Our Story

In 1998 we became an independently registered charity. The project went on to attract substantial Sure Start funding to continue to take our service out into the community in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, reaching around 5,000 children a year. When the government centralised early years delivery into children’s centres, Hackney Playbus found a new role in outreach, working in partnership with the new centres to ensure that the most isolated families were linked into children’s centre services.

Hackney Playbus continues to work in innovative ways with a range of partners, including children’s centres, health professionals, social landlords and other voluntary sector agencies. We work wherever there is a risk that children in their early years may miss out on support, and wherever there is an identified need to reach out and engage with families.

Hackney Playbus bought its first double-decker bus in June 1972 from London Transport for £250, thanks to the
inspiration and commitment of Pauline Weinstein, a loan from Centerprise and the help of Mr Parrish of Stamford Hill bus depot who gave up his day off in order to help choose a suitable vehicle.

The first stage of the conversion was carried out by the carpentry department at Hackney Downs School and
the newly converted Playbus had its first outing on the Kingsmead Estate in the summer holidays of 1972.

The bus was kept at the Millfields Disinfecting Station (now a recycling facility), E5 by agreement with Hackney
Council

Hackney Playbus purchased its second bus in June 1979, a 1961 model Leyland double-decker bus from Timothy Ashton Buses for £965. This bus was converted at Leyhill Prison in Bristol by members of the Leyhill
Prison Rehabilitation Programme. The outside of the bus was painted in a forest motif with funding from
Hackney Council.

In 1981 we had our first brush with a low bridge and the roof of the bus was torn off. We borrowed a National
Play Association bus from Basildon while repairs were undergone. Further extensive repairs were undertaken in 1984 by the London Bus Preservation Group in Cobham, Surrey resulting in the service being off the road for
several weeks. We finally said goodbye to our second bus in March 1990 – sold or scrapped? We’re not sure…
Do you know?

This Playbus was kept in Dalston Lorry Park from February 1980 to 1984

In November 1984 the decision was made to purchase a second hand Daimler Fleetliner bus from West Midlands Passenger transport executive. Arrangements were made for the National Playbus Association to handle the purchase and to organise mechanical testing. The ‘new’ bus was purchased in August 1985 and T&B Precision were appointed to carry out the mechanical works. However the project got sidelined and by March 1986 there was still no progress with any of the engine works, conversion or exterior painting. T&B Precision moved premises, further slowing things down and the Playbus was not finally ready for play until November
1988.

Hackney Playbus’s third Playbus was known as Gertie and was painted with a showground design. She was
garaged at Leaside Bus garage until 1995 when she moved to Clapton bus garage, and then in 1996 to the Hackney Community Transport garage in Hertford Road. In both locations the bus was kept undercover and
there was mechanical support. Oh happy days!

In July 2000 freshly painted, Gertie attended the BIG BUS BASH in Bristol, organised by the National Playbus
Association where she was considered to be ‘one of the best looking Playbuses’ at the Millenium event (by
Hackney Playbus staff, admittedly!)

Returning to Hackney on 10th July on the M4 near Newbury, a Tate and Lyle tanker collided into the rear of Gertie, shattering the gearbox, displacing the prop shaft and smashing the engine cowling. Once again we
would need a new Playbus!

Hackney Playbus quickly acquired a new Playbus after its third Playbus Gertie had an unexpected end.
Fortunately an under-fives resourced double-decker was located in Waltham Forest for £5000 and purchase
was completed just a week later on 17th July 2000. And so Hackney Playbus moved on to its fourth Playbus,
already converted in 1993 by Waltham Forest Council into an early years play resource, featuring a large soft
play area.

We set about repainting the exterior of the Playbus with a jungle mural designed by Freeform Arts and painted
by Andy Magquire – who had previously worked as a Tower Hamlets Playbus worker – and Will Adams. In 2001
extensive internal improvements were made including opening up the kitchen area of the bus thanks once
again to Andy Maguire and a grant from Queensbridge and Dalston Sure Start.

The Jungle Bus continued to be comfortably garaged undercover in the Hackney Community Transport
garage in Hertford Road until in August 2002 when Hackney Playbus was given final notice to leave. We gratefully accepted an offer of temporary parking in Eastway depot from the Albion Kids Show, hoping that we would be able to once again find covered parking for the Playbus before too long. That hope was never
realised, and Hackney Playbuses have been garaged at Eastway depot and open to the elements ever since.

The Jungle Bus was sold in June 2011 on ebay to a couple who were planning to drive it to India (or was it
Scotland…?

Sure Start funding and a focus on fundraising coupled with the obvious need for the service led to a decision to run two Playbuses. The fifth Hackney Playbus was a 1980 Leyland Atlantean bought for £3100 from Shamrock Buses, Poole on eBay thanks to a grant from Hoxton Sure Start in June 2005.
A massive conversion task followed, coordinated by Ian Hastings who saw to it that the stairs were remodelled with a less steep gradient, and that the Playbus was fitted out with heating, plumbing, wheelchair access and a fire escape, before turning attention to creating an inviting play space including sand trays, soft play, painting easels and much more.

The livery was designed and painted by Sophie Dickens, a local artist who won the tender, with help from Lina
Culverwell. Sophie ran workshops with a local primary school and the Ocean Bus took to the road in October
2005.

The Ocean Bus went under Kenworthy railway bridge on 13th February 2009 (which was a Friday…) driving
back from a session at the Traveller site in Quarter Mile Lane E15. Once again the top came off. This time it was
beyond repair and the Playbus sadly had to be scrapped. Fortunately we still had Playbus number four, the
Jungle Bus, albeit by now in a rather tatty state.

And so the search for the next Hackney Playbus began…

Hackney Playbus bought its sixth bus in June 2009 from The Coachmasters via ebay. It was a 1984 Leyland
Olympian with a Gardener engine. We had to have it fitted with a special filter to ensure we would be compliant
with the new Euro 4 emission levels coming onstream in 2012.
Thanks to support from Roger Barham of Albion Kids Show, huge investments of time and labour from a
variety of amazing volunteers, and some crafty carpentry from a Hackney Wick based boat builder, we
stripped out the seats, remodelled the interior, laid a new floor and moved essential elements such as heaters, toilet, sandplay, and sinks across from the old, now defunct Playbus.

The exterior was painted by Alex Burden and Sue King Brewster based on designs by Esme D’Amico (13 yrs
old).

Bugsie’s final demise was due to a broken prop shaft in September 2016 and we sold her to Birkwood Primary
School in Barnsley, South Yorkshire to use as a library. They sent us a video of excited children welcoming her
as she was towed across a field by a tractor!

Hackney Playbus bought its seventh bus between October 2016 and March 2017 from Bristol Playbus for
£25,000; we paid in stages while we ran a crowdfunder to raise the money. It was a 1999 model with a DAF
engine, already converted, so we only had to make a few adaptations and paint it to suit our tastes.

The design for the exterior was based on workshops with children from Kingsmead Primary School facilitated
by Claire Ward-Thornton from Art Hoppers in collaboration with artist and Hackney Playbus playworker, Anna
Van der Poorten. The children’s designs were painted onto the new Playbus by the Hackney Playbus team, led
by Anna.

Sadly Tilly became noncompliant with changes in London emission standards long before it lost its charm and value as a Playbus. Nevertheless the LEZ is there for good reason and once again a new Playbus was necessary.

We sold Tilly in March 2021 to Tops Day Nursery in Bournemouth, Dorset for use as a temporary classroom
during a period of building renovations.

In July 2020 Hackney Playbus purchased a 2004 decommissioned Volvo B7TL Euro 3 bus from Ensign for
£4500 plus VAT. Our eighth bus was retrofitted to be LEZ compliant by Driveline Emissions thanks to a
‘scrappage’ grant from TFL of £15,000.

Everything moved slowly as this was all happening during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The conversion was carried out by Karl Jarvis, a boat builder based near Southend, using designs developed in consultation with children, families and Hackney Playbus staff. Conversion works took from November 2020 to
August 2021 and were funded via a successful crowdfunding campaign.

We ran workshops with children to design the artwork for the exterior, with the help of a Playbus parent and
artist Aya Haidar. The children’s artwork was faithfully painted onto the bus by a team of staff and volunteers led by Simona Attardi, a long time member of the Hackney Playbus playworker team.