Names on the buses

677 Elisabeth Howard

434 Elisabeth Howard

Connections with Brighton and Hove : One of the best known figures in Lewes during the Seventies and Eighties, Elisabeth Howard was a campaigner for improving the county town. Born in Seaford, she moved to Lewes in the early Seventies and almost immediately started a campaign to prevent St Anne's House in Lewes being sold by East Susses County Council. This was unsuccessful but she had better luck with her next campaign to save the Old Needlemakers' building which is now a craft centre. Mrs Howard had a brief spell as a Labour councillor in Lewes but was better suited to seeking change as an ordinary member of the public. She was keen to keep the Pells open air swimming pool open and was one of many people who fought for Lewes to have a new library. Mrs Howard was in favour of the Cuilfail tunnel to take traffic out of Lewes town centre but opposed development of old railway land near the station. A victim of the Lewes floods in 2000, she found her health undermined by the experience and never really recovered. She died in 2006. Elisabeth Howard was always formidably briefed about any of her causes and officials used to dread seeing her approach although she was a kindly woman. The church for her funeral was packed to overflowing.

677 Scania Omnidekka - carried name since delivery in October 2007. Regency branding added May 2011. Regency branding revised September 2014. Regency branding removed February 2016. Name moved to Volvo Gemini 434 in July 2016. Name spelt wrong after glass damage during February-March 2023 now corrected. Repainted into new Regency livery in October 2023.