BCT's First Lady.

[terry widlake]

My mother Betty Widlake, became Birmingham's first woman bus driver. She worked as a conductress for some years than the threat of one-man operations loomed over her job so she went to the gaffer and told him she wasn't about to be put out of a job. He sent her to school to get a PSV licemce and the rest is history.

 

[Astoness]

you must be very proud of your mom terry... smashing photos....well done betty

lyn

 

[Pedrocut]

Well done to your mother. Having relied on women drivers throughout the war, it took a long time later to be accepted.

 

[terry widlake]

you must be very proud of your mom terry... smashing photos....well done betty

lyn

Very proud of her. Took a lot of courage to drive those big buses. Photos were from the Evening Mail.

 

[terry widlake]

Well done to your mother. Having relied on women drivers throughout the war, it took a long time later to be accepted.

Should have mentioned that we had women driving in wartime. My early childhood memories included seeing the 'camoflaged' buses outside the Kyotts Lake depot in Sparkbrook. In those days, Mom was making munitions at the BSA in Small Heath.