LOCAL Sinn Féin councillor Sheamus Greene has come to the end of the road – he’s retiring as a school bus driver after 27 years.
The councillor for Erne East may be getting out from behind the wheel, but he has only happy memories of the job and the many students who travelled with him.
“I’m officially no longer a school bus driver. In all those years, I never met a bad child or a bad young person,” he said.
“It was my privilege to drive these amazing young people to school. I will miss their good humour and bubbly personality.”
During this time, Sheamus was a school bus driver in the Brookeborough, Knocks and Lisnaskea areas. They would then link up with other buses going to schools in Enniskillen or Roslea.
Those riding on his bus ranged from primary school children to students doing their A-levels.
“You’d have the odd incident on the bus all right, but the vast majority of times it was fine. There was always plenty of good humour,” Seamus explained.
“The most honest people that I have ever come across in my life are primary school children, especially the younger ones.
“They will always tell it how it is. If they have something on their mind, they’ll say it. I’ll miss that. They’d definitely keep you grounded.”
It was not that dangerous a job, apart from one memorable occasion.
“The bus’s engine caught fire and flames started coming out. I pulled over and got the children off it and up an avenue. I got the fire extinguisher and soon put it out,” he said.
“When I started 27 years ago, some of the students would have been 18 years old, so they’re middle-aged now. The time doesn’t be long going in.
“Being with young people keeps you young. I’d recommend it to everyone to listen to young people more.”
Sheamus’s other claim to fame was that for safety reasons he would not drive the school bus if the weather was very bad.
“The problem was that I live on high ground in Coonian. There could be three inches of snow here, but if you went down the road a couple of miles, there would be very little,” he explained.
“It made me one of the favourite bus drivers with the children, but probably not with the parents!”
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