YOU have had a few replies to the request for information about the number 8 bus but, I thought I’d add my small contribution.

The family home was in Ferry Road and the No 8 was our only local bus, which went from Marston village through central Oxford and down the Abingdon Road, returning along the same route.

In the 1930s we would catch this bus on the main road outside the Scout Hall and, as far as I can remember, it arrived every half hour.

When I was very young, I remember asking my mother whether we could go on the top deck and got a curt refusal. At that time the bus was open topped with wooden bench seats with the staircase in the open at the rear.

When my wife and I moved to Fortnam Close there was no bus service but, once the road had been made up but, before Headley Way was cut through the grounds of Headington School to connect with the London Road, the route was extended to Upper Headley Way, terminating at Fortnam Close. The hard standing for passengers is still there.

DERRICK HOLT Fortnam Close Headington Oxford