Imberbus Day raises over £30,000 for charity

Thousands of visitors boarded vintage buses to travel to the ‘lost village’ of Imber on a day that raised over £30,000 for charity.

Around 4,000 tickets were sold for this year’s Imberbus Day event on Saturday 15th August, which saw a mixture of modern and heritage buses travel from Warminster to Imber, a village evacuated in 1943 to provide space for military training.

 

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Imberbus events began in 2009, with a group of bus industry professionals achieving their long-standing ambition of running a bus service from Warminster to the abandoned village on Salisbury Plain.

It has since become an annual event, with funds being donated to the Friends of St Giles’ Church in Imber, the Royal British Legion and other charities, both local and nominated by those who help run the service.

“It’s really important both in order to give a lot of people the chance to visit Imber by public transport, to give profile to Warminster and the villages we serve, and to raise money, all of which goes to local and relevant charities,” said Imberbus Day co-founder and Minister of State in the Department for Transport Peter Hendy. “And we have a lot of fun doing it!”

Imber is only open to the public a few days a year and is only accessible via the buses on Imberbus Day.

The village will be open to the public again over the August Bank Holiday weekend, from Saturday 29th August to Monday 31st August, from 11am to 4pm.

Pictures by Dwayne Alexander