Hucklebus en route to Mullingar
Mullingar, the town that brought you Joe Dolan, Niall Horan, Bressie and the Academic, is about to land another music legend – The Hucklebus.
TFI Local Link Longford Westmeath Roscommon, with funding support from the Healthy Westmeath Community Mental Health Fund, is providing music from the golden age for their golden oldies.
“This has been a tough time for everyone; we hope that providing music on our buses will give people a lovely start to their day,” said Damien O’Neill, manager of TFI Local Link LWR.
“There’s no doubt about it, music is powerful stuff when it comes to putting you in a good mood and giving you a boost.
“We provide public transport linking rural areas into the towns and villages, and during a team meeting we were discussing our passenger welfare and things that we could do to improve their experience. That was when the idea about music was first raised by our development officer, Una D’Arcy.”
The Hucklebus will be piloted on three of TFI Local Link Longford Westmeath Roscommon services that carry passengers who, for the last year, have been sheltering at home as part of government advice regarding Covid-19.
“Our goal is that it will make our passengers feel better,” said Damien. “This will be music for their era that you don’t hear on radio as much as any of us would like. Great music from your youth is good for you, for your head and your heart. It lowers blood pressure, boosts the mood and it has even been shown to help your memory.
“Especially now, in times when people are feeling low because of the effect of Covid on their lives, if something like this helps, then we have to put a bit of faith in it and try it.”
The name Hucklebus came from one of Una’s colleagues from her days with the Westmeath Examiner: “I just needed a name to put to the project and when I started it, I wanted to prioritise our older passengers so I was thinking about music from their teens.
“For them, and for any age, the music of the 60s and 70s is uplifting. I called Ronan Casey, who was a music journalist and whose dad managed Joe Dolan, and told him my idea. He said right away, ‘Hucklebus’, and I thought that was perfect.
“Damien would love to have live music on the buses too – a way to support our local musicians. If we ever can do that, we’ll name that project Bandwagon.”
TFI Local link Longford Westmeath Roscommon is a public transport service with more than 100 rural links in three counties and Una hopes that people will get in touch through Facebook and Twitter and let her know what wonderful songs they would like to hear and help raise people’s spirits.
“It will be Buspops not stops!” said Una.