Bedford school bus, NZ

One of several scenes produced by Wallace Trickett for the New Zealand Bus and Coach Association's jubilee celebrations in 2006: a rural scene with a Ministry of Education Board, Bedford school bus from the 1960s and 1970s, though some were still in use in the 1990s. This painting and five others were considered by the NZBCA for postage stamps to mark the occasion. At the time both the president and secretary had strong mechanical backgrounds in the industry and were keen to see Wallace's work get some exposure as he had produced several paintings for their offices and also was resident cartoonist to the magazine Circular which was started by Mark Stockdale (now the AA's spokesman on fuel consumptions) in 2002. Sadly NZ Post gave it the thumbs down, stating any art produced for their stamps had to be by contracted watermark artists - likely Chinese students doing it to retain their residency, so it never happened. In addition both senior people unfortunately left the NZBCA and now the magazine while informative, has nothing of its old character.