IT WAS the end of an era for mini bus driver, 86-year-old John Kelly as he arrived at Cross Ash Primary School for his final time last Wednesday.

For Mr Kelly has spent his life on the buses, starting as a teenager as a conductor with Red and White in the early 1950s before obtaining his bus driving licence with the same company.

Mr Kelly has been a regular sight in and around Abergavenny as he has driven on just about all the local town and country routes along with those to Brynmawr, Cwmbran, Newport and Hereford.

Mr Kelly jokes that he has probably driven the distance of the moon and back with over 60 years behind the wheel.

Full of stories of his long career, he particularly relishes the days when he travelled with a conductor and said they were good times.

"I remember leaving the conductor behind at a bus stop on quite a few occasions," he said.

"I remember one day when Joyce, the conductor helped an old lady get onboard the bus as she was carrying a heavy and bulky basket of loose eggs. While the woman got on, I left with the conductor still standing at the bus stop still holding the basket of eggs. I didn't realise my mistake until I had reached the next stop, quite a few miles down the road, and had to turn around and go back to pick her up.

"Naturally I received a suitable dressing down from the conductor, but we always looked back with fondness at this mishap.

"Another occasion was in Capel-y-Ffin, where a farmer got on board with an ewe and initially I said no you can't bring animals on to the bus.

"But he persuaded me that the ewe was 'house trained' and wouldn't make a mess. The farmer explained to me that it was so expensive to call out a vet and that it was cheaper for him to take the sheep to the vet himself.

"Looking back at these two events, they were like scenes from the television series of On The Buses."

For the past 19 years Mr Kelly has driven the mini bus for Cross Ash Primary's Llanfapley run with Alex Watkins coaches and says that you get to know the children very well when you're driving them back and forth every day.

"The children are well behaved and they seem to have a certain respect for me. I'm very pleased to have been part of Cross Ash Primary School's life for so long.

"But at the age of 86, with a clean driving licence I feel that the time has come for me to step down gracefully. I shall miss the light-hearted banter in the bus as we travel the country lanes to school as the children kept me young at heart."

Mr Kelly was invited into school where he joined the morning assembly and was presented with a number of gifts, including a box of eggs, from the staff and pupils.