A LIFE STORY Tour bus operator a jovial identity

Walter Sydney Hammond: b Wellington, October 12, 1932; m Phyllis Purvis (dec) 3s, 3d; d Hutt Valley, September 20, 2013, aged 80. were respectively best man and usher.

The paper further reported the happy couple travelled south on ‘‘the steamer’’ for their honeymoon.

At 26, Mr Hammond purchased his first bus, a 25-seat Ford V8 from Howell Motors at Camp Rd, in Trentham.

There was never a dull moment with Wally at the wheel of his fleet of buses over the past 54 years.

Race-day specials at Trentham represented a nice little earner for him in his early days, as did contract work negotiated for ferrying workers to and from such places as General Motors and the Ford plant at Seaview.

From these humble beginnings, the Hammonds purchased better and bigger coaches and contracted themselves out to the Government Tourist Bureau for coach tours all over the country. With a steadily expanding family, the young family man decided to concentrate on the Wellington city and regional tourist market. It was in this role that Mr Hammond became a well-known identity and his tourist bus became affectionately known as the ‘‘Wally-bus’’ throughout the region.

He drove his buses for 54 years and was at the wheel for his last Kapiti run in January this year before being summoned to Hutt Hospital with health problems.

Life was never dull with Mr Hammond making the wheels of his bus fleet go round and round for more than half a century on the tourist beat in the Wellington region.

One of his buses, for instance, survived severe damage in a railway shunting incident in September 1988.

Mr Hammond told friends two of his American lady passengers had been traumatised after the bus was hit by runaway rail carriages – so much so that one temporarily lost her false teeth.

Mr Hammond was politically well-connected and this attribute came to the fore following the shunting incident. He went directly to a cabinet minister friend and a spare NZR coach materialised for Hammonds Scenic Tours’ exclusive use while the ‘‘Wally-bus’’ underwent urgent repairs.

His full day Kapiti and Cape Palliser tours were very popular. In the early years of the Wairarapa day trip, he got all passengers seated for departure before ringing his wife who handled the catering and accountancy side of the business.

Family members were pressed into production line catering duties to provide the snacks for the tourists.

Mr Hammond would detour from State Highway 2 on his bus to the family home at Trentham where Mrs Hammond’s hampers, complete with enamel teapot, would be loaded aboard.

It was all part of the personalised service approach Mr Hammond provided for tourists seven days a week, 365 days per year. In his spare time Mr Hammond, an incorrigible character, loved speedway and his classic 1963 Dodge.

During a lifetime on the buses he entertained thousands of interesting people from all over the world. He was rarely stuck for words, but did tell friends he was a little embarrassed on learning our most famous aviatrix, Jean Batten, had been on his coach one day and he did not recognise her.

Unlike her, Mr Hammond was no high flyer. He was a down-toearth man with a sense of humour who cared for people.

This much loved Kiwi battler was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal from the Queen for tourist services and successfully fought to the very end from his hospital bed to keep his sightseeing buses rolling.

Sources: Ken Hammond, Rob Webb. A Life Story tells about a New Zealander who helped to shape their community. If you know someone whose story should be told, email obituaries@dompost.co.nz.