Welcome To RVPT
The Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust is a registered charity based in Lancashire whose central aim is to preserve the heritage of Ribble Motor Services, one of the UK’s largest and most popular bus companies from its formation in 1919 until the 1980’s when it began to lose its distinctive identity.
Our members are dedicated to restoring and reviving as many vehicles as we can.
Not only do we restore we also love to showcase, attending regular events, showing the public our love of the history of the Ribble Company and hoping to inspire as we go.
What We Do
Our activities are primarily focused on the preservation, restoration and, where possible, operation of buses which operated for Ribble group companies in earlier years. It is our firm conviction that this heritage can be best enjoyed by providing opportunities for members of the public to travel on the buses and experience an earlier era of public transport.
We own our site which has two modern buildings that house our collection of vintage buses, most of which are from the Ribble fleet. Our main building also contains an archive room with a collection of mainly Ribble artifacts. We have good facilities at our base but we are not a museum and are not open to the public. Instead we concentrate on taking our buses out to the public.
Events 2025
- July 19th: Barrow Transport Festival Saturday,
- July 20th: Lytham Hall
- 100 years of Bury buses at Museum of Transport Greater Manchester
- Sunday, August 24th: Leyland running day based at the British Commercial Vehicle Museum.
- 30/31 August: Great Harwood Transport Festival
- October 12th (TBC): Skipton running day and display organised by the Aire Valley Transport Group. Sunday
Membership
The Trust membership scheme currently has almost 300 members who share an interest in Ribble Motor Services and the work we do to preserve the company’s history. The annual subscription is £25 and members receive a full colour magazine four times a year as well as access to our members Facebook page and the chance to participate in our work.
You can apply for membership by visiting the Membership Page.
Volunteering
As well as supporting our overall aims members also have the chance to work directly with the Trust. A whole range of opportunities awaits – some members work regularly at our depot on vehicle preparation, regular maintenance and vehicle restoration. We have plenty of tasks for those with specific skills and those who help in a more general way. Others help out at events by conducting on the bus service, carrying out marshalling, talking to visitors. There’s plenty of enjoyment as well as hard work and a lot of satisfaction in helping a restoration project to completion or successfully delivering a major event.
If you would like to know more and possibly take a look around do get in touch.
Easy Fundraising
Below you will see details of a scheme which is widely supported by retailers, travel companies, etc and which provides an opportunity to raise funds for charities such as RVPT.
Please consider using this scheme when making purchases and thereby help us fund our activities. It’s a quick and easy to use service
Visit: easyfundraising.org.uk