, Woodfalls, Redlynch, Downton, Breamore, and Woodgreen. The Budden and Skylark businesses amalgamated in 1973 to become Buddens Skylark Coaches Ltd.  The old Skylark depot at Woodfalls remained Budden's main workshop until April 1991.  (Buddens were originally stage operators with a daily West Tytherley - Salisbury service which had started in 1926.  They grew from their village origins to become a front line coaching business - with thirty vehicles in 1978 - and were associated with Len Wright Travel of London from 1976 until 1983).  In 1991 the Buddens activities were concentrated on a new base in Abbey Park at Romsey, Hampshire with the Woodfalls base no longer being used except as a petrol station and car repairs under Shergold ownership.
		The Skylark office in Salisbury decorated for the Coronation

Skylark returned briefly to bus service operation following deregulation after the 1985 Transport Act  with a short lived Tuesday and Saturday return journey to Salisbury over their old route from Hale, Woodfalls, Redlynch and Downton.  Then they were at various times contracted to Hampshire County Council for various routes in the Fordingbridge area.  Their last incursion into the bus business was in 1999 when a timetable leaflet issued in February showed two services (i)  Elmwood Avenue - Fordingbridge - Godshill - Downton - Salisbury (four journeys each way Monday to Saturday) and (ii) Downton - Woodfalls - Godshill - Fordingbridge - Hyde - South Gorley - Ringwood Market (one return journey Wednesdays).  Although those services too have gone, in 2002 Skylark still continue with their garage and motor engineers business in Woodfalls.

With thanks to David Gillard for additional information about the fleet photo and the double-deckers

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