Friends of King Alfred Buses, together with Stagecoach, commemorated a milestone in Winchester's transport history at the weekend.

It was precisely 30th years since the closure of King Alfred Motor Services, which was one of the few privately-owned companies to run municipal buses.

The family business was operated by R. Chisnell & Sons Ltd, whose fleet of green and cream buses, carrying the symbol of King Alfred's statue, ran from 1920 until 1973.

To mark the anniversary, Stagecoach have painted one of its modern Dennis Dart buses in the King Alfred livery.

At Sunday's celebration, which was based at the Bar End bus depot, all rides on the heritage buses and coaches, as well as the shuttle services from the station and the Broadway were free.

Bus-lovers journeyed from far and wide to support the rally of enthusiast-owned vehicles Andrew Dyer, Stagecoach South managing director, drove a 1929 Leyland Titan open-topped double-decker.

Chris Webb, from FoKAB, said: "The family day at Bar End went wonderfully. There were lots of visiting buses from Stagecoach, the First Group and Solent Blue Line and we had a fantastic turnout.

"Many people came up to us to compliment us on the day and to tell us what a good time they were having."