[Sentinel S4]

Hi Grandarog,
         I get the impression from the Oracle that the Striker-Squire was the first of the fleet. It had many drivers, so I am told, during the Measday tenure so was you Father possibly one? If he was mates with them then they would have gone to who they knew first for help on a cash basis. I do know that times were very hard and men did what they could to earn a crust. Thanks for the reply, Sentinel S4.

[grandarog]

My father served in the first World War with the Measday brothers . After the war they approached him and several other ex army mates in Sittingbourne to put up some money with them to buy ex WD lorries and start a haulage firm. I think dad and his mates were pretty borasic back then and declined . The brothers  went ahead on their own building a successful haulage company. The rest is history until they went out of business some years ago.

[Sentinel S4]

Hi all,
      This is a good one. I am not a bus entusiast, as a lorry driver we don't really like things that keep stopping, but the 'Oracle' really caught me with this one..............
       

      Sometime around 1922 the Measday Brothers brought a second hand Straker-Squire bus. The started possibly the first service in the Sittingbourne area. It ran from Newington Station through Key Street, Sittingbourne High Street, Bapchild, Green Street finally terminating at Teynham Station. This did very well all the time the bus would run, it was not the most reliable machine in the world. The other thing that went against the machine was the noise. It was on solid tyres and with a chain drive I should imagine that it was not the quietest machine ever built, the Grand 'Oracle' had been heard to say it could be heard a country mile away. In the end it was sold to Standens the hauliers who had a depot in Cresent Street, the rumor was that the Measday Brothers paid Standens to take it! Standens then started to operate busses of dubious vintage and pedigree and were pleased to have the Straker-Squire. Mysteriously it burned out on Keycole Hill within the year...............


      Right now over to you guys to fill in the blanks. Are there any pics? Is there anyone left who remembers it? I do not know how long the Measday gents had it so there are some gaps to fill. Regards and happy hunting, Sentinel S4.