Bring on the Blacks

After leaving school at 15, Desmond Ward moved around the country doing short-term jobs in various cities. At the age of 18 he joined the Devon General bus company as a conductor working the Torquay, Paignton, Brixham, Newton Abbott and Plymouth routes.Two years later he left Devon and joined the Bristol Omnibus Company as a conductor, working on city routes. In 1962 Des qualified as a driver and spent a number of years up in the cab. This was during the period of the colour bar, when the bus company was refusing to hire black or Asian workers, and the subsequent black boycott of the buses. Des saw the gradual disappearance of open-back buses, the introduction of front-entrance buses, the first black and Asian crews, and the first one-man operated services.He later worked for the Ribble bus company in the North West, and Western Scottish, running from Carlisle up to Glasgow.After leaving the buses, Des spent ten years working on various RAF stations supplying spare parts to front line aircraft. He then moved to Whitehaven to work with mentally and physically disabled youngsters, before returning to Bristol and spending fifteen years working with troubled teenagers.Des ended his working life as part of the Visitor Services Team at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. He has been married for forty-five years and has two children and three grandchildren.