[Harvey Solan, Apprentice, Mellor]
Harvey: My name's Harvey. I live in Rodale. I'm an apprentice here at Melo.
The apprenticeship involves converting vehicles from vans, as you see, into buses, stripping them down to the chassis and putting a new chassis on and then building them from the ground up.
Basically, these ones are so special because through small villages, they can get through country roads easier than say a big double decker.
[John Cliffe, Head of Operations, Mellor]
John: We've supplied lower emission buses for the Bee Network franchise program for inclusive travel often in rural areas where narrow roads are inaccessible to the big operators.
Coach Building is not an apprenticeship anymore. So with Hopwood Hall, we've had to design an apprenticeship that can convert vehicles into an amazing product that can support the Bee Network.
Apprentices bring new ways of thinking. They come with an open mind and it enables us to learn from them as well as them learning from us.
Delivering vehicles to the Bee Network is brilliant. It enables us to offer a scale up production on quality vehicles that are out and about in local areas. Really connecting communities.
[Ann and Paul Jowett, Bee Network passengers]
Ann: We live right at the top of a hill and before we got these new buses, they stop the bus going up there and at our age that's not good news.
[Mary, Bee Network passenger]
Mary: I get the bus more or less every day.
[Patrick Fallon, Bee Network passenger]
Patrick: It makes me get out of the house. Gives me that incentive.
With my age, it's very important to me to be able to get out of the house. I'm 91 years of age, I’m on the bus every day. It's wonderful that it's there for me. I have nothing but praise for it.
Harvey: The fact that I've put my effort into building many of them, that is something special that you've done and you've helped a lot of people. It just brings communities together and I'm proud of what I've done.
